Replacing standing rigging/chainplates on B27 while in the water

[chowdan]

Hey everyone.

I recently bought a B27 over the weekend. She is my first boat! Super stoked to get her out on the water and what she can do!

She is in dire need of new chainplates, and probably standing rigging(this part is up in the air).

I know the B27 has a deckstepped mast, however i do not want to haul her out to have the rigging done. I'd prefer to do it while in the water. Does anyone have any resources of this being done?

I know since she isn't a keel-stepped, the rig can't free-stand, however can i use halyards to support the mast while i do 1 at a time?

Also does anyone have good resource on where to get new chainplates and standing rigging? I do live in Seattle, so maybe a local shop?

Thanks!

[roverhi]

Have done most of the rigging on my boat in the water. Use a halyard to support each stay/shroud as you work on that wire. If the boat has fore and aft lower shrouds, the mast will be fine with just those shrouds holding the mast up. Don't thingk I'd want to go to the top with only those shrouds supporting the mast on a 27' boat though. It's doubltful that a keel stepped mast will stand without some support from shrouds/stays if there are any side loads on the mast. All keel stepped masts do is provide another puka for water to get below decks. Can hear the keel stepped uber alles fanatics grumbling already.

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Have done most of the rigging on my boat in the water. Use a halyard to support each stay/shroud as you work on that wire. If the boat has fore and aft lower shrouds, the mast will be fine with just those shrouds holding the mast up. Don't thingk I'd want to go to the top with only those shrouds supporting the mast on a 27' boat though. It's doubltful that a keel stepped mast will stand without some support from shrouds/stays if there are any side loads on the mast. All keel stepped masts do is provide another puka for water to get below decks. Can hear the keel stepped uber alles fanatics grumbling already.

Thanks for that response! I've heard from multiple people its doable while the boats in the water.

We are in a marina, so i am not too worried about chop while doing this. Our boat doesn't have lower shrouds, only the main ones running from the top fore and aft.

When rigging up a halyard to support each stay/shroud, where are they typically attached? To where the shroud/stays are? Or in another location? When doing them, do you typically rig up halyards for each one, get the tension on them then loose the shroud/stays to pass the load over the halyard then do one at a time? Or do you typically just do one halyard for the stay/shroud that you are actively working on?

[Stumble]

Replacing the chainplates without dropping the mast isn't a huge deal. Just run all your halyards to the deck and attach them as close to the chainplate to be replaced as possible, then tension the halyards up. This takes the strain from the shroud, and places it on the halyards instead.

There is absolutely no way to replace the shrouds with the mast up however. You are talking about putting someone's life at risk with a partially supported mast while you place extremely unpredictable loads on the halyards holding the mast in place. And since you need at least two halyards to go up the mast (primary and backup), you have also cut the a aunt of support for the mast down substantially.

All this to avoid a very cheap and easy job of taking down the rig?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by chowdan

Our boat doesn't have lower shrouds, only the main ones running from the top fore and aft.

If it's a Bristol 27, it should have lower shrouds.

[Jim Cate]

Umm... what's a "B-27"? Sounds like a WW2 bomber to me...

And FWIW, I've replaced the standing rigging on our last two boats, one wire at a time.

But they were larger (36 and 46 feet) and had keel stepped masts... and yes, I believe that in this respect it does make a difference, others opinions notwithstanding.

Jim

[Uncle Bob]

32 Fisher with a deck stepped mast, had rigger replace all standing rigging, done with mast up one wire at a time. Everything survived just fine, including the young and agile guy that went up the mast to fit and remove individual sections.

[tartansail]

We had a spreader come loose on our B-27 many years ago. We used a halyard to stabilize the mast and I hauled my wife up the mast to put the spreader back in place while on a mooring with 2 foot chop and 25 knots of wind. After that I would be fine with using a halyard while working on chain plates or the lower end of the shrouds. It took a while for my wife to forgive me, though.


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[chowdan]

Originally Posted by thomm225

If it's a Bristol 27, it should have lower shrouds.

Ahhh yes it totally does, my mistake!

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by chowdan

Ahhh yes it totally does, my mistake!

Just wanted to make sure you weren't going to try and sail without them.

[Only Time]

If you are going to replace your chainplates, you can get them at GarhauerStore dot com. They make chainplates for production boats and will also make custom chainplates. Good luck with the project.

[Mithril Bham]

Doable but would recommend hauling. Almost got killed last year when helper released shrouds by mistake. Much larger and heavier mast. Would include photo of the hole it put in my head but don't want to gross you out. If possible pull the mast, inspect everything and do it right.

[SpiritofGlenans]

Originally Posted by Stumble

Replacing the chainplates without dropping the mast isn't a huge deal. Just run all your halyards to the deck and attach them as close to the chainplate to be replaced as possible, then tension the halyards up. This takes the strain from the shroud, and places it on the halyards instead.

There is absolutely no way to replace the shrouds with the mast up however. You are talking about putting someone's life at risk with a partially supported mast while you place extremely unpredictable loads on the halyards holding the mast in place. And since you need at least two halyards to go up the mast (primary and backup), you have also cut the a aunt of support for the mast down substantially.

You've got the main halyard, the jib halyard, the spinnaker halyard, the boom topping lift, the spinnaker pole uphaul and possibly another spare halyard to play with, so you can use a selection of these lines to secure the mast on the side on which you wish to work, while still leaving sufficient lines for hauling up your bosuns chair and having a safety line. Additionally you can use your anchor and chain, plus water containers, diesel jerrycans and any other heavy objects to heel the boat over to the relevant side, so that there is actually no load on the shroud being removed, nor the halyards etc which are temporarily replacing it. Alternatively you can take a halyard and attach it to a cleat on the opposite side of the pontoon (probably using an extending piece of rope), to provide both extra leverage and heel at the same time.
Or, you could do what the French do; attach the halyard to the next pontoon and haul away on the winch until the boat is lying on her beam ends, then work on anything you like at the top of the mast without going aloft at all!

[chowdan]

Originally Posted by SpiritofGlenans

You've got the main halyard, the jib halyard, the spinnaker halyard, the boom topping lift, the spinnaker pole uphaul and possibly another spare halyard to play with, so you can use a selection of these lines to secure the mast on the side on which you wish to work, while still leaving sufficient lines for hauling up your bosuns chair and having a safety line. Additionally you can use your anchor and chain, plus water containers, diesel jerrycans and any other heavy objects to heel the boat over to the relevant side, so that there is actually no load on the shroud being removed, nor the halyards etc which are temporarily replacing it. Alternatively you can take a halyard and attach it to a cleat on the opposite side of the pontoon (probably using an extending piece of rope), to provide both extra leverage and heel at the same time.
Or, you could do what the French do; attach the halyard to the next pontoon and haul away on the winch until the boat is lying on her beam ends, then work on anything you like at the top of the mast without going aloft at all!

That is all very good ideas! I never thought about weighing down one side to force the opposite shrouds to take all the weight while replacing one side.

I dont think i have enough room in the marina to do a good 40-90 degree heel using a winch at my current slip, however that is an incredibly genius idea!

[Cruiser2B]

I recommend taking mast down and just doing it all at once.

I had the same idea to do it one at a time, glad I didn't. Especially when fabricating chainplates.

I left boat in water, i took boat over to local marina that lifts smaller power boats into a shed(boatel). Talked with the forklift guy, gave him a 12pack and marina $50 and they lifted my mast off for me...took 15min

I made up sling and lifted mast a spreaders, mast was pretty balanced at that point of the mast, slightly bottom heavy because of winches. Anyway, I tied a rope to bottom of mast and as he lifted and weight came off mast step, i took out clevis pins(loosened everything up first). He lifted mast clear of the boat and I kept mast from swinging with rope tied at bottom.

It went smooth