Standing Rigging Is this Price Reasonable 1983Hunter31

teamjph · Jun 21, 2015

Go see Ted at Palm Harbor Marina. He is the dock master there and at Yacht Harbor, where we keep our 25 Oday. There is a live aboard there who is a rigger, and would surely help you out. Where did you have her hauled out?

markwbird · Jun 21, 2015

Too much

No. That's too much. I had my mast removed, stored for three weeks and then reinstalled for $500 total. No tuning and I prepped it ahead of time. I also need new standing rigging. They quoted me under 3k. I have a hunter 34. Very tall mast.

woodster · Jun 21, 2015

seco south in largo fl is the place to get your standing rigging they made it for hunter when it was still hunter ...i had all mine made for less than 900.00 and it is just right ...and that was with new open turnbuckle bodies

Alan Johnson · Jun 21, 2015

Standing Rigging replacement

When I had my H37C I replaced all the standing rigging for about 1K. It was done by Seco South in Florida. They actually made and installed the original rigging. A friend of mine also had his replaced but he took it all off the boat and mailed it to then. They replaced exactly and sent him his old rigging back. I also had Seco South make up all new lifelines for another boat, fast, neat and priced right. On a 31' boat, you should be able to raise and lower your mast with a gin pole. We have one at our yacht club and can easily raise and lower a mast on 32' boats that are keel stepped.

Alan Johnson C400

Steve Dion · Jun 21, 2015

woodster said:
seco south in largo fl is the place to get your standing rigging they made it for hunter when it was still hunter ...i had all mine made for less than 900.00 and it is just right ...and that was with new open turnbuckle bodies

I could not agree more with Woody on Seco South. Good quality and very reasonable price. Give them a call, they can give you an estimate over the phone. They made new life lines for our HV'36 for about 1/2 of what local riggers wanted.

VF84Sluggo · Jun 21, 2015

This kind of stuff is why I sold my sailboat...came to realize that buying a sailboat is one thing, affording one is a whole 'nuther thing.

teamjph · Jun 21, 2015

davejet said:
Bahia mar

Bahia Mar is just across the bayou from us. I'll be down there tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll ask around.

DianaOfBurlington · Jun 28, 2015

Davejet's standing and running rigging.

Dave, the problem here is that we're not seeing itemized bills.

You really should shop around for stuff like this. If the yard where your boat is prohibits your using anyone but their own people, though I hate to tell you, you picked the wrong yard. But few yards will be like that.

This yard sounds like he adds labor bills to his work. What is he charging $500 for new wiring for? --and then charging for disassembly and reassembly? How hard is it to screw down a light fixture? This is about 2-3 hours' work and the cost, plus his fair markup of 25-40%, of the wire and parts (assuming he gets 40-55% discounts from his suppliers-- this is trade standard and not subject to your negotiation). You might just buy the parts and wiring yourself. Geuninedealz.com sells raw on-the-roll wiring for like 1/3 of what WM charges and-- wait for it-- does not charge shipping. Anyone who charges shipping will be more expensive than this guy. He has US-made stock in Georgia.

On that note: Hella's LED tricolor is the cheapest good one I have found. The Aqua Signal 34-series are very nice but expensive. Lopolight are just astronomically costly; and there is always that matter of VHF-antenna RF interference, on which the jury is still out. A lighting fixture mounted on a pulpit can be changed any time. You can do with one for $34 and an LED bulb from Sailorsams and change the fixture every 2 years and still make out. Moreover you can do these yourself. For that matter, once the spar is down, you can do the mast wiring yourself too!

The standing rigging fee sounds high, but it most likely includes all machine-swage fittings and the swaging process for each one (both ends), new turnbuckles (always specify Merriman type!) and new clevis pins, cotter pins, roll pins, toggles, etc. None of this stuff is cheap. If your rigging is original from 1983 I do not doubt it has some crevice cracks; it doesn't matter if you see them or not because this rigging is statistically past its useful age anyway. Replace it. Much of the time you can reuse turnbuckle bodies (if they are bronze) and lower-end fittings; but once you go sailing have a few spares on board and routinely (at sea, twice a week, in port, every month) inspect them and be pessimistic about when to replace them.

Your crane fee sounds high. We have a guy here in NJ who does it for about $400/hour. For a simple sloop rig, he takes about half an hour; but his minimum is for an hour so we boat owners usually schedule 2 or 3 other boats at the same time and everyone shares the fee. You might see who else is pulling a spar in the same time frame. I don't like the yard charging you 4-5 man-hours' worth of labor for the help; if you call the crane yourself you are entitled to use your help, which can be mates with boats nearby or some guys you pay... on the sly. For example, I tend to help everybody with this and charge a steak sandwich and a beer for it. Figure the crane guy 'pulling the strings' and you and two others to help. (Sons-in-law, and sons-in-law-presumptive, are good for this. Just have a plan and a leader. It's not time for a committee.)

The running rigging fee sounds reasonable; but I don't know your boat's rig. Go to West Marine's web site and price it yourself. Then, shop around. A decent shop, to which you have to ship cordage (like Oyster Bay Boatyard, to whom everyone in the Northeast goes), will charge $16-$20 per double-braid splice. If your cordage is original, it's probably stretch-shrunk down a little, so if it appears to be between sizes, it's probably meant to be the bigger size. Make a list of the sizes and lengths (approximate, pessimistically, if necessary). Then shop this job and the standing-rigging one around the local sailmakers, who are almost always your best bet (and they need the work besides). Nothing wrong with buying the cordage yourself-- raw, on the roll, enough for the job, and then schlepping the 120-lb roll into your car and taking it to the splicers' (sailmakers'). Remember that mainsheets and jib sheets are less important-- they can be changed any time. Pole-control lines even less so. Anything in or up the spars: replace.

Best of all when you choose the cordage yourself you can choose the colors for the control and halyard lines. I usually specify these according to age-old accepted standards; but I can tell you that having all the same-color halyards is a recipe for confusion, even amongst seasoned racers.

Personally and professionally I avoid NER Sta-Set X as I have found it immeasurably hard to work with. The core is so stiff it just hockles up no matter what you do with it. People talk (and shop) like West Marine and New England Ropes are the only sources around. Both the Yale UULS that I have (from Fawcett's, Annapolis) and Sampson's age-old XLS (from Defender and anyone but WM) have more strength for the stretch and less stretch for the strength than SSX. And you can get either one from discounters (WM is never to be considered a 'discounter'). Again, shop around.

For my wallet, anyone to whom I can drive with the stuff in the back of the car, and whose hand I can shake, and whose shop I can smell, is worth way more than any place to which I have to ship rigging (imagine the freight bill-- both ways!) and never meet. That includes (especially) West Marine, who have only two shops, one each coast, to do this work. And this goes for all vendors I use for work (as opposed to common parts).

(If you are that worried, send me a copy of the itemized bill and I'll look at it. You'll owe me a steak sandwich and a beer. :dance