32-3 standing rigging replacement Puget Sound

[Puget sailor]

Now that I have my mainsail on order for my 1985 32-3 up at UK in Sidney BC, it's time to think about my completely original standing rigging, or at least it seems to be. Up here in chilly and rainy Puget Sound, where my boat has always been, these things tend to last much longer than warmer and saltier climates, but it does seem like I'm well past living on borrowed time. No signs of corrosion or cracks at deck level, but I have not gone up the mast to inspect the t-fittings, which seem to be subject to a lot of bending fatigue. To play it safe and be comfortable pushing the boat hard next season, it seems prudent to refresh all the wires, which likely also means turnbuckles and perhaps the u-bolts on deck.

Anybody have a suggestions for a a good blend of competence/quality/cost in this region? I'm feeling pretty committed to sticking with first world terminals and turnbuckles and stuff, which at the moment looks like Hayne out of Connecticut. I just don't have confidence in Chinesium metal, which appears to be out there. Wire might have to be foreign sourced, but that's not usually a point of failure near as I can tell, so I'm a bit less worried about that.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with a particular rigger in the Washington Oregon area, and if any recent pricing can be shared.

I'd most likely pull the mast myself using the crane at my yacht club, and then strip the rigging and send for replication, then restore the rig myself too. So that also opens up the possibility of a wider geographic range for riggers if the shipping makes sense.

I guess another possibility would be to die test everything, and not replace unless called for, but at this age, it seems to a dubious way to go?

 

[Kenneth K]

If you're not opposed to doing the work yourself, you can pull entire shroud/stay assemblies, bring them to West Marine's rigging shop in Seattle, and they will duplicate with new. They use Hayn products.

Not all the parts Ericson used are replaceable with off-the-shelf hardware. See:

Replaced your SS Standing Rigging? What did you do?

Just got the first half of my stainless rigging back from West Marine. The new stuff is very high quality. Problem is, the original Ericson rigging was a mismatch of sizes. The deck u-bolts (chain-plate attachments) vary between .460-.480" in diameter (averaging out to just about 12mm). The...

ericsonyachts.org

 

[bigd14]

and then strip the rigging and send for replication

I had very good service from Rigging Only on the east coast. I sent them the old rigging with some photos and notes of end fittings. Very good email communication back and forth and a phone call from them to clarify a few things, and a reasonable price for complete replacement including turnbuckles. Everything fit perfectly. Highly recommend.

Sailboat Rigging,Hardware & Accessories | Rigging Only's Online Store

Rigging Only is dedicated to providing quality sailboat hardware and sailboat rigging at affordable prices to sailors through out the world

www.riggingandhardware.com

Also Garhauer for new U-bolts.

 

[Nick J]

I've asked around quite a bit and have had the best luck with Northwest rigging in Anacortes and Brion Toss in Port Townsend. Northwest has done some chain plate inspections and I bought my Spartite kit from them. They were really helpful and willing to work with people who liked being involved in the project. I haven't actually replaced any of the rigging yet though.

Brion Toss rigging is great as well and always worth a stop if you're in the area (unfortunately Brion passed a few years ago), but more difficult to get to for me in Everett. Port Townsend rigging was really helpful and fun to talk to at the boat show, but every time I've called since they've been really difficult to work with.

 

[Frank Langer]

If you are taking your boat to Sidney, BC to pick up your new UK sails, there is a well known, reputable rigging shop just up the road, a ten minute boat trip, called Blackline Marine. I had my forestay replaced by them and they did it quickly, at less cost than their quote, and the rigger had 18 years experience there and was very professional. They would even have sent a rigger to UK Sails if I couldn't get my boat to them on my own.
Frank

 

[bumbugo]

For sure use Garhauer for the the u-bolts.

 

[Bolo]

Now that I have my mainsail on order for my 1985 32-3 up at UK in Sidney BC, it's time to think about my completely original standing rigging, or at least it seems to be. Up here in chilly and rainy Puget Sound, where my boat has always been, these things tend to last much longer than warmer and saltier climates, but it does seem like I'm well past living on borrowed time. No signs of corrosion or cracks at deck level, but I have not gone up the mast to inspect the t-fittings, which seem to be subject to a lot of bending fatigue. To play it safe and be comfortable pushing the boat hard next season, it seems prudent to refresh all the wires, which likely also means turnbuckles and perhaps the u-bolts on deck.

Anybody have a suggestions for a a good blend of competence/quality/cost in this region? I'm feeling pretty committed to sticking with first world terminals and turnbuckles and stuff, which at the moment looks like Hayne out of Connecticut. I just don't have confidence in Chinesium metal, which appears to be out there. Wire might have to be foreign sourced, but that's not usually a point of failure near as I can tell, so I'm a bit less worried about that.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with a particular rigger in the Washington Oregon area, and if any recent pricing can be shared.

I'd most likely pull the mast myself using the crane at my yacht club, and then strip the rigging and send for replication, then restore the rig myself too. So that also opens up the possibility of a wider geographic range for riggers if the shipping makes sense.

I guess another possibility would be to die test everything, and not replace unless called for, but at this age, it seems to a dubious way to go?

Chesapeake bay sailor here so I can’t help with rigging source recommendations in you’re area but you might want to reconsider removing the mast yourself. After a rigging inspection (by a qualified rigger) I was told that there were a lot of problems with the mast and age of the standing rigging all of which I won’t go into here but I can say that the list was a long one. So it was time to bring the mast down and address all of the problems and replace all of the original standing rigging on a 1987 boat. Like Clint Eastwood once said in a movie, “Every man has got to know his limitations“, I knew mine and taking the mast down by myself or even with the help of some friends was, to me, not and option. So, I called on the yard to do all of the work which is now in progress. If you want to se a mast removed from an E32-3 then click on this link to go to my YouTube video:

All in all the parts and labor are estimated to cost about $10k which may sound like a lot (because it is) but my well being is worth more then that to me so it’s worth the investment IMHO.

 

[fixntheboat]

I'm currently sending my rigging to Chris Baily with altitude rigging in Stuart Florida.

 

[bumbugo]

Chesapeake bay sailor here so I can’t help with rigging source recommendations in you’re area but you might want to reconsider removing the mast yourself. After a rigging inspection (by a qualified rigger) I was told that there were a lot of problems with the mast and age of the standing rigging all of which I won’t go into here but I can say that the list was a long one. So it was time to bring the mast down and address all of the problems and replace all of the original standing rigging on a 1987 boat. Like Clint Eastwood once said in a movie, “Every man has got to know his limitations“, I knew mine and taking the mast down by myself or even with the help of some friends was, to me, not and option. So, I called on the yard to do all of the work which is now in progress. If you want to se a mast removed from an E32-3 then click on this link to go to my YouTube video:

All in all the parts and labor are estimated to cost about $10k which may sound like a lot (because it is) but my well being is worth more then that to me so it’s worth the investment IMHO.

Hi Bob,

Nice video of pulling the mast. This is a next step for us too! A little shocked at the cost (I guess I shouldn't be it's a boat, right). Are you having to replace more than the standing rigging?

 

[peaman]

A little shocked at the cost

One year ago, in southeast CT, I had a rigger do extensive work including painting spars and installing new electronic components on the mast, etc, along with all new standing rigging. The two line items for just the standing rigging fittings and wire totaled only $3200. The mast was pulled and restepped by the marina (a requirement there for winter storage), so I don't have that separate cost. So before sweating the cost too much, check around and get a quote or two.

 

[Kenneth K]

W. Marine estimated a little over 3K to make all my new shrouds, stays, turnbuckles and toggles. That's with me doing all the labor and drop-off/pickup from the local shops.

 

[nquigley]

W. Marine estimated a little over 3K to make all my new shrouds, stays, turnbuckles and toggles. That's with me doing all the labor and drop-off/pickup from the local shops.

That's only a little above my costs through WM 2 years ago (swaged terminals) - I did all standing rigging except the forestay.

 

[Bolo]

Hi Bob,

Nice video of pulling the mast. This is a next step for us too! A little shocked at the cost (I guess I shouldn't be it's a boat, right). Are you having to replace more than the standing rigging?

Oh yes, replacing more then the standing rigging. New anchor light fixture, VHF antenna and cable, new mast head unit (and apparent wind gauge at helm), all new sheaves and related hardware, spreader boots, replacing all in mast wiring, new boom vang with line going back to the cockpit, new spinnaker and jib halyards and replacement of wire topping lift that I use for my whisker pole or use for a spinnaker pole. After all that the yard will return the mast to the boat and install all the standing rigging. Later, in the spring, adjustments to the rigging will be made under sail. Plus there is some corrosion on the mast that needs to be addressed.

Visited the yard office yesterday to nail down repair details and to pickup the new Raymarine apparent wind gauge so I can mount it into the OEM pod at the helm. I‘ve attached photos when I was there of the very old and worn out anchor light, top of the mast minus the VHF antenna and old Datamarine mast head unit, some corrosion spots and finally the base that the mast sits on at the keel. It had an unbelievable amount of crud in it most of which I scrapped out with my fingers and the rest I wire brushed and vacuumed out after it dried. Now I know why water would partially fill up in the mast only to be drained after I used a butter knife to clean out the drain slot at the aft end of the base. As for the old Datamarine equipment DMI has offered me $50 for the masthead unit (it worked before the mast removal but the connector is broken), which they refurbish and re-sell for $850. The apparent wind gauge, which does wok too, will come out and either go on eBay or to a lucky EYO sailor who can have if for just the shipping cost (contact me).

 

[light24bulbs]

So I just went through this with my 30 plus and I can tell you about it. There's a yard in Seattle called CSR that is one of the more upscale yards. I had them pull my boat and is part of the overall service they're taking the mast down. I only need new shrouds and my boat is a little smaller so the quote is less, but they quoted me $2,200 in materials alone for the new rigging. Rigging only online quoted me only 900 bucks, which is great. A local rigger through fishery supply in Seattle, which is basically the best marine store, is charging me 1500. This seemed like a good middle ground where I could still have somebody local to deal with. So the main yard is taking the mast down for me and then they're taking the old rigging over to fishery supply, which is just down the street.

The only weird thing to be aware of on my boat is that the chain plates are u-bolt style, which is definitely old school. They're all 3/8 around, so you need to make sure that the toggles will actually fit over the chain plates. A little strange. There's threads about it on here.

Another weird thing is that the old rigging from Ericsson (which honestly looks a lot higher quality than the new stuff) has rounded bottoms that are designed for the u-bolts. The new ones are just a pin. Hopefully that's okay.

 

[bgary]

Another weird thing is that the old rigging from Ericsson (which honestly looks a lot higher quality than the new stuff) has rounded bottoms that are designed for the u-bolts. The new ones are just a pin. Hopefully that's okay.

It's not OK. The original design used a toggle to spread the rigging load across the surface of that u-bolt. and then the toggle was connected to the turnbuckle with a pin that spread the load over the upper surfaces of a circular hole.

Using just a pin means that the rigging loads will be "point-loaded" - concentrated on a very small area where the uppermost surface of a round pin meets the flat inside surface of the u-bolt, which is itself rounded in the other direction. That means all the load will be at one really small place, leading to (at least) distortion and (possibly) premature failure.

Lots of good info (thanks, Kenneth!) in this thread:

Replaced your SS Standing Rigging? What did you do?

Just got the first half of my stainless rigging back from West Marine. The new stuff is very high quality. Problem is, the original Ericson rigging was a mismatch of sizes. The deck u-bolts (chain-plate attachments) vary between .460-.480" in diameter (averaging out to just about 12mm). The...

ericsonyachts.org

 

[southofvictor]

I’m headed to Blackline in Sidney in January for rig work, it’ll be my first time with them but they came highly recommended. Glad to hear you concur @Frank Langer . I’ll document and post in a blog.