Rigging installation question

[bigd14]

I recently ordered all my standing rigging from http://www.riggingonly.com with swaged uppers and Hayn Hi-Mod mechanical lowers. I am going to install this myself (with help from my neighbor and of course from the yard with lifting the mast into place). Before I talk to the yard, I want to have a plan in place.

Since I have new chainplates and spreaders, I will be measuring the new rigging on the fly. Has anyone else done this job? I am wondering about how to measure the wire to get the right length. I plan to open the turnbuckles to 1/3, measure the wire to the stop in the mechanical fitting, cut to length and install the fitting. Hopefully that will get me close.

Overall plan is thus (contingent upon not dropping any of the mechanical terminal parts in the water:

1. Install all turnbuckles and rear triangle to chainplates with mechanical fittings temporarily installed.
2. Have yard lift mast into place and hold steady while I work.
3. Install headstay/furler (the headstay is swaged top and bottom so this step will be quick)
4. Secure main halyard and topping lift aft to corners for additional support
4. Measure and mark uppers, cut to length, install fitting and connect to turnbuckle
6. Install lower aft shrouds
7. Install lower forward shrouds
8. Install backstay
9. Tighten rigging and stop the clock on the yard fees!

One of the challenges is that the mast is supposed to be raked aft ~6 inches. Should I try to have the travellift guy rake it slightly aft as I install the lower aft shrouds? I don't want them cut too long. Or should I not worry about it and adjust it once the rig is up? I foresee a challenge getting the mast properly upright using the travellift.

Any advice on this important step will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Doug

[Figment]

Stop the clock on the yard fees after step 5. The mast is up, you can attend to the rest at your leisure.

Is there really no way you can at least "ballpark" the length of the uppers ahead of time? Stepping a mast with the boat afloat is annoying enough when everything is the right length and you're just getting pins into holes. Measuring, comparing both sides with the boat bobbing ever so slightly with each step, sounds like a nightmare. Leave them an inch long, you can always trim them back later if you can't get enough tension.

[Quetzalsailor]

I've replaced running rigging on the Morgan 27. I measured the bits that came off and drew them in AutoCAD. I then drew up what I thought were the required dimensions of the new rig. Things were changed a bit otherwise I would simply have asked Rigging Only to duplicate things. I replaced spreaders, but with the same length, etc.

I think you should be able to calculate the pin-pin dimensions to accomodate your new chainplates. I think that there's no such thing as temporarily installed mechanical fittings; I think you normally ruin the wedges and deform the wire. You can reuse the fittings but with new wedges (or cones).

You can dismiss the yard as soon as the mast is stood up with some wires attached; things can be pretty loose and you can fiddle to your heart's content after they've gone away.

I think you're in for unnecessary frustration trying to fit mechanical fasteners after the stick's up. The wire has to terminate at the right place within the fitting; it's not like you can drag a bit more or less wire around a thimble when using a Nicropress. Additional pleasure can be assured when you find out just how taut an unattched wire has to be before popping the pins through the clevises. With the turnbuckle as loose as possible, you'll fight to install the pin. Then you'll use up lots of travel as you actually tension things; the wire stretches, the boat flexes.

[mitiempo]

The cones on Hayn Hi Mods are re-usable, unlike some others.

Don't forget to allow for the stretch which all new wire has.

Interesting reading here. .http://www.briontoss.com/education/arch ... csep99.htm

[CapnK]

Hi Doug - I've rigged a number of boats, and what you are doing is going to demand that you think 100 times, and then measure 20 times, before you cut even once. :) Nothing like doing something the hard way to give you sweaty palms and second-guesses! ;) I'd like to add the following to the others input. First, a few questions/points:

1) When you say "the mast is supposed to be raked aft ~6 inches", are you referring to having a straight stick leaned aft 6" at the masthead, or are you going for 6" of prebend, where that 6" of aft-ward locating of the masthead will be induced by rig tension? I am not familiar with the rig on an E27, but I would think that the rake would be with the stick held in column (no prebend). Prebend is usually something you see on 'whippy' thin spars, like race boats. As I recall, the E27 spar is a fairly hefty cross section, not the kind you would bend a lot. If your forestay is pre-made to a measured OEM dimension, then that rake is likely already built-in for you, which makes things a lot easier. If prebend is involved, your wire measuring/cutting is going to be much more involved. I'm predicating everything after this point on the 'mast rake' being just that. :)

2) How are you cutting your wire? Do you have actual wire cutters, or are you going to use a hacksaw/improvise? Clean, even cuts are essential. The Hi-MODs are not quite as picky as some other mechanical fittings, but the better cut you can get, the quicker, easier, and better the job will be. Cutting 1/4" or greater wire held suspended in the air will be kind of a pain; the leverage you can apply with a friendly piece of ground and your full weight really helps. :)

3) Travelift and yard guy time is not cheap (~$65/hour at the local yard I use). I built a rig for a Pearson Vanguard using Hi-MODs a couple weeks ago, working on land, where things were easy and I could measure (and re-measure) and tape and cut and untape the wire and then sit with the wire end held between my legs while I unlayed the outer strands, threaded the cone, re-layed the outers, and then finished fastening together the terminal. I didn't have to worry if I dropped a piece, either - it was in arms reach if I did. Even with all that convenience, I can tell you that you should realistically plan on a minimum (working steady) of 30 minutes per wire/terminal if you are working solo. If you have upper shrouds, a pair of lowers each side of the boat, and a backstay, then you are renting the Travelift for 3.5 hours right there, just to get the pieces built. Factor in another 1-2 hours (at least) for getting the spar up, and getting everything attached enough to call it safe to unhook from the crane. So - getting the pieces made up ahead of time will save you some coin (and likely some headache).

I'm guessing from how your post is written that your spar is in the yard and the boat is floating. If it were me, I would go to the boat with 2 bubble levels, a drafting compass, masking tape, measuring tape, some small line, a notebook, and a couple of hours with no pressing engagements in which to do lots of thinking and careful measuring.

Use one level as a fixed reference to make sure the boat is floating level as you take measurements (or to determine how un-level it is at the time of measuring in an effort to compensate). Use the masking tape to mark a fixed point perpendicular to the base at the toerail on both sides of the boat

Install your chainplates, t'buckles, and lower end fittings as you have planned, and then take ***very*** careful measurements using the mast base and toerail point as relative fixed points to establish the other points in space where the fittings terminate (which will determine wire length). What you need to know is:

a) How far away from the mast base and toerail point is the terminal on a straight, level line,
b) in what direction,
c) and then how high or low that point is from the level of the mast base.

For example, an imagined dimension might be: 16" aft of the rail centerpoint, 4' 9.5" from the base, 3" above the level of the base, is where the aft lower Hi-MOD fitting will be located.

After you have these measurements, with your spar lying in the yard, use a piece of light line to 'simulate' your wire, affix it to the tang and pull it (straight, but not stretched!) to your measured point, and that should give you a length that should be fairly accurate for where you will need to cut the wire.

Last - I would open those turnbuckles to 1/2 or 2/3 of full open; I think that at only 1/3, with new wire stretch/settling and the other variables, you'll be likely to 'bottom out' before you get proper rig tension once everything is assembled.

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Addendum: I also considered that you could step the mast loosely (with just lines/halyards for stabilization), then run a light 'simulated wire' line to take your measurements from, but doing it that way would involve multiple trips/lots of time up the mast. Doing it at ground level is *so* much easier, quicker, convenient, and safer. :)

[Shoalcove]

I agree with CapnK on this. I rebuilt my rig with Hi-mods as well and really like them. I have mast steps so it's quite easy to go aloft but it is still easier to work on the ground. I cut my wire with a hacksaw and use a simple jig to get a clean cut. I simply drill a hole the diameter of the wire near the end of a piece of scap wood and then run a saw cut perpendicular to the drilled hole. Clamp the wood in a vice or onsite work-mate, run the wire through the hole so the saw cut lines up with where you want the wire cut, run your hack saw up the existing slot to cut the wire. It makes a clean cut without taping or trying to hold a wire while sawing. If you make a second saw cut parralel to and into the drilled hole you can clamp the wire tightly in the hole for a very secure cut.
If building the rig on the ground is too intimidating, I suppose you could install the old shrouds and lash them to the chainplates with multiple turns of small stuff if they don't reach and replace each one at a time.

[bigd14]

Wow, great advice here, guys, thanks! The boat and mast are on the hard. And the entire mast is supposed to be raked aft (not a fractional rig, so no prebend). After reading these posts and from posters on other boards, I am realizing that there is a lot of practical experience that should be applied to this situation, so I am leaning towards hiring an experienced rigger to help me out with this. Most of my projects associated with this boat restoration have involved a significant mistake on the first go around (and sometimes on the second go around!). With the boat being so close to sailing condition, I want to avoid any further mistakes that could set me back days or weeks! I'll cogitate on it today when I am down at the boat.

Thanks again!

Doug

[Drew]

As much as I love working on challenging projects. I once heard some advice:

H. A. P, Hire A Professional, its half way to happy!

I rarely follow it, but the times I have I was not disappointed.

Drew

[Quetzalsailor]

When I did my rerig, I had RiggingOnly make up the standing rig above deck, as described above. The second part of the project involved installing fiberglass-epoxy fins to the hull below the deck-mounted chainplates and wiring replacement chainplate backup plates down to the fin. I used turnbuckles and Staylocks. Since these fittings required neat, square cuts, I bought a Dremel and used the cutoff wheel. Perfectly easy, square and controllable. I use the Dremel to clean up the mess having installed a Nicropress, too.