2017 Standing Rigging Replacement

Well it had to be done at some time!

It is recognised that standing rigging should be replaced every 10 years and insurance companies may require it. As Grace is a 2006 boat we were looking down the barrel of this particular stainless steel shotgun and decided to pull the trigger at the start of 2017.

This was "encouraged" along by Pav, our rigger from RigitUK (Southampton) who we had originally engaged to install the additional solent stay needed for our hard wind jib. Pav performed a general rig inspection and warned of general rig age, fitting wear and swelling out of tollerance on the swage terminals.

Mast Removal

At this point you become a passenger in an expensive process. I am not sure you can just ignore such advice and so down the rabbit hole we went.

We sailed up Southampton water to Rigit's HQ where Grace was de-masted for a complete standing and running rigging replacement.

New Rope Stock in Preparation

Much of the rope stock on board was UV damaged and aged and so we took the opportunity to replace the lot with low stretch cruising dyneema.  

Mast Inspection

While the mast was down I was able to repair and service the radar and re-powdercoat the radar bracket. I also changed the mast hear anchor light and tricolour over to LED.

Old Rigging 

Old Turnbuckles Replaced

Strange Mastless View

An unexpected additional cost resulted from us deciding to sack off the old Furlex furling system and replacing it with a brand new Profurl 350. The old unit needed major bearing parts replacing and looked to be an uneconomic repair.

The total damage cost wise was in the region of £6200 inc VAT for the main standing and running rigging parts and labour. The Profurl  added another £2200 inc VAT so the total pain added up to around £8400 for the full job.

New Rigging in Prep

Everything seemed to work well. The boat was left to stand for a week or so with the rig set to basic tension. At this point everything settles in and any movement and stretch comes out of the wires.

The Rigit team returned before we put the sails back on to bring the rig to final tension.

I have since put a couple of turns on the lowers as the downwind pair were just going slack in 25 knot plus winds. We have also put a little more tension in the forestay so we can get the desired upwind genny shape without mast bend.

As the main is in mast furling it is best to have as straight a mast as possible when the correct backstay tension is brought on.

More New Rigging