Rod Rigging on '88 C&C 44

[Asteropd]

Does anyone know how many C&C 44's were made?
Does anyone know of any failed rod rigged 44's and if so what part failed.
Does anyone know how many '44 are still out there?

Is the forestay rod or wire?

I am trying to research if there is a requirment to change the rod rigging (1988) on a boat made that year. The boat is never raced, just cruised in the Caribbeam. wery well maintained.
I have read the Natvec recommondations, but want to know what has been the field experince in failures / or sucesses for the 44.

Any help woudl be appreiciated.

[Paul L]

Rod that old that has lived in the tropics should at least have a full inspection prior to any offshore work. The rod heads can be die tested and inspected for cracks along with all fittings. Probably new turnbuckles after this much time, as I don't think you can inspect the threaded elements. If you are in an area that normally drops the mast each winter then the process is not that complicated. Even if you find rod head cracks you may be able to just have the rod re-headed.

FYI this not anything magic about rod. Wire that old that lived in the tropics should also be fully inspected.

Paul L

[Asteropd]

Thanks Paul,

We are trying to determine the correct type of inspection. Visual, dye and Xrays are to only ones I know. Visually everything looks fine. Can the dye test be done on the heads without pulling the mast?

The rig is 20 years old, only crusing for the past 15.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Greenman]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of coin does replacing rigging cost? Using this C&C as an example? Clearly there are variable, but I am just looking for a ball park....$3-4K?? $5-6K? More? Yikes! LOL

[Asteropd]

i guess it about $10K

[CAELESTIS]

The new Navtec rod for my Centurion 49 was $9500.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Asteropd

Thanks Paul,

We are trying to determine the correct type of inspection. Visual, dye and Xrays are to only ones I know. Visually everything looks fine. Can the dye test be done on the heads without pulling the mast?

The rig is 20 years old, only cruising for the past 15.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Visual is not sufficient if you plan to use the boat offshore. Visual is something you should be doing on a regular basis. While you probably could die test the heads with the rig standing, the additional manpower costs would overwhelm the relatively cheap yard costs to drop the mast. Once down, the rig will get a much better inspection and if anything needs replacing, the replacement cost will be cheaper. You are only talking like $300 to pull the stick and lay it in the yard - YMMV. On my 1988 Rod rigged boat, I was happy with die testing. If you pay a Navtec trained rigger (a rigger who can read the Navtec guidelines) and get a complete die test with pictures and replace the turnbuckles and anything found wanting, , you may be able to use this with your insurance company to get rig coverage. Some insurance policies limit the age of the rig for coverage.

Paul L

[Turicum]

I have a 87 44 and it is # 20. My understqnding is that there were about 60 built.
I have about 90.000 miles on her about 40,000 offshore (5 Vic-Maui races -- 3,000+mn each way). 2 years ago I had the mast inspected -- part of our regular Spring prep. -- and we found some very large cracks in the area of the babystay tang as well as other areas.
We pulled the mast and had everything very carefully inspected. It was found that there were several poor welds in the origional production of the mast and the mast was subsequently repaired with new welding as well as external patches.
At the same time the rod rigging was inspected and the bottom shrouds were re-headded. On the 44s the bottom shrouds are the most highly loaded and require the most attention. All the other rod ends were cleaned and given a heavy coating of Lanacote.
We have subsequently done 3 Maui races and another 25,000 miles. without any problems.
Turicum is raced every second weekend and cruises about 5,000 miles a year.
The best change I have made in the boat was to install an inner forestay and fit a staysail. It is our #1 sale Offshore and we just roll out or furl the genoa to increase or decrease horsepower.

We have been through 70kt winds and have had the boat up to 18.9 kts. I have no concerns with the rod rigging but I do have big concerns with the mast construction. I see that some of the boats have removed the running backstays --- from my experiance that is just asking for trouble.

Hope that helps.

Cheers, hale

[Joli]

Here are some sources:

NAVTEC Rigging Solutions

I use these guys in Florida for some parts: Sailing Services - Rigging, Lifelines, Winches, Furling Systems, Supplies, Ropes Good guys.

I also contract Offshore Spar for service, good guys also and they built the spar. Offshore Spars - Carbon Fiber and Aluminum Mast Systems

We have a C&C 61 with rod and it is fine. It's got a couple miles on it but it has been checked and although I was going to replace the screws I was told it was not needed, save the money.

We also have an inner forestay, checks, and runners. We nail the rig down if we're gonna bounce around abit.

Lot's of 44 around, great boats, look in the C&C website for more info.
C&C Yachts - C&C Photo Album & Resource Center

Cheers, Joli

[Weyalan]

There is a well known IOR 1-tonner (Castro design) hereabouts that still has the mast and rod rigging from the 80's. They do get it inspected regularly though.

Replacing rigging might not be as expensive as you might think. I have a 40' 1-tonner and replaced the rigging last year... the mast stands roughly about 55' above the deck (3/4 fractional). We replaced shrouds (2 x cap, 2 x intermediate, 2 x lower) and forestay, all 8mm 316 stainless 1x19 for $AUD 2000 (this was onyl for the shrouds and swaged fittings on the ends, we retained the turnbuckles and will replace them next year to spread out the expense).

[Jonathan Boocock]

I have C&C 44 hull#18, located in Kingston, Ontario.
I believe my boat has 23 year old rod rigging. It is visually inspected each year at haulout and I plan to have it professionally inspected next year.

Hale,
Wrt your inner forestay I have considered doing the same and have a few questions.

1) I have a padeye in the deck for staysails (Genoa staysail, Spinnaker staysail) used by the original owner while racing . I do not see any added reinforcement in this area belowdecks and have wondered if it would be suitable to mount an inner forestay to carry a small jib for offshore sailing.
Did you add any additional reiunforcement for your inner forestay?

2) Did you make your inner forestay removable to allow easy taking with big headsails? If so, what kind of attachment system do you use to remove it?

3) Where did you attach the foresaty to the mast? I was thinking at the same height as the running backstays, Is this where yours is attached?

Thanks, jon

[Turicum]

Rod rigging: Update from earlier posting. 7th Vic-Maui coming up in July and we are going to replace the rod rigging. We had a failure of one of the intermediates due to an accidental gibe 2 years ago and just aren't prepared to chance it.
I don't thing the price is going to be too outrageous as we only need to buy 130ft of 5/16 rod 170ft of 1/4 rod. We can use the uppers to replace the lowers and all the other parts are re-usable. The main expense will be the threaded rod in the rigging screws but they are available at West.
During an inspection 2 years ago we did find a cracked ball fitting that was replaced but everything else was ok.
I should point out that the forestay was replaced 10 years ago - nothing to do with the rig and the back stay can just be lengthened a bit with the adjustable backstay.
If you want to stay safe, have the lower shrouds re-headed -- they are the most common to fail.
Cheers. hale