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My backstays are sort of slacked . How tight should they be? I dont have a tensioner or the knowledge and specs to use it. I tightend the tunbuckles as far as they can go and there is still slack. My sailor buddy pulled the two stays together and tied them together. Thatremoved some slack. He said it wasnt so important as long as the forestay and shrouds were not slack. What should I do and how do you tension everything without fancy gadgets?
Also, there are these two small shroud cables that are a few feet or so up the mast. What are they for? Anyone? Thank for helping a newguy. Ryan.

If I were you, I'd start with the rake of the mast. Your forestay may be too long, or adjusted too long, and the shrouds adjusted too short.

As to the baby stays, they're for raising the mast without it falling over to one side or the other.

Ryan,
Got a pic? an M25 should have one backstay, one forestay, a pair of lower shrouds and a pair of upper shrouds. The lowers attach to the mast at the spreaders (about 14' up the mast) and the uppers attach to the mast at the same place as the forestay (about 23' up the mast). You definitely need good tension on all four shrouds and the forestay.
You don't really have to have expensive tools to adjust any of these, but you wanna do it with some care. There's really no telling what the PO may have done with your rigging.

I'm not sure The Mac25 came with baby stays. I recall a guy I met on the dock had installed them himself. I remember him telling me he thought they were a great idea that started with the 26'ers.
Here is a link to how to rig or tune a fractional rig. I'm not sure if you have a mast head or fractional. You can google tuning sailboat rigging..
http://www.alohaowners.com/index.php?op ... s&Itemid=6
Here is another link.
http://glen-l.com/free-book/rigging-sma ... ats-1.html
Good luck. Don't drop the mast on anyone.

Thank you all who have taken the time to share your knowledge with me. I am learning. Ihope one day I will be able to share my knowledge with someone. still workin on the knowledge part, ha ha, Ryan.

As far as I know the baby stays are a standard part of the rigging (need a photo to make sure what you are talking about for sure). Before you go to a lot of effort to adjust your current standing rigging, you may want to consider replacing all the standing rigging with slightly up-sized wire rope of proper length. I know another Mac sailor who fought the standing rigging for some time before deciding something wasn't sized right in the first place. Replace any adjusting hardware with good swaged fittings attached to quality turnbuckles. Then, here is what I was told by a Mac sales rep:

Raise the mast and center it with just a touch of rake. Tighten the forestay and shrouds reasonably tight (It is just by "feel" as I have not found any tension specs yet), then tighten the backstay just to the point where there is a slight rearward bend in the mast (assuming you are still set up with a fractional rig). When tightening the forestay and shrouds, be careful you use enough tension to do the job but not so much that you put unwarranted pressure on the compression post and sole belowdecks. As you sail you will notice that there is quite a bit of play in the forestay/backstay and shrouds. I would attribute this to flexing of the hull itself. Watch that the forestay and shrouds do not go completely slack as they will "slam" against the chainplates when tacking and stress them unnecessarily. If you see the forestay or shrouds go completely slack, give each a turn of the turnbuckle until the slack is just taken up, and make sure forestay and shrouds are tensioned equally when at rest.

I've been told that this approach is the best that can be done. If anyone else has a better method, use know.

If you are trailering a lot, with the mast going up and down, I would recommend against turnbuckles. The vernier slotted adjusters on these boats are actually a lot stronger than turnbuckles and less susceptible to damage.