Replacing Standing Rigging

JBlumhorst@aol.com
Tue, 28 Sep 1999 13:40:56 EDT


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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In a message dated 9/27/99 9:49:55 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
saltyb@integrityol.com writes:

> Judy, I was out in my wwp19 2 wks ago off Pt. Robinson in Puget Sound and
got myself demasted. I had a new mast and did my own swedging at West
Marine the day before. Blowing about 15-20 , a glorious day- I was really
bombing and there she went-2 swages let go-came undone andmast went over,
both sails under water. It's tough getting it back on board alone. Had
to flag down a passing boat. Carry a good pry bar onboard - a good idea.
Anyone have some wisdom on swedging Bruce Anderson Galilee
Wind

>

HI Bruce,

I agree with Bill and Mac that Nicropress swagesleeves are reliable when
properly installed. They're quite widely used on small boats. But you may
also want to consider having a rigger put on a stainless swaged fitting for
you or using mechanical terminals such as Norseman or Stay-lok.

A good professional rigger installs a stainless swaged fitting with a huge
machine that applies tons of pressure along the whole length of a 4-6"
stainless sleeve around a cable. That baby ain't never gonna come loose!
(However, the cable may weaken from rust or metal fatigue in 5-20 years,
depending on the climate and maintenance care it receives)

I had the rigger make a new forestay for my retro-fitted CDI with a stainless
swage, because there's no room for a bulky Nicropress or Norsman inside the
furling drum. He charged me $9 for the fitting (parts and labor). Defender
charges about $7 for a swaged stainless eye installed and about $0.50/foot
for 1/4" 1x19 wire when you order new shrouds from them. So you're not
talking big bucks to have a rigger do it for you. Probably $15-20 bucks more
per shroud compared to Nicropress.

(For cost comparison, the home-version of the Nicropress swage tool costs
about $20-25. It's $1-2 per thimble, and pennies for each swaging sleeve. A
professional tool costs about $150-200. But you can use the professional
Nicropress tool at West Marine for free.)

Or you can consider mechanical terminals such as Sta-Loks or Norsemans. You
assemble these yourself -- you insert a wedge into the wire and then screw
the terminal over the wedge to force-fit the wire to the terminal. They
require no special tools or skill to install, and they are extremely
dependable. You don't need a tool to install them.

I have Norseman terminals on my boat. Sta-Loks and Norseman terminals cost
more than Nicropress and machine-swaged fitting from a rigger, but they can
be used over and over again when you want to replace your standing rigging.
And you can do high-quality repairs with just a pair of pliers, wirecutters,
and some spare cable (I carry spare cable and fittings on my boat. I also
carry 1700# spectra line (1/8") for emergency repairs as well -- it's just as
strong as cable, but not as chafe or UV resistant. good stuff to have around
in an emergency)

Check defender's catalog page 284-5. They cost about $15-20 for the (the
part terminal without installation.) Defender charges about $18-26 for each
Norseman terminal installed on the wire when you order new shrouds. Other
places charge about 10-30% more for the same stuff.

If I wanted to keep my cost down, I'd use machine-swaged stainless fittings
or Norsemass/Sta-Loks on my upper shrouds, but perhaps save my money by using
Nicropress sleeves on the lower shrouds. Your uppers are the main supports
for your mast, so I'd be most concerned about their reliability.

I don't trust my ability to do Nicropress fittings well and I confess that my
preference is to "over-engineer" my boat. So my boat's rigging has nothing
but Norseman's or stainless fittings done by the rigger with his 8-ton
swaging machine. It's rigged to withstand, at least, the 45-50 mile-an-hour
winds that sometimes come up on SF Bay. (God help me, please, if I ever get
caught in that). Not everybody wants or needs that. Like I said right at
the start, there are tons of small sailboats that have relied on Nicropress
swages for eons.

I wrote this to give you some food for thought about your alternatives for
replacing your shrouds. You don't need to upgrade, but you may want to.

Best,
Judy B