How much for standing rigging inspection?

[Dr. D]

I believe the standing rigging on our 2001 boat is original. So, time for an inspection. The boat is in Herrington Harbour North, Deale, MD, USA. About how much such an inspection cost?

[robert sailor]

Depending on what the riggers hourly rate is..he should be able to inspect your rig in an hour or so. R

[Calif.Ted]

The rigger I use charges $80/hr. with 1 hour minimum for work aloft, probably an hour to inspect only, probably 2 to inspect, make minor corrections (missing cotter pins etc.) maybe a minor tune.
I'd expect $160 to $200 if you want a formal written inspection report or rigging survey.

[Polux]

On a 16 year old rig a replacement is on order assuming the boat was normally used. On an inspection you can see if there are faulty parts but not if the metal has fatigue.

The problem is this:

"Stainless steel has a finite number of cycles — essentially, movements, whether fore and aft or side to side. “The *theory is that it can take 10 to 15 years of cycling, but this continual motion when it’s unloaded is what fatigues the wire,” Madden says. “There’s no real way of measuring that. Die testing won’t pick it up, and it’s rare that a wire will give you warning before breaking.”

“There’s a rule of thumb, but it varies rigger to rigger,” says Steve Madden, co-owner of M Yacht Services in Annapolis and the head of its M Rigging division. “My belief is that you should be replacing your standing rigging every 10 to 15 years.” But this time frame also is variable, depending on the boat’s purpose and use. For instance, for an offshore bluewater boat, Madden recommends 10 years, and for a serious coastal cruiser, more like 12....
https://www.cruisingworld.com/replacing-your-rigging

Most insurance companies consider that the rig cables should be changed each 10 years. They may not tell you but if the mast comes down and if the rig has more than 10 years they will not pay or pay you very little considering that the boat was not adequately maintained.

"The first time most people realise something is wrong with their rig is when something breaks,’ says Dennis Fisher of Advanced Rigging....
‘Think of a rig as a coat hanger,’ says Dennis. ‘You can repeatedly bend a coat hanger vigorously and it’ll break quickly, or you can work it slowly for a long time – but it will still break. Standing rigging is the same. Even if your boat has been hardly used for 10 years, it will still have the potential for something to break when you least expect it.’

Insurance companies generally recommend that you replace your standing rigging after 10 years – and most riggers agree that this is a reasonable life expectancy. ‘It’s impossible to tell exactly how long rigging will last,’ says Dennis, ‘but there’s a lot you can do to ensure you spot any problems early enough.’"
Read more at How to check your rigging - Practical Boat Owner

They are talking about cable, rod last less. The riggers recommend the substitution after 8 years. On cable I would say that if your insurance company does not insist 12 to 15 years, if the boat is not hard used extensively, it would be the right time to change. 15 only if the boat is very lightly used.

You have on your boat a 16 year old rig, 17 year old on next sailing season. I would say that is more than time to change it.

[billknny]

Definitely a second on Polux's comments.

Inspecting a 16 year old rig is a waste of money. It needs to be replaced. The problem with stainless is that you can not inspect it and prove it is good to go. It can fail without warning.

[Sailmonkey]

A third on Polux’s comments.

Don’t inspect the rigging, put the money into replacement.

[Dr. D]

Well then, what is the cost for replacing the standing rigging?

[kmacdonald]

I think it's pretty rare for rigging to be changed even at 15 years. There are plenty, if not the majority, of 25 or 30 year old sailboats with original rigging. I rarely hear of boats losing their mast and when you do it's usually racing boats or in a bad thunderstorm with full sails up. Now if you are crossing oceans, 15 years might be a good idea.

[kmacdonald]

A rational way to look at rigging is that it has 19 strands and not all will break under fatigue at the same time. If there is a broken strand the wire should be replaced. Beyond that you are listening to fear mongers looking for work IMHO.

[robert sailor]

Rigging life can be difficult to be sure of...offshore sailing crossing oceans in the tropics is going to give you the shortest life, cycles as per Polux is something that has to be taken into account. Harsh sun and salt water can reduce the life as well. If a person is living in areas that get lots of rain and the boat is only used on weekends for half the year then yes the rigging will quite likely last much longer.

[robert sailor]

Also keep in mind that almost all rigging failures will happen at the fittings and in most cases you won't see anything broken. What you might see is a fine cracked swage due to corrosion deep inside the fitting and it causes the fittings to expand thus cracking. Look very carefully at the fittings, that's where a rigger will spend his time. R

[Calif.Ted]

Originally Posted by Dr. D

Well then, what is the cost for replacing the standing rigging?

$1600 to $2500 for parts and $600 to $1000 labor. I have no intentions of replacing the rigging on my '02 boat anytime soon. Raced weekly and sailed 4 days/week year round, Pacific ocean.

[rbk]

One note regarding cycling that hasn’t been mentioned is how well tumm d your current rig is and how well it has been runner over it’s life span. If regulalry tuned and inspected the life span could greatly be increased. If it’s been neglected and subjected to shock loading even mildly its life span could be counted in months. Re-rig will run you around 7 grand (US) if no major issues encountered or you can get to know your rig really well and go swagless fittings do the labor yourself and do it for under 2. Our current boat has most of its original rigging and the T toggles fell apart in-tensioning the turnbuckles. Shock loading was evident in some of the upper slots as well. Had I left it and we hit the 60knt plus winds on our trip north I’m certain I’d have left my mast enroute and I’d be buying all new spars and rigging.

[Sealife74]

I have seen side stay wire that looked perfect on the outside, but it totally snapped near the chain plate fitting.
Inside was rusted and wrecked, outer looked fine!

[valhalla360]

Fatigue damage is a factor but the idea that it's light to moderate loads that do the fatigue damage is completely wrong.

Fatigue cycles varies based on the percentage of strength that the item is placed under.
- At 99% of breaking strength, you may only get a few dozen cycles before it fails.
- At 10% of breaking strength, you may be a few billion cycles.

The exception would if you leave the rigging so floppy it bends and twists a lot. In that case, the surface layer of individual strands may be experiencing a high percentage of break strength while other areas experience almost none but once that outer material is weakened, it can progress. As noted the early fatigue damage is largely invisible.

Most failures are corrosion based though unless you are really pushing the rig hard.