Standing rigging replacement cost

[BobM]

A while back I posted that I have acquired a double bend in my backstay after they pulled my boat. I contacted the marina and they plan to look at it when it safe to walk around the lot. I asked them if they do replacements and the answer was that they farm the work out to North East Rigging Systems.

I spoke to Kevin and he said replacement would be in the $1500-2000 range, depending on whether I went with swage or norseman fittings at the bottom. He recommended noresman. That doesn't include about $500 to drop the mast and put it back up. The other option, according to them, is to rent a cherry picker, but they recommended dropping it. My 9.2A has 1/4 inch wire, I believe, with double lowers and roller furling. The price sounds pretty reasonable, but to be frank it is a significant chunk of change in a bad economy.

I also didn't get much sailing in last year and if I do drop the mast it only makes sense to address a moisture issue at the base (mast wire passed thorugh without a fitting by a previous owner...metered out as moist, but not wet during the survey), fix the steaming light, touch up the black surface of the mast (I don't know whether it was painted or anodized, but it has been touched up with black in the past)...etc...etc...

I was really hoping to just enjoy the boat this year but this kinky backstay likely cannot be ignored for a season. It certainly doesn't make sense to drop the mast to replace just the one shroud or even just the uppers, if it is $500 to raise/lower the mast.

The rigger would like to do the job now, when he needs the work, but there is no easy way to drop the mast where she sits on the hard now in the middle of a pack of boats and that means at least the beginning of the season as it is.

Other options. There is a manual crane at the club and a friend of mine use to raise and lower the stick on his C30 all the time. It is certainly doable to drop the mast ourselves, but the boat would have to be on the water to get to the crane delaying my season again.

I have a friend who will go to the mast head. Depending on how the backstay is attached at the mast head it would be possible to have the rigger make up the top connection then do a norseman at the bottom ourselves. He would probably prefer the boat to be on the water before going up...he did the last time he went halfway up the mast of my 25 footer.

Sorry, still no photos of the damaged stay. I will be going to the boat next weekend and promise to snap one.

 

[Ron20324]

I went up the mast on a friend's runaway halyard on a C22 on the hard. The marina guy came out and said NO mast climbing on the hard. This, fortunately, was when I was done.

 

[sailaway78]

My .02

Go ahead and pull the stick and to it right. Get everything done that needs done while it is down. This is one area where you do not want to scrimp, or try to save a few bucks. You will be money ahead in the long run. I can tell you from experience, you do not want a stay breaking while you are sailing. And I would never go up a mast when the boat is on the hard.

 

[bobtigar]

1500-2000 sounds high...but it depends on the area..number of riggers avail to do the work. You can get an idea of the cost of materials from rigging.com. If someone will go up, you can take the back stay down, send it to them for an exact replacement. Typically norseman or stayloc fittings are approx $50 ea and the wire is $1+ per ft. Bob

 

[bobtigar]

Sorry, thats riggingonly.com in Fairhaven-in your back yard??? Bob

 

[sailingdog]

That's sound pretty expensive, even if they are doing the installation. I'd price it with rigging only as well... they're a good shop.

 

[Maine Sail]

Kevin..

Kevin is great and usually very competitive, NE Rigging is who I use for just about all my rigging. He can be a little flaky but knows his stuff inside and out. It's worth the drive for me to go all the way to Concord, MA. Jay Maloney up here in Maine is good too but is much more expensive.

You do not need Kevin to come and do the install so you can save some money there. Simply have the yard remove the spar and put it in supports or on saw horses. Remove each stay and mark where it came from, port upper, stbd upper, back stay etc. etc.. Remove and roll them carefully to about three foot circles and zip tie them so they don't go sproing! Put them in your trunk and drive them to Kevin in Concord, MA and he can duplicate them. Put the new ones back on where the old ones came off have the yard step the spar and you're done.

It is not advisable to go up the spar on the hard and remove one of the main supports or stays. If it were your lowers that's one thing but even with a halyard run as support I would not advise it especially on the hard. you'll need to pull the stick either way..

 

[Steve Dion]

You may want to contact Seco South in Fl. They quoted me about 1000-1200 for a 37.5 Hunter. I am sure that the Hunter has a lot more rigging than your 29 ft.'r

 

[Roger Long]

It is not advisable to go up the spar on the hard and remove one of the main supports or stays.

As the widow of a friend and former client can confirm.

 

[BobM]

Kevin was very nice and the price, a ballpark which I hope included installation and tuning, did not seem unreasonable . They will come out and inspect and provide a solid quote no problem. I just need a solid quote from my marina on dropping and raising the mast. My gut is telling me they will be close to $500 for both ways, based on quotes I got last year down in CT when I was considering moving the boat over land. Based on past experience, I know the only way to fly is to have the originals for comparison. (I have a nice set of lowers in a slightly thicker wire size for an L25 if anyone is interested, but the Gibbs tees are wrong too.)

It is just one of the unpleasantries of having a good old boat...sometimes you have to fix things when you'd rather not. After two months of weekends last year doing the drive train I'd really rather pass on a major repair this spring, but looks like I won't get a say in the matter! It is the totality of the think...not just the rigging...but knowing that I ideally should make a huge job of it while the mast is down and perhaps even paint the whole mast, rewire it, replace all the light fixtures, rewire it, check and replace the sheaves, check and repair the deck under the mast...etc...etc...etc...that is getting me down. (a) because I can't afford it and (b) just because I don't feel like spending 6-10 weekends fixng things that weren't on my list last fall and (c) I don't want to start my season the beginning of August again!

 

[NYSail]

Is that price for just the backstay?? I got a new backstay last year with all fittings for my P36-2 (51 ft mast) for $400+/-

 

[BobM]

NYSail...no that is for all 8...4 uppers and 4 lowers.

 

[BobM]

Finally. Made it out to the boat. Nice and dry, but I did have to shovel snow off my cover.

Here is the back stay bend I've been posting about.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Bob, why are you agonizing over this? Put it in the water, change out the backstay and go sailing. Maybe you lose a day. And if you are like me it will be a perfect day and all the guys will wave as you are up the mast and they are headed to open water.

You can have the wire ready for the top. Come down and put a Norseman on the bottom after you get the length right. In the fall pull the stick and you will have all winter to get the mast and boat and rigging(if needed) right for 2010(when the markets will be great after all the bailouts).

 

[Bob V]

I have heard there are no dumb questions...

so I'll go ahead and ask. Why is it more dangerous to go up the mast when the boat is on the hard? It seems to me that if you fall you will hit the boat in either case.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Wow, is that dumb or what? Nah, just kididng Bob. It does almost seem that it shouldn't matter. But it has to do with the support of the boat by the poppits or cradle. All the support is too close to the centerline. At the top of the mast there is too much leverage with all that weight to port and starboard. I think that you could compensate with a couple of sturdy lines around the spreader area securely tied way out to the side. But in most yards that would mean tying it to someone else's boat. Not a good idea. Anyway why play the odds?

 

[Steve Dion]

Hire the rigger and get it done. My friend in Fl. paid about $300 to have a stay replaced in the water.

 

[BobM]

At the moment, I am just waiting for warmer weather to get the free rigging inspection. The other thing is that it is a real waste, if I do drop the mast, to not address a number of other issues...moisture in the deck near the mast...touch up / paint the mast...fix the steaming light....the usual stuff. I'd really rather sail this season.

Worst case we will put her in the water, go up the mast and do just the back-stay and perhaps replace all the closed-body turn-buckles. I have a volunteer to go up the mast.

I am thinking that the bend might just have been imparted by the marina workers loosening the turnbuckle. If they couldn't get it to spin in both directions and were too stupid to realize what was happening above it would perhaps explain the damage to the stay.

BobM

 

[Ron20324]

so I'll go ahead and ask. Why is it more dangerous to go up the mast when the boat is on the hard? It seems to me that if you fall you will hit the boat in either case.

You could cause your boat to be unbalanced and cause it to fall on the next boat... then the next... then the next...

 

[sailingdog]

Bob—

There is no real righting moment for a boat up on stands. If the boat starts to tip...it will generally tip all the way over, since the only thing holding it up is a bunch of boat stands and some blocks under the keel—which are all very close to the centerline, once it starts to tip, rotational acceleration will take over and really bad things will happen. BTW, rotational acceleration can be significantly higher than gravitational acceleration alone...and the resulting impact forces much higher.

The only boats that this isn't true of is large multihulls, where the beam of the boat is such that there is very little risk of going up the mast on the hard. BMW Oracle Racing's new trimaran is 90' wide and 90 LOA...so if it were on the hard, it would probably be fairly safe to go aloft on that boat's mast.

so I'll go ahead and ask. Why is it more dangerous to go up the mast when the boat is on the hard? It seems to me that if you fall you will hit the boat in either case.