Had a Rigger inspect my rig today. . .

[Cool Beans]

Was hoping it would be money well spent but not I'm not so sure. . .

After looking it over I called him and discussed his findings. He said everything looked fine, except the turnbuckle side of the shrouds. His suggestion was, since the wire looked fine and the upper swagged eyes were fine. . .to cut off the lower swages (which have rust creep coming out of the swage) and install mechanical fittings with extensions and new open turnbuckles

Um, never heard that one before. . .just wanted to run it by some more experienced sailors. . .

If I can get the money together for a complete re-rig now, I'd love to do Hayn Hi-Mod fittings on the lower ends instead of swages. . .I added everything up on RigginOnly.com and got about $1200 swagged

 

[woodster]

Was hoping it would be money well spent but not I'm not so sure. . .

After looking it over I called him and discussed his findings. He said everything looked fine, except the turnbuckle side of the shrouds. His suggestion was, since the wire looked fine and the upper swagged eyes were fine. . .to cut off the lower swages (which have rust creep coming out of the swage) and install mechanical fittings with extensions and new open turnbuckles

Um, never heard that one before. . .just wanted to run it by some more experienced sailors. . .

If I can get the money together for a complete re-rig now, I'd love to do Hayn Hi-Mod fittings on the lower ends instead of swages. . .I added everything up on RigginOnly.com and got about $1200 swagged

if i may ask what was his price for doing it his way.....

regards

woody

 

[Cool Beans]

His way would have been me buying mechanical lower ends and new turnbuckles and then stepping the mast. Cost to him so far is just $100 for the inspection. . .he hasn't tried to sell me anything yet, he thought a rerig wasn't needed so didn't give me a quote. But, he is willing if I ask for one (which I guess wouldn't hurt, plus he knocks the fee off if he does the rigging work).

6 Hi-Mod studs + 6 open turnbuckles = 435.36 from RiggingOnly (cheapest I have found). Extensions are another ~$245. . .which is kind of a waste. . .

 

[woodster]

thank you for answering that question ......i wasnt trying to get in to your business i am thinking about what i am going to do on my rigging ...like yours i have rust in the lower part but the wire rope is still good ...the thing is that if you or i add an extention that just puts one more link in the run (one more thing to break or go wrong) but on the other hand the wire rope is about $1.75 a foot and on mine that is about 300 ft of wire rope or about $525.00 so it looks like to me extentions are cheaper than new wire rope by about 1/2......as they say whats a mother to do .....

regards

woody

 

[Steve Dion]

You may try contacting Seco South. We found their prices better than RigginOnly for our life lines.

http://www.secosouth.com/

 

[Stu Jackson]

Are your existing turnbuckles open or closed?

 

[woodster]

Are your existing turnbuckles open or closed?

if you are asking me the answer is closed made cs johnson....

regards

woody

 

[higgs]

There is nothing wrong with extensions or mechanical fitting like Stay Loc. I suppose you could make a case that one more link makes the rig less secure, but weigh that against corrosion already taking place at the swaged fitting and it is a no brainer. Your other option is replace perfectly good wire with new.

 

[tommays]

As a 33' boat in what i am thinking is saltwater i would want the piece of mind

I know i just had no problem justifying the same thing from rigging only as the cost of failure is high and so dangerous

 

[Roger Long]

What is the age of the rig?

You may want to consider how long those swage fittings and wire will last going forward. You could pay the extra money for the extensions and then find yourself doing new wire and uppers as early as a year from now. You probably wouldn't want to reuse the extensions although mechanical terminals are reusable.

Keep in mind that some fatigue related problems are not visible on inspection. My rig, way overdue for replacement by normal standards, passed an inspection and I still can't find any problems (other than the design issues discussed in previous threads). I'm replacing everything though because this is the year I have the time and money to do it and I don't want to worry about it for the next decade.

 

[Cool Beans]

I have closed turnbuckles. . .

I think I might just bite the bullet and replace all with new. . .just need to cut the budget in other places Can rigs be piecemeal together? Can I do the cap shrouds and backstay and restep the mast? Then in a couple months do the lower shrouds from a bosuns chair?

Just weighing all my options lol. . .

 

[Roger Long]

I have closed turnbuckles. . .

Get rid of them. They are bad news.

It's worth coming up with a complete plan as there are some wrinkles. I specified Sta-Lok studs for my lower terminals and plain bronze turnbuckle bodies with toggle fork lower ends. It turned out that the yard had to buy the complete turnbuckles from Sta-Lok because there was some incompatibility with bodies and lower ends from the source I specified. I presume this is so they can sell complete turnbuckles when they sell studs. It made me glad I was having the yard order everything and put it together instead of ordering it all myself.

You will also probably save money over the long haul by tuning your rig, marking the turnbuckles with tape, and giving the rigging to whoever is making it up for you. If money is an issue for you, putting mechanical terminals on isn't rocket science. Order the wires cut a few inches long with the upper terminals swaged on if you want to go that route.

I didn't have a good place to work and wanted to know some dark night out there that the terminals had been done by someone who had done it many times before.

 

[Joe]

I have closed turnbuckles. . .

I think I might just bite the bullet and replace all with new. . .just need to cut the budget in other places Can rigs be piecemeal together? Can I do the cap shrouds and backstay and restep the mast? Then in a couple months do the lower shrouds from a bosuns chair?

Just weighing all my options lol. . .

Yes you can... no problem.... in fact you can change all the rigging withoug while the mast is up.

 

[tommays]

This is one of those times in life you have to weight the cost of potential failure which would hurt somebody or worse and most likely total the boat

 

[kenn]

Dumb standing rigging question: is there a repeatable test that can be performed on rigging parts that can confirm the integrity of the parts?

I'm thinking that for example - if you have a complete sidestay assembly for boat X with mast height H, then you could determine from charts and geometry that it will experience P pounds max of tension in typical use, so that if you test the assembly to... 2P, then you're reasonably sure that it's still safe to use.

Or maybe something similar in terms of momentary peak loading.

Does that make sense, and if so, is this sort of testing done and/or feasible?

 

[Cool Beans]

I asked the rigger that question. . . He said you can have them pull tested, but it isn't cheap. By the time you have the rigging off to be tested plus costs associated you'll probably be half way to the cost of replacement and you would still have older rigging. . .plus if one breaks, your out test money plus replacement costs. . . I'm going to dig a little into savings and re-rig the shrouds and back stay. Last thing I want to worry about when on the water is stuff I could have done better Costs to re-rig over the life of the rigging isn't much per year. . .which is how I justified it :Liar:

 

[Roger Long]

I Costs to re-rig over the life of the rigging isn't much per year. . .which is how I justified it

I figured out that, for the cost of a new set of sails and new standing rigging, I could buy enough diesel at $3.00 per gallon (will we ever see those days again?) to motor 12,000 miles at cruising speed.

I don't snicker quite so hard when powerboats go by now.

 

[Merlin Clark]

thank you for answering that question ......i wasnt trying to get in to your business i am thinking about what i am going to do on my rigging ...like yours i have rust in the lower part but the wire rope is still good ...the thing is that if you or i add an extention that just puts one more link in the run (one more thing to break or go wrong) but on the other hand the wire rope is about $1.75 a foot and on mine that is about 300 ft of wire rope or about $525.00 so it looks like to me extentions are cheaper than new wire rope by about 1/2......as they say whats a mother to do .....

regards

woody

===

Woody,
You might want to check secosouth as posted by Steve Dion, I just checked the cost for a 30', 1/4' stay with swedged eye and turnbuckle stud and it was only $65.
That's a great price.

 

[kenn]

I figured out that, for the cost of a new set of sails and new standing rigging, I could buy enough diesel at $3.00 per gallon (will we ever see those days again?) to motor 12,000 miles at cruising speed.

I don't snicker quite so hard when powerboats go by now.

And you'd prefer to motor 12,000 miles over sailing 12,000 miles ?

(and congrats, btw)

 

[RON20406]

Was hoping it would be money well spent but not I'm not so sure. . .

After looking it over I called him and discussed his findings. He said everything looked fine, except the turnbuckle side of the shrouds. His suggestion was, since the wire looked fine and the upper swagged eyes were fine. . .to cut off the lower swages (which have rust creep coming out of the swage) and install mechanical fittings with extensions and new open turnbuckles

Um, never heard that one before. . .just wanted to run it by some more experienced sailors. . .

If I can get the money together for a complete re-rig now, I'd love to do Hayn Hi-Mod fittings on the lower ends instead of swages. . .I added everything up on RigginOnly.com and got about $1200 swagged

Cool Beans, there is nothing wrong with Castloc, Stalok or Norsemen removable fittings if the wire is in good shape. Especially if your sailing is recreational and you're not planning a circumnavigation or an extended serious offshore adventure. But, even in the latter case, if the various components have verifiable structural integrity, I would not hesitate to use them. We all must weigh cost vs. use to determine with what we feel most comfortable. I used Castloc fittings on 20 year old wire on a Great Lakes boat that was sailed hard in conditions most larger vessels stayed in port. They are still on the boat today 7 years later, to the new owners ,and in perfect condition. The other advantage to these fittings is that you'll never be held hostage by a rigger to replace any standing rigging anywhere is the world. If you can buy the wire, you can fix it yourself. Nothing like self reliance when it comes to a sailboat. Good luck and good sailing, Ron