Go up SS. A Bosuns chair and a mate grinding you up, and you need to be able to do it in emergencies anyway. Might as well try it now in controlled conditions.

I think my main halyard sheave has gone square. I'll get the boys from Rigtech to
fix it. They put my Lazyjack saddles and blocks on and rigged the lines much cheaper
than I thought.

I'd say that unless you get vertigo from heights, you' d be better off doing yourself in the long run, as you will then know you can do it if an emergency occurred, and you had to go up and fix something away from the comforts of having dockside services available, good luck.

Good points all around. The youtube vids of the home made board with foot slots ( easy mast?) Is great. Id try this. At least ill go go up with easy mast system and in the bosuns chair with someone taking the dlavk on a winch. I can have a look and make a decision then. Replacing a norseman swage looks pretty simple which is one thing needs doing.

There's sta lok but it gets to expensive as you probably sell your boat before your next rigging

You brought new sheets and halyards before doing the standing rigging.
really.
you deserve to have to pay the rigger twice to pull the rig and do it properly.
Sorry

Dont understand?
Did you see the state of my main/jib halyards?
Riggings in way better nick and i did this on advice from a rigger so dont be quick to judge

lydia said...
You brought new sheets and halyards before doing the standing rigging.
really.
you deserve to have to pay the rigger twice to pull the rig and do it properly.
Sorry

What I think,
make the board with the footholds to climb the mast, only make the board thicker under where your feet go, as all your weight is pressing on a 12mm wide (or so) timber - wider is easier on the feet, unless you have strong soles to the boots. You can add a bosun's chair and a person to help, but the foot board will give your feet something to hold on to up there.

On the rigging, yes, replace the running rigging first, as that will haul you up there and hold you there, and be the back-up safety lines, etc.

The main way to save money depends on the rigging size. For 5mm wire or less, you can bend it around an eye if it is 7x7 or 7x19 wire. 1x19 is too stiff for bending around an eye. After that you can put in turnbuckles.
For my lower stays I did it in 5mm galvanised wire, at about $3 per metre, plus a dollar or 3 for the eyes and the same for the swages. The turnbuckles (stainless M8 or M10) cost me about $30 each. You could use stainless 7x7 wire if you prefer, up to $5 per metre at these sizes.

A friend put me on to galvanised wire, saying how cheap it was and that it was commercially commonplace for cranes and lifts/hoists, so will suit yachts. It did so in the older days, before shininess was paramount. But it still works today. Maybe you replace it after 7 years instead of the ten or so for stainless rigging.

I've swaged 6mm wire and it was far, far harder than anything up to 5mm. I use a hand swage tool, Bunnings sell the ones that do 1,2,3,4 and 5mm for about $90. You don't need a hydraulic press or to hire one or to have a shop do it.

OTOH Miami Stainless sell 6mm swageless terminals for $34 www.miamistainless.com.au/general-hardware/swage-terminals/swageless-terminals/12x120mm-s7810r-0612120 as well as wire www.miamistainless.com.au/wire-rope/per-metre and every other fitting.

Last year my 5 outer stays for a 28' boat, cost about $1550 for the shop to do the lot, including replacing 5 sheaves and pins.
So it all depends on the wire size and the terminals you have on the mast if you want to DIY with eyes and swages, or DIY swageless fittings, or just budget the figures quoted if you delegate it all to a shop.

I did not know you were Clark Kent!
There are several ways to approach this.
lets try the economic model first.
One broken halyard is worth $250 and the time to replace it while a dropped rig might be $20k And you don't have insurance cover about now.
now the engineering model
you don't know the age of the standing rigging but have not dye tested it yet it looks OK to you In the absence of x ray vision .
So in the absence of all data you tick it good Ignoring the life of the product.
now the seamanship model
a broken halyard means you can generally rig up a jury halyard even if it is the main halyard so the boat can still sail forward.
broken rig not so much.
you have already identified a spreader problem and a back stay defect.
Besides most rigs have a problem at the mast step these days that you will not fully see until it is lifted out.

Just bite the bullet and get it pulled out and then you know.

I am in the exact same position with most recent rebuild and as much as I want to avoid the cost and delay there is really one one answer.

If you are in Sydney, I can recommend Joe Walsh Rigging.
Joe and Sam did a lift out and replacement of standing and running rigging on my other boat two years ago and did superb work and right on the quote.

Ss, it the boat is a top hat the mast is deck stepped so there are any number of ways to drop the rig.
Even used a light pole at the end of a jetty one night to drop a rig and replace a main halyard.
i agree don,t just rely on a riig inspection.
But I would not expect any change out of $12k for a new top hat rig installed If you broke a mast.

that easy climb system is greeeat. i love that, thanks to you. i will watch these videos but up here in bundanoon its a tad chilly. time to light the fire! bet its a bit chilly in greenwell point????

thanks steve. youre on the TH forum right?

There is a lot to be said for doing things yourself to know that it is done right. I bought a cat with the mast part way rebuilt and stored at a rigging shop. New stays had been made already. I had the mast work finished and a rigger put the mast back up. While it was still looosely supported by a hiab I was tightening the stays, 1 failed completly as someone had only just caught the end of the wire when swaging it. If it had beeh a little stronger it would have failed while sailing and the mast would have gone over. We had to discard and replace all the new rigging as we could not trust it. Insurance generally requires new wires every 7 to 10 years , but I met a guy in Fiji 2 months ago on his second circumnavigation in his 46ft Wharram Ariki cat called Piggy. He built it himself in the 70s and it still has the original wire and 30 year old sails, the boat looked immaculate, and he had recently sailed Canada to NZ to Fiji. I will play safe and replace my 15 year old wire before going offshore, but keep some onboard as back up, It might be better than the new ones. Need to put up some new fittings to take extra halyards for a gennaker etc so mast will need to come down anyway.

tomooh said..
There is a lot to be said for doing things yourself to know that it is done right. I bought a cat with the mast part way rebuilt and stored at a rigging shop. New stays had been made already. I had the mast work finished and a rigger put the mast back up. While it was still looosely supported by a hiab I was tightening the stays, 1 failed completly as someone had only just caught the end of the wire when swaging it. If it had beeh a little stronger it would have failed while sailing and the mast would have gone over. We had to discard and replace all the new rigging as we could not trust it. Insurance generally requires new wires every 7 to 10 years , but I met a guy in Fiji 2 months ago on his second circumnavigation in his 46ft Wharram Ariki cat called Piggy. He built it himself in the 70s and it still has the original wire and 30 year old sails, the boat looked immaculate, and he had recently sailed Canada to NZ to Fiji. I will play safe and replace my 15 year old wire before going offshore, but keep some onboard as back up, It might be better than the new ones.

Unfortunately its too true. recently i had an engine rebuild on a motorbike that i was going to do myself but the company offered to supply the parts should i take it to one of their dealers. Bike came back with alot of oil leaks, parts that were replaced in the engine were stuffed again as a result of the mechanic leaving gaskets that didnt fit loose inside..So i payed for the labour, then had to pull the thing apart anyway and fix it properly. Now its done right.
My problem is i just dont trust anyone and its all based on these experiences.

hey SS my advice for what is worth, is , ...... get a quote from your local rigger to do the entire standing rigging . including the screw fittings at the deck level [ they are about $100 each ]

with stainless wire stranded rigging a visual inspection is not good enough, as you carnt see inside the fittings or the inside wire strands .

find a way to pay for it ! you will love you sailing for the next ten years !!! then do it again !!