Standing rigging

[Richard Treadwell]

Hello all - although our standing rigging looks good visually, it's over 10 years old, so we're strongly considering replacing it before sailing the Race to Alaska in June.  It gets pretty remote up north and we want to sleep easy!

Any tips or suggestions?  Should we just measure the old rigging?  Or should we specify a length for the forestay and measure the rest?  Or specify all of it?  

Chainplates all look good so we were not planning on rebedding anything.  Is there a common point of failure that we should be especially careful about?  Bow chainplate?  Should we remove and inspect/rebed anything?

Thanks in advance for your advice and experience!

Richard

[Tim Daniel]

The best approach is removing all the standing rigging from the mast while it is down and giving the rigging to rigger so they can get the exact fittings and length.  Your existing sails will be (well, should be, long story) matched to the forestay length, so it may be best not to change it.

Cheers 

Tim

P.s. Sadly, we are no longer SC27 owners, but I will hang here for a bit to help others.  We did a lot of restoration work on our boat and I'm happy to help out where I can.   I loved the boat but my partners didn't love it as much...  If the boat comes up for sale again later I might buy it back.

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From: sc2...@googlegroups.com <sc2...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Richard Treadwell <rbt...@gmail.com>
Sent: December 8, 2025 1:43 PM
To: Santa Cruz 27 National Class Association <sc2...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Standing rigging

 

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[Ian Sprenger]

Richard,

I am no longer an owner, but I did some time getting ready to go offshore. A few of the things we did in prep for Pac Cup last year:

-Upgraded to compact strand. Significant strength increase and less stretch. Smoother as well, so sheets and sails slide a little more easily. We opted for a turnbuckle on the forestay to adjust for downwind vs. windward/leeward racing. As Tim mentioned, keep your luff lengths in mind. Dyneema backstay.

-Spreader bar conversion for the Sparcraft section. The stainless spreader brackets can cause corrosion that is not visible until you pull them off the mast. Ballenger can fabricate doubler plates and new spreaders.

-Sleeved base of mast, relocated halyard exits and ran to mast base plate blocks. The 90 degree halyard exit blocks on the Sparcraft section don't age well. 

-New boom. The original Sparcraft boom likes to snap at the vang U-bolt.

-New chainplates and new stem fitting with tackline mod for A-kites. Did you pull the chainplates and are they original? Also check for elongation of the holes. This is a cheap peace-of-mind upgrade.

If you have a newer Ballenger mast and boom, disregard most of this! Also, please check your steering. Big ocean and 50 year old rudders can cause sadness.

Have fun with the prep.

-Ian

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