Rigging look okay ?

[Cheechako]

Those are likely bronze/stainless turnbuckles and are good ones apparently. Schaefer I believe and likely not original to the boat that old. They have some surface corrosion but I see nothing that would give me worry on the fittings.

Wire is the usual problem area. You say the wire is clean and not rusty at the termination into the turnbuckle hardware..? Probably decent wire condition then.
But there really isn't any easy way to judge wire condition without any visible defects to go on. Other than the lack of them is good! Flourescent penetrant inspection can detect issues in the fittings, but for wire it's pretty much useless.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by tompelletier

The plan is to get a survey of the boat but i just wanted to post a few pictures here and see if anyone could spot anything major before we dished out the cost of a survey

As others have posted if the owner doesn't know when it was last replaced it probably should be.

Your surveyor will not properly survey the rigging. Rigging (and engines) require an expert to assess.

Hire a rigger.

[Pdemajo]

Not much of an expert on rigging, but i would surely change it.
What surprises me are the split pin points protruding out in the second picture.
Surely the owner would not have sailed with them like that - they could cause serious injury. Did he remove them and put them back in? If so why?
Doesn't seem he took much care of the boat....i would be careful...

[gulfcoastsailor]

IMO - as others have mentioned, chainplates misalignment concerns me. My guess you are considering the boat because visually it appears to sound and the price is right. I would add the cost of re-rigging full replacement top to bottom including chainplates before making an offer.

[LeCrux]

Not related to the rigging itself, a properly maintained Redwing is a great boat. I've done 1000s of miles coastal cruising on one.

[TrentePieds]

Tompelletier:

FWIW, the only time I've ever sailed a mast over board, the cause was crevice corrosion in a "closed body" rigging screw. It wasn't my boat. I'd reported the deficiency to the gaffer, but been ordered to take that the boat across the Straits on an 'orrible night - "or else" :-) A story for another time, just cited to agree with you that neglected rigging CAN be costly.

However it needn't be. I see piddling problems in each of your pictures but there is nothing there that you cannot mend yourself :-) If you exchange dodgy rigging parts one at a time, while leaving all other bits undisturbed, the mast is gonna stay where it is.

And, doing it yourself, you 1) Don't need to pay big bux for a rigger. 2) will learn a whole lot about your boat and 3) will have bragging rights in the marina. Heck - you might even become the "go-to" person :-) I wouldn't let the things I see in these pictures stop me from buying the boat. I might argue about the price a bit, though :-)!

Go back to the basic principles: There are "closed body" and there are "open body" rigging screws. The "turnbuckle" is only the middle part with the female threads, one right hand and the other left hand. The whole kit and kaboodle is a "rigging screw".

Rigging screws can have different kinds of ends, but the screws I prefer are "open" screws with " 'T' end with toggle". The reason for that is that the secret to long life of rigging screws is that they must be able to align, when under load, so that the tension on them occurs in an absolutely straight line from one attachment point on the boat to the other. In some of your pics I see that that is not the case.

Where your depicted rigging screws show signs of the tension having bent their "shank"s - the threaded bits - where they exit the turnbuckle, the entire screw should be replaced. That's about ten minutes of work :-)! The reason for that is that where the bend occurs, just at the stress point where the shank exits the turnbuckle, is where crevice corrosion will occur in stainless steel rigging screws. And you normally don't see crevice corrosion till it's too late.

The distance the rigging screw can be shortened or lengthened by turning the turnbuckle is called the "take-up". Generally, the length of thread that "sticks out" should be about 1" on a boat this size. So in a correctly fitted screw, you see two one inch bits of thread outside turnbuckle, and two one inch bits of thread within the turnbuckle. The stay, or whatever particular bit of rigging the screw accommodates, needs, therefore, to have a length that permits just that. No shorter, no longer. There again, you can change the stays yourself, though you might have to go to a rigger to have the swaging done. Measuring up for a stay is obviously easy enuff, though you might have to go aloft to get your tape on the upper end.

These kinds of things are the things you ought to be able to do in order to call yourself a sailor. So get a survey, and if the boat suits you otherwise, don't let these little deficiencies deter you. Just repair them. It's all in a day's seamanship :-)

All the best.

TrentePieds

[dfelsent]

I owned a 1972 Redwing for 11 years. Loved it.
I did replace the masthead fitting as I raced her, and wanted the extra halyards. Did some digging replacement then. That was a while ago so no recall re costs.
My dad owned her for a decade before me.
Fun boat. Can have a bit of weather helm on a reach in a breeze but nothing unmanageable.
Of course that was when pushing hard.
The bronze body turnbuckles look very familiar.