Costs/strategies to re-rig a 32' ketch?

NickRobinson

NickRobinson

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 Dec 2007
Messages
2,143
Location
Near Burton-on-Trent
Visit site
Ball park costs from those who have done it? (this is nearly literally 'how long is a piece of string'...)

The rig on a potential new boat is apparently 20yrs old. The boat is currently a tired, uninsurable fixy-up.

Only rough quote so far from a highly respected firm (job unseen, phone chat) said it would be highly advisable to include a new jib furler getting the cost for the whole job into the region of £4.5k. Phew.

Or, get the masts dropped and deliver the stays to a rigger for duplicating, keeping as much hardware as safe?

TIA
 
Where is the boat? What type of boat is it? That way we might have a guess at how long the string is.
 
NickRobinson said:
The rig on a potential new boat is apparently 20yrs old. The boat is currently a tired, uninsurable fixy-up.

Only rough quote so far from a highly respected firm (job unseen, phone chat) said it would be highly advisable to include a new jib furler getting the cost for the whole job into the region of £4.5k. Phew.

Or, get the masts dropped and deliver the stays to a rigger for duplicating, keeping as much hardware as safe?
Click to expand...

If it's actually a "tired, uninsurable fixy-up", then it's probably a £4K boat to start with, so spending £4.5K might not be a good start. If you think the existing furler is serviceable, just go for duplicate bits of wire, which shouldn't cost more than £1.5K, I'd guess, although you'll need to pay for mast unstepping/stepping. As it's currently a "potential" boat, might there be some better value alternatives around which don't need re-rigging immediately?
 
I just got a quote for 33 ft ketch, replacing all standing rigging on both masts, inc new bottlescrews, £2100.00
Note furler not included.
Jerry
 
Sandy said:
Where is the boat? What type of boat is it? That way we might have a guess at how long the string is.
Click to expand...

pvb said:
If it's actually a "tired, uninsurable fixy-up", then it's probably a £4K boat to start with, so spending £4.5K might not be a good start. If you think the existing furler is serviceable, just go for duplicate bits of wire, which shouldn't cost more than £1.5K, I'd guess, although you'll need to pay for mast unstepping/stepping. As it's currently a "potential" boat, might there be some better value alternatives around which don't need re-rigging immediately?
Click to expand...

Sandy- 32' ketch in the far SW.

PVB- useful info, thanks. I think the furler advice was to save the rigger grief and time dealing with old gear. Ins. coys will often accept old surveys from previous owners or proof of work done but this one and others I've viewed have none. Other strategy may have to be to keep a boatyard happy with third party and factor in the work in my offer.
 
If you are talking about replacing the standing rigging you can pull the mast, mark the wires and send away for copying. To get a rough price approximately length with correct diameter and termination should be enough to get some competing offers. Taking wires off/on is a DIY job.
 
NickRobinson said:
Ball park costs from those who have done it? (this is nearly literally 'how long is a piece of string'...)

The rig on a potential new boat is apparently 20yrs old. The boat is currently a tired, uninsurable fixy-up.

Only rough quote so far from a highly respected firm (job unseen, phone chat) said it would be highly advisable to include a new jib furler getting the cost for the whole job into the region of £4.5k. Phew.

Or, get the masts dropped and deliver the stays to a rigger for duplicating, keeping as much hardware as safe?

TIA
Click to expand...
Jimmy Green calculator does it for you
https://jimmygreen.com/content/46-stainless-steel-wire-rigging-custom-build-instructions
The furler, I did it myself, careful careful with the screws and joiners,
 
I got new rigging for my Moody 33 last year - cost was just under £900 including new turnbuckles. The mast was unstepped and I did all the fitting etc myself. Just took the old rigging to a local boatyard who were competitive and good advice - all Stalok fittings. Once the mast was down it is easy to inspect and I found two issues which needed fixing, one a babystay fixing on the mast which needed re-riveting. Also overhauled the furler and checked masthead sheaves. I strongly recommend getting the masts down and DIY - the mizzen mast you could possibly lower yourself with help(and a windless day).
 
pvb said:
If it's actually a "tired, uninsurable fixy-up", then it's probably a £4K boat to start with, so spending £4.5K might not be a good start. If you think the existing furler is serviceable, just go for duplicate bits of wire, which shouldn't cost more than £1.5K, I'd guess, although you'll need to pay for mast unstepping/stepping. As it's currently a "potential" boat, might there be some better value alternatives around which don't need re-rigging immediately?
Click to expand...

Each to their own, however I take my hat off to those of you with the skill, time and ambition to do fixer-uppers. The value in almost any boat of an age is substantially in the embedded labour required to keep them going. If there weren't people like the OP around our coasts would be even more littered with hulks while the top end of the market became ever more flooded with new 15-year lifespan plastic.

My point being, whether it's worth spending money on rerigging etc, is not a matter of what the boat is "worth" according to the market. It's what it's worth once refurbished, net of invested time and money etc. It might well be worth investing ten times the purchase price, if at the end you get something rather nice.

Plenty of fully depreciated cars out there that stay on the road as long as someone is willing to buy them tires and servicing.
 
RJJ said:
Each to their own, however I take my hat off to those of you with the skill, time and ambition to do fixer-uppers. The value in almost any boat of an age is substantially in the embedded labour required to keep them going. If there weren't people like the OP around our coasts would be even more littered with hulks while the top end of the market became ever more flooded with new 15-year lifespan plastic.

My point being, whether it's worth spending money on rerigging etc, is not a matter of what the boat is "worth" according to the market. It's what it's worth once refurbished, net of invested time and money etc. It might well be worth investing ten times the purchase price, if at the end you get something rather nice.

Plenty of fully depreciated cars out there that stay on the road as long as someone is willing to buy them tires and servicing.
Click to expand...

My cautionary comment was really intended to encourage the OP to cast the net a bit wider, rather than dissuade him from getting a project boat, as you seem to assume.

As for "new 15-year lifespan plastic", modern boats are much better built than those built 50 years ago in draughty sheds, and use better resins, better techniques, better design. No reason why they shouldn't last even longer than those old veterans.
 
RJJ said:
Each to their own, however I take my hat off to those of you with the skill, time and ambition to do fixer-uppers. The value in almost any boat of an age is substantially in the embedded labour required to keep them going. If there weren't people like the OP around our coasts would be even more littered with hulks while the top end of the market became ever more flooded with new 15-year lifespan plastic.

My point being, whether it's worth spending money on rerigging etc, is not a matter of what the boat is "worth" according to the market. It's what it's worth once refurbished, net of invested time and money etc. It might well be worth investing ten times the purchase price, if at the end you get something rather nice.

Plenty of fully depreciated cars out there that stay on the road as long as someone is willing to buy them tires and servicing.
Click to expand...

Then again, at least one of my cars was edged into the 'scrap' category by needing four tyres!

If you go to a shop that does rigging, £100 gets you something fairly hefty in the 'shrouds for small boats' department.
If you want the rigger to do lots of labour measuring and fitting , that will cost.

If you can go with talurits instead of roll swages, costs can be trimmed.

Bigger than 8mm, costs start rising quickly.

For a smaller ketch some of the wires may be diy-able using a talurit tool? I've done 4mm 7x7 with an Ormiston tool and tested it fairly severely, personally there are some things I prefer to pay a pro to do though.
 
Don't be deterred by the need for new rigging wires. With a life of around 15 years it is almost certain that any boat you buy will need new rigging wires either now or soon. As said remove the old wires and send away as samples to be duplicated. It is unlikely that the turn screws etc will need replacing. It is the rest of the boat that might need lots of work/money. ol'will
 
pvb said:
My cautionary comment was really intended to encourage the OP to cast the net a bit wider, rather than dissuade him from getting a project boat, as you seem to assume.

As for "new 15-year lifespan plastic", modern boats are much better built than those built 50 years ago in draughty sheds, and use better resins, better techniques, better design. No reason why they shouldn't last even longer than those old veterans.
Click to expand...

I don't assume anything, I just can't agree that "if it's a 4k boat, it's not worth spending 4.5k on". It might be worth spending 10k or 20k on, if that gets you to a boat worth 30k, which a restored 32foot ketch might be.

I have this with my in-laws every time they dispose of a perfectly good car because it's no longer "worth" much second hand. It's an economic fallacy: sell it because it's unsellable. The truth of the matter is running and maintaining depreciated assets can be highly efficient in a world where most of us lack the time, skill and ambition to do so, and I take my hat off to those that do.

And, as you say, an equally valid choice is to look elsewhere. "Some" modern boats might soldier on for fifty years; in practice the hulls will last (like their predecessors) while the boat will remain in use as long as somebody (like the OP) cares enough to maintain and upgrade the components.
 
RJJ said:
I don't assume anything, I just can't agree that "if it's a 4k boat, it's not worth spending 4.5k on".
Click to expand...

Please don't attempt to mis-quote me. My actual post said "If it's actually a "tired, uninsurable fixy-up", then it's probably a £4K boat to start with, so spending £4.5K might not be a good start." That means something quite different.
 
Have you thought that the rigging may not initially need replacing, there may be other uses for your money initially. Clearly a careful inspection is required first and most people would want the peace of mind of new rigging, however it may not be necessary!
 
Can I suggest that before anyone thinks of sending your rigging away as templates for new rigging that you measure each one from top "T" or "eye" down to the lower connector, take a photo of each connector and lastly, mark each original rigging wire with its location. You should also check to see the ammount of adjustment left in the bottle screws as your rigging may have stretched.
PS, Just got a price for new 5mm rigging for my Lm28 which was £425 all fully swaged.
 
I don't think rigging co's prefer to copy old rigging, most of the online places want to work to your measurements.
It might be cheaper if you can measure it yourself, and it possibly cuts out a lot of postage.
Measuring it off the boat, you need to get it reasonably tight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top