Dittoes to what Dick said. I don't know if there is any special tension that works best; probably Jerry or some of the other go-fasters have commented on the topic in the archives. Hopefully my uppers won't stretch too much because there isn't much travel left (could've been about 3/4" shorter). ************* Irv, there is a not-very-clear photo here: http://www.msog.org/TripPics/bill_n_tod2k/034.jpg The shelf is back under the cockpit coaming. It requires no extra holes to be drilled but does use one of the sheet winch mounting bolts to hang from. Looking athwartships, it's like an L with the top of the L being connected to one of the sheet winch bolts and the "toe" of the L resting on the aft end of the galley (with some help from some 4200 or 5200 for the brave and daring). The only part that is particularly visible is the fiddle on the toe of the L (the serif), the rest being rather back out of easy view. The only reason I offered to copy the shapes for people is because of the time it would take to get to fit the curves of the cockpit and hull. There are the following pieces: *a little bent piece of metal with two holes in it (a piece of aluminum barstock from the local hardware store or a stainless tang from the marine store would work, probably on the order of 3/4" wide x 1/16" thick x approximately 3 or 4 or 5 inches long would do). This is to fit under a bolt for the sheet winch and connects to the back of the shelf with a screw. *a screw about 1/2" or 3/4" long to connect the metal tab to the back wall of the shelf. *two pieces of 1/4" plywood for the back and the bottom (both less than 11" x 17" in size) *one piece of 1/4" plywood or, preferably, mahogany or other nice wood for the more visible fiddle. Some moulding might work well if it's about 2" high. *a little epoxy and thickener (sawdust?) *some 4200 or 5200 caulk. It's conceivable that not all the winches are mounted with the bolts in quite the same orientation so probably the little bent metal clip that connects the shelf to the winch bolt should be made up at installation time after the shelf has been held up in place. Tod