> You have to look at the whole picture.  Too tight to begin with
 > puts even more strain on the shrouds when stressed in a wind
 > situation.  Also, the distance of the spreaders from the
 > centerline changes the loading forces.  This is apparent in
 > inboard shrouding where the side loads that would be fine for
 > an outboard shroud are magnified into heavy pulling forces on
 > the shrounds and subsequnetly higher down forces on the mast as
 > the shrouds are moved towards the center of the boat.
In my boat rigging manual (inboard shrouds) it recommends tightening both 
sides just "to tightness"... then on a close reach, check the leeward
shroud for looseness... it should be loose but not overly... then reverse
the process for the other shroud... if the leeward shroud is tight, readjust
it (loosen) and test again...
 > To further complicate the issue, inboard shrouds have either
 > less stout material to use for their support, or, in the case
 > of a cruising boat, require a loss of interior space to beef
 > up the area of the chainplates.
New Catalina boats have an interior spreader which distributes the load
to the hull wall.... you lose about 1 foot by 4 inches on each side, but they 
also will place a cabinet right next to it, so total loss isn't very bad...
but you also have a mast support in the cabin (but it gets used as a table 
support (and a place to clip your fenders around so that they fly all over 
the cabin )...
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