Rigging costs?

[Scott T-Bird]

Hello All,
I'm interested to know if my rigger is quoting a price that is reasonable. I'm not doing the work so I prefer to have our local rigger make up the standing rigging and tune the rig in place. My boat is at a marina where the contractors have to be approved by the owner, so obviously I'm somewhat in a captive situation, unless I'm willing to move the boat somewhere else. Now that I have a price, I'd like to know if there is a benchmark where I can evaluate the price. It is obvious to me that the marina owner is quoting a price with their mark-up included as negotiation seems to go thru him. I expect this as part of their overall service and realize it's my free choice to go where I wish, so I'm not considering this arrangement as a negative, just yet. There is a price to be paid for convenience and service, I realize.
I'm replacing a pair of uppers, a pair of lowers and the split backstay. My forestay was replaced a few years ago, so I'm not replacing it now. The mast height from the deck is 33' and the total length of 7/32" wire is about 140' to 150'. I'm using swaged terminals so I have 5 at top and 6 at bottom and I'm using open body turnbuckles with the assorted toggle connections. Also, the mast is down for the winter.
For those of you in the Barnegat Bay area, I'd like to know who you think are the good riggers and are there any to stay away from? My rigger is a local rigger and sailmaker who lives, sails and races sailboats on Barnegat Bay, so I automatically think he's a good guy, but what do I know?
Any thoughts are welcome. I'm not going to do a DIY project on this one, but I do want to stand over his shoulder and will hopefully have the opportunity to do so! I don't want to mention the price just yet because I pretty much want to know how to evaluate it on my own. I am negotiating for a bulk rate discount based on other work I am asking for (like the lifelines).

 

[dlochner]

Last year I replaced the intermediates and lowers on my Sabre 362. The cost for these 4 shrouds was $500 including shipping. That included about 100 feet of wire, the fittings, and labor to build the shrouds. RiggingOnly.com did the work.

If you go to their site, you can price out the cost of the rigging.

In my marina we store with the mast down, so replacing rigging is a really simple job. Tuning a rig is also not rocket science. There are many resources on line and books that explain the process. Take a look at the Hall Spars website for their tuning guides and Selden for their tuning guide.

 

[rgranger]

T-Bird... I bet if you tag jackdaw he will give you some good numbers.

 

[Bob J.]

I also have used rigging only & have the grace to do my own work....
To replace 4 shrouds, a forestay & backstay, little over a boat buck.
You may want to consider using the existing standing rigging for your new lifelines if it will fit through your stanchions. It won't have a white vinyl cover on it but does it really matter?

 

[Scott T-Bird]

That's a really good idea and I'm going to bring this up. I am changing the lifelines and I am using uncoated SS. The wire may pretty well match the vinyl coated stuff that I'm replacing.

 

[CloudDiver]

You can price everything out on the West Marine website with the assumption they have max retail mark-up on everything, including the price per mechanical swage. That should give you an idea of 'top end'.... I could probably do it all heat annealed dyneema for 2/3rds of that, but I can't be there to install it.

 

[jssailem]

Scott, I had WM make up lifelines for my 35 ft boat last summer. Upper and lower lines, two gates (which I did in dyneema), and all fittings for $660. Thought it was a great price. 316 SS. I also had the standing rigging replaced on my 46ft mast, replaced spreaders, halyards lines put inside the mast, new vhf antenn and cable, serviced the radar, moved it down 4 feet to accommodate a new cutter rig stay, new nav/anchor and steaming/deck led lighting and wire, new adjustable back stay, swaged tops - HiMod bottoms, and refit the boom for about $9600 parts & labor.

This boat stuff is not cheap. But I am very pleased with the quality of the work. I know I have a sound rig that will hold up to many years of sailing. That is worth the expense.

 

[centerline]

there is a rigging supply in portland, oregon called rigging products. you could call them and get a hard quote, but 2 uppers, 2 lowers and a backstay , 150 ft of 7/32 wire with swagged terminals will be about $350-400... the swagged terminals installed are the most expensive part of the rigging.

 

[ggrizzard]

I just replaced all standing rigging and fittings for my Cherubini Hunter 30.
Cost including install $2300. My mast is taller and I did replace the forestay and my wire gauge is thicker and I'm in Florida and it was hot the week I placed my order. But otherwise, It should be exactly the same!

 

[AXEL]

Just a little heads up and no disrespect implied. I was dismasted this past summer and I believe the bad guy was a shroud which I had replaced made up at a local yard. The mast snapped in half. I brought the 2 pieces of the mast and rigging to a scrap yard to cash it in. The guy there took a magnet to the rigging. I mentioned it was all marine grade SS, non-magnetic. To my surprise the failed shroud was magnetic. The lesson I learned is to ALWAYS bring a magnet along when replacing rigging.

 

[Ward H]

Scott, if it is the same rigger they used 3 years ago I saw the quote for lifelines for another 25 O'day. The installed cost was the nearly the same as my DIY quotes.
While much simpler to do I bought my rigging, set turnbuckles to match length of old rigging and installed while mast was down. Final tuning was part of stepping the mast cost in the spring.
That said I'm going to have the yard replace the forestay this spring so I am interested how you make out.

 

[Capt Robbie]

I was told that a good rule of thumb is $200 per cable for 30-35 foot boat. I sail in barnegat bay as well and I used seco south in Fl. To do my Hunter 34 standing rigging.
Cost me about $2600 with all new turnbuckles.
Just sent seco south one complete set of my rigging so they could duplicate it. Labeled everything as I removed it off the mast.
Not hard to do, saved approximately $500 just in yard tech hours.
Just had to pay to have mast stepped.
Shop around, I saved about $1800 and found seco south to be the cheapest even with the additional shipping costs.
I have heard that ocean gate is good, I did my own installation so info I was given was from Nelson marina were they send out there rigging to be fabricated.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[centerline]

after seeing the cost of what some have paid to have their rigging replaced, its kind of bothersome to realize how some people take advantage of others who either dont know or dont have the time to care....
if one is getting prices from a "marine" store, the prices will be a lot higher... this is a standard practice no matter where you are in the world.
but when using a general rigging supply shop that doesnt care where you are going to be using the rigging, the prices are much more affordable... Ive spent the last 30 years in the heavy lift crane and rigging industry, and I know that not all industrial rigging supply stores make up sailboat rigging, but those that do DONT charge a premium for it... and I believe their standards are higher due to the extreme liability they take on a daily basis for items that are very much more costly than even the most expensive sailboat...
but this route does require a DIY approach to the R&R of the rigging on the boat... which isnt hard to do at all if you have a way to get up and down the mast quickly and easily.

 

[CloudDiver]

If I could find a used swage machine for sale at a fair price I would buy it, but only under the right circumstances. New ones are around $4000. For a DIY guy, its only helpful when you make a replacement set and then you are good for 10 years. If I were in a sailing club/race team/yacht club etc., just generally around a bunch of sailors that I could help out and barter services with, then it might be worth it if I could get a quality swage machine for $1500 or less.