How can I be sure my rigging is good?

[scoobert]

It was maintained as little as they could.
Many things were jury rigged. Everything i have dicovered, has been fixed.
My favorite was the garden hose y valves on a raw water intake.
Also a lack of an automatic bidlge pump was shocking.

[builder dan]

Most of the strain while sailing is on your forestay backstays and your cap shrouds,most problems I have seen have been with cap shrouds,I would replace those just for peace of mind,cheapest way is with galvenised wire for a quick fix.

[barnakiel]

I have seen plenty of damage and failure from forestays too. Esp the furler bearing ones. Broken toggles, broken terminals, etc.

I would replace the forestay before any major offshore sail.

b.

[scoobert]

Just to update this I did manage to find a rigger.
He will be charging us $300 to do a top to bottom inspection on the entire rig
Just a small price to pay for the peace of mind.

[WebWench]

Very glad you decided to do this! Never skimp on safety!

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by WebWench

Very glad you decided to do this! Never skimp on safety!

I am sure we will be too. He offered a from the ground inspection for only $100. Seeing as how the rig is most likely from 1981, i passed.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by scoobert

I am sure we will be too. He offered a from the ground inspection for only $100. Seeing as how the rig is most likely from 1981, i passed.

So possibly 32 years old.
We will all be very interested in the rigger's report.
A detailed report of what & where the issues are would be much appreciated.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

So possibly 32 years old.
We will all be very interested in the rigger's report.
A detailed report of what & where the issues are would be much appreciated.

And entertaining?

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by scoobert

And entertaining?

Mostly......

[dive]

I just had my back stays shortened several inches to get the turn buckels back to center adjustment and I asked the rigging company how often the standing rigging should be replaced as I just bought the boat (build in 1982) and was not able to obtain any info on the age of it from the sellers. They said every 20 years atleast. I plan to go offshore next summer and don't want to take any chances so I am going to look into just replacing all the ends and not the entire cable as failure tends to be where the ends connect to the cable. I am hoping to save a boat load of $ and sleep good at night while offshore.

Rick

[Target9000]

The wire is cheap compared to the time and labor to replace or fix.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by Target9000

The wire is cheap compared to the time and labor to replace or fix.

+1

The wire is a small percentage of the total cost of the rigging......I thing the swage fitting and the labor is about the same as a mechanical fitting. So why go half assed and only change the ends?

[JPA Cate]

Dive,

Jim and I had a non-replaced baby stay wire fail in a seaway. It failed about 10 inches above the swage, and failure was due to oxygen-deprivation corrosion, that is to say, the outside was shiny and looked fine, but the inside of it was rust powder. Jim had to go aloft in 45 knots to repair it.

I do not think only replacing the end fittings will give you the safety you are looking for, because of the ways wire fails, and also the ways fittings fail. That hairline crack that you can barely feel with the blade of a sharp knife is in fact a serious flaw, and if that swage goes, your rig's in danger.

One ofther thing, Scoobert's rigger will probably tell him this, but you may not be aware of it: if you have roller furling and use sails partially rolled up, it puts weird loading on the wire, such that roller furler wires are often weakened about 8 inches below the swage, and often break up there. Now this need not necessarily result in the rig coming down: if you have room to turn down right now, and unload the wire, you may be able to get it and the sail safely on deck, and then drop the main and gently motor back home.

Frankly, I would no more trust 30 yr. old wire & cotter pins for offshore work than condoms kept with a porcupine!

Ann

[Hard A Lee]

This may be a bit off topic, but does everyone use swedges or some other fitting to terminate stays? I work with wire rope as part of my job and, personally, I would trust the integrity of a spliced eye with a thimble to attach to a turnbuckle more than a swedge fitting. There is really no way to inspect the inside of a fitting, so you must assume that it has been compromised. A spliced eye with fist grips or cable clamp backups are easy to inspect and don't provide space for unseen corrosion.

Is this a matter of the time it would take to make all the splices vs using fittings?

[dive]

I didn't realize that the wire itself was a minor cost compared to the fitting. If that's the case then it's a no brainer, every things goes as well as all the running rigging as I plan to under weigh at least 5 years or more. ching ching, why did I buy a boat???