Replace standing rigging on a 2011 Jeanneau?

[Cool Hand Luke]

I have a 2011 Jeanneau SO409. The standing rigging was checked in Summer 2018 and looked great. The insurance company won't cover my bluewater/offshore cruise if the standing rigging is over 10 years old.

Is it really time to change it? If so, what does it entail? Does it include the spreaders, or is it just the forestay, backstay, and shrouds?

How much does something like this normally cost?

I guess I should welcome myself to the "boat maintenance" club

[Rumrace]

Yup unfortunately. I think they push it at 20 years on fresh water.
Fibre looks interesting.
I had a friend loose his forestay. He’s lucky to be alive. It feel between two people in the cockpit and cables just missed them.
You can imagine the insurance claim if they were hurt.

[Oohla]

I just paid $1600 for full replacement of steel cable standing rigging on 10 meter sloop.

[Cool Hand Luke]

Thanks guys. Will look into pricing around New Jersey.

[Kd9truck]

Hey Luke, would love to know what your search comes up with, I am due also.

[vpbarkley]

We replaced ours at 10 years. No way of knowing how long it could last before failure.

Important to check the parts the rigging attaches to, up the mast and on deck.

Also, service your furler (both ends) at this time.

[SeeMonstrEd]

I own a 1996 Jeanneau International 50, similar to 52.2. I have been replacing my standing rigging as funds allow. It has been about $1200 to $1500 per cable. I still have to do the forstay with the furler and the two aft stays. If you do all of them at once it would probably be cheaper to do it in a yard and drop the mast. Check / replace mast wiring and hardware as needed while the mast is down.

[Wallaby]

On a 50ft sloop I replaced all standing rigging and a new Schaefer 3100 furler for a total of $10,500 +/-, of which the furler was about half. It included forestay and back stay, fwd and aft lowers, uppers, and caps. Rigging Only was fabulous. Great pricing. Lots of good advice. They provided machine-swage terminals on the upper ends and Sta-loks on the bottom.


It was a simple matter of taking one off, using it to measure the new shroud, cutting, and installing. I paid a few hundred bucks for labor--primarily to a pro-tree climber to go to the top of the mast. I did the rest. It took about a week with beer breaks, installing SSB antenna, etc.


The old furler (Shaefer 3000) is for sale. For $1,000. It is in good condition. Needs a few new plastic parts. Maybe $100 in parts.

[mnh]

I will try to not sound too discouraging. But DYI and "going cheap" on rigging are two items that can lead to disaster. The forces on your rig chain plates and boat are substantial. I would advise against just measuring some wire and do a self assembly. Your life and your boat's long term safety and integrity should take top priority.
If you are changing the rigging out, all the components from from where the chain plates are attached, to the chain plates proper, the wiring, the end fittings and mast must be looked at as a unit. It's not a job for someone who dabbles.

If it were that easy, there would be no professional riggers. My daughter is a pro rigger in the Annapolis area. Been one for many years. She repairs a lot of DYI projects from people who read a Nigel Caulder's book, and then try to mimic something off a youtube video.

A re-rig is a project best left to those who do it for a living, IMHO. Yes it's not cheap, but what is your life and safety worth in a bad sea state?

[Rumrace]

https://www.futurefibres.com/yacht-rigging/products/standing-rigging/


I’m keeping an eye on fibre. It makes a lot of sense now that it’s become a mainstream product. You can visually see pending failure. Save some weight where you’d like to. Won’t damage the boat. Nice stainless connectors.

[donradcliffe]

I've replaced all the standing rigging three times. Its not hard to DIY with the mechanical terminals. I make it a practice to replace all turnbuckles, clevis pins, and toggles. I also take time to inspect any tie rods on the inside of the boat.

[moseriw]

Provide a riggers certificate (for your own safety) and if the wont accept it move to another insurance company. Mine is 20+ years old and well in service. NO it is NOT necessary to replace the whole rigg and or the wire ropes as long as it is perfectly crimped.

[Geoff54]

Just one data point for you. I replaced the standing rigging on my Catalina 42 in early 2021. I had the mast out for something else so I took the old rigging to a local rigging shop to replicate. Forestay, backstay, upper/intermediate/lower shouds. New wire, turn buckles, etc. All swaged fitting except for one sta-loc that I installed myself after threading the forestay through the furler. All the parts, wire cutting and swaging came to almost $2900. I did the removal and install.

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by mnh

... would advise against just measuring some wire and do a self assembly. Y...

This is really questionable advise. Of all the boats I have seen that lost the rig, it was a swage terminal on stainless wire failing from a "professional" rigger. If anything, avoid using swaged stainless and your chance of failure is low.

I have always redone my own rigging. I dont use stainless wire, much better use heat treated dyneema, or galvanized wire. I make splices in the dyneema and titanium chainplates cost me $30 each. Titanium is a great material for chainplates and cost me half as much as 316.

My total cost for all titanium chainplates, and HSR dyneema eliminating old turnbuckles (potential failure and weight) is under $1000 including all titanium bolts for chainplates. The strength is more than double and the weight 1/10th original. For 52 ft boat it would be about $2000.

galvanized is a much better material for rigging wire than stainless regardless of cost. You can simply use wire clamps, it doesn't fatigue the same way and shows rust well before failure. Also a bit stronger than 316. It is known to last 50 years or longer if fully sealed. The cost is about 1/8th of stainless wire and without special terminators or swages needed it is much cheaper/better and probably what most people should be using.

A re-rig is a project best left to those who do it for a living, IMHO. Yes it's not cheap, but what is your life and safety worth in a bad sea state?

considering professional riggers cause mast failure more often than people who do their own I would agree that safety is important and you should do it yourself.

[George DuBose]

While I congratulate all you sailors with deep pockets, I think that unstepping the mast every winter when she is on the hard, extends the life of the standing rigging 100%.

When I replaced Skylark's standing rigging, I ordered the steel stays and shrouds a bit longer. I had Defender swage one end and bought Sta-Lok fittings for the lower ends. I was able to remove one stay or shroud at a time, put the new stay and the old stay in a long length of 2" PVC pipe to keep everything clean and the old and new stays parallel.

With new turnbuckles and swaged stays, I didn't pay more than $3000. Helped the rigger who gave me a lot of tips and I paid him 800 bucks for the day.

Doing your own maintenance let's you become more familiar with your boat and more likely to know what is going to go wrong before it does.