Re-Rigging; Should we go synthetic?
Bill Duning
G P
Bill,
I don't have direct experience with what you are trying to do. I will say that I have seen significant stretch
of the existing stainless cable with beam seas. I would be afraid of synthetic stretch.
I would ask Colin Mack of Mack Sails, Stewart Florida this question. He will have the experience to answer
you directly. They rebuilt my standing rigging a few years back, and did a very nice job of it.
Pete
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2016 9:21 AM
To: saintf...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Saint Francis OG] Re-Rigging; Should we go synthetic?
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Bill Duning
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G P
Bill,
I should give more background. I was in West Palm at the Cracker Boy boatyard, hauled out for a bottom job & various
other projects. I was about to return my boat to the Bahamas when one of the Mac Sails riggers noticed I had a
crack in one of the main turnbuckles big enough to stick a thumbnail into. I also was down to 3 strands of stainless
on the top spreaders. I really didn't have much of a choice, since insurance does not cover this kind of maintenance
neglect.
Mac sails came & took the mast and all standing rigging from my boat back to their facility. They sand-blasted the
mast & boom to bare metal & re-painted with some kind of special anodyzing paint. Rust accumulates on the mast
around the little rivets, bubbleing the paint with corrosion. They fixed all that.
They replace all standing rigging right down to the chainplates, which they re-fabricated as well. They appeared to
replace with exact duplicate hardware (new material, of course) all rigging. They also removed a pre-existing TV
antenna from the top of the radome, and serviced that as well. The Furuno radar, though a bit dated, was still
working fine when I sold the boat last year.
My only complaint, really, was that they sent out a junior rigger to replace the running rigging. He thought it was
fine to replace 3 of the halyards with the exact same pattern line. Mac sails promptly replaced those lines so I had
a different pattern on each line - Helps in identifying the lines in tense situations, don't you know.
So bottom line, I don't know exactly what the standing re-rigging cost as part of the entire package. Colin could look
up the "Obelix job" from a few years back and quote you, when you talk to him.
Colin knows St. Francis rigging, at least one example I am sure of. He also handles a lot of other sailboats of various
makes. He knows a lot about sailboats and rigging, and is in general a nice person to talk to, if a trifle busy all the
time. He does return voicemails though. I would give you his number, but I purged it after selling my boat, thinking
I would have little need of talking to Colin in the future. My mistake. He is easy enough to locate with internet tools
though.
Sometimes it is less what you know and more who you know.
It is my experience that nothing stands up to UV like stainless steel. Nothing. But even stainless weathers and ages.
Obelix was 20 years old when I sold her. That is enough time for even stainless to age. You talked about re-using
your hardware. For the price of a turnbuckle, even one in stainless steel, it can buy a lot of peace of mind. You will,
at some point, be in a situation that stresses your rigging. I would not want the added worry of used hardware at
that point. But that is just me.
Good Luck,
Pete
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Subject: Re: [Saint Francis OG] Re-Rigging; Should we go synthetic?