I never tried the lowers tighter than the uppers, just needed a little clarification. I did go to 2000 uppers and 1800 on lowers. Definitely want to try maxing them all out at 2400, but would hate to leave it that high too long after the race - I'm afraid my beam would end up 9 feet! I can adjust some more turns in the headstay.
We had to replace the old halyard after breaking the headstay. It held up the furler, but really took a beating, almost cut through. Replaced the furler line also - the prop ate half of it.
I recommend jam (thin) nuts at the turnbuckles. McMaster-Carr has 316 stainless 3/8-24 left and right hand thread. You can get really close for future changes by counting turns & checking with the gage (three half turns tighter, looser, etc).
We had another great forecast last Saturday, but I wimped out with the flu... Luckily, only a couple of boats went out in the cold & snow. We hope to win the series, so far two firsts and two DNS. Two of our competitors have one win each, when we didn't get out. They also have DNS's. The weather has been tough so far this season.
