How much to replace Centaur standing rigging?

[Shakemeister]

Good evening all,

Could anyone please advise how much it might cost to replace the standing rigging on a Westerly Centaur or similar size boat? How much for parts and how much for labour?

Also, does the boat have to be out of the water to do this?

Thank you in advance!

 

[alahol2]

As a guide, on a 28ft masthead rigged boat, Main shrouds + backstay in 6mm and 4 lowers in 5mm cost me about £450 total including new chromed bronze rigging screws. Replacement of the forestay in an old Rotostay reefing system cost about £150 but that required a bit more work by the rigger to get the thing apart and put it back together again.
To reduce costs send out quotation requests to several local riggers (use email) and, having chosen your rigger, take your old rigging to them to copy.
If you are in the Portsmouth area, I found Kiwi Rigging in Gosport the most competitive. Good and timely service too.

 

[Shakemeister]

Thanks for that - but by taking the old rigging in for them to copy means mast down and off - which means boat out of the water for the typical UK boatyard I imagine - which means more £££'s

(I have seen masts lifted in Greece on the water by using two similar size boats winches alongside...)

Can it be done on the water or does it need to be out?

Thanks for the estimate alahol - much appreciated.

 

[Seajet]

Shakemeister,

there's no need to take the boat out of the water to get the mast up & down; as you have seen it's possible with a similar or larger sized boat either side as long as everyone knows what they're doing, or indeed at a marina; in fact marinas usually take masts on & off with the boat afloat anyway.

Marina prices for demasting vary a lot so it would be a case of getting a quote where you intend doing it.

 

[knuterikt]

Shakemeister,

there's no need to take the boat out of the water to get the mast up & down; as you have seen it's possible with a similar or larger sized boat either side as long as everyone knows what they're doing, or indeed at a marina; in fact marinas usually take masts on & off with the boat afloat anyway.

Marina prices for demasting vary a lot so it would be a case of getting a quote where you intend doing it.

I would strongly advise you to take the mast down.
It will let you do a thorough inspection of the mast including the attachments for the standing rigging, there arr more components than the wire that can fail.

By taking the standing rigging of tho get it copied you can make sure to the get the correct lengths.

We did this some years ago, instructions from rigger was.

Before you take the mast off (assuming the rig is correctly trimmed)
-Mark all the turnbuckles with tape at the current adjustment
-Mark all shrouds with their location (Port lower, starboard lower ...)
-Document where all shrouds is attached (I us the camera on my phone a lot to document details on the boat)
-Detach the turnbuckles from the chainplates
After the mast is down
-Note how the shrouds are attached to mast & spreaders before taking it off.

This way we can ensure correct measures of all wires and adjust lengths if necessary.

I have access to a mast crane at the marina and I'm allowed to operate it (have done the training class).

 

[Twister_Ken]

I would strongly advise you to take the mast down.
It will let you do a thorough inspection of the mast including the attachments for the standing rigging, there arr more components than the wire that can fail.

+1, but if you have to/want to it is possible to replace standing rigging (one stay at a time) with the mast up, by rigging halyards & lifts as temporary replacements. Don't ask me to go up your mast while you're doing it, though!

Almost any yard will be able to pluck the mast out of a boat alongside - you don't have to have the whole boat lifted.

 

[doug748]

I have re-rigged boat with the mast up (excluding the forestay) and it is no problem, tho it is a wobbly experience.

For the reasons already mentioned I would have it taken down. I strongly suspect that problems commonly lurk inside the foil, particularly at the top swage.

 

[Shakemeister]

So £450 + £150 for roller forestay minimum, plus cost to lift mast and inspect it in an ideal world?

Thanks everyone for your replies - it's all helping to inform the budget!

 

[Kelpie]

That may be a little high. Our 27ft boat was less than £450 for full set of rigging inc bottlescrews, that was from Z Spars it about 3-4yrs ago. Fitted it myself, no worries.

 

[Swanrad2]

That may be a little high. Our 27ft boat was less than £450 for full set of rigging inc bottlescrews, that was from Z Spars it about 3-4yrs ago. Fitted it myself, no worries.

Just done this job in total for a Centaur -£600 inc Vat, inc Forestay made to pattern from old rigging. Took the boat out to demast and ensure all of the shrouds were exactly of the right length. I suppose if the rigger was on site you could do it one at a time with 'roving' Dynema stay?

 

[dylanwinter]

don't chuick it away

whatever you do don't chuck the old rigging wire away

chuck it my way in return for cash or an RNLI donation

as long as the wire is still sound I can put new ends on

the shortness can be bridged in some other way

my current mast is held up with dyneema lashings and it seems to be very good indeed

of course a Centaur mast is bigger

D

 

[Swanrad2]

the shortness can be bridged in some other way

D

Tangs init?

 

[dylanwinter]

Tangs init?

welcome... init

D

 

[Shakemeister]

Thank you for all the replies, what's a typical yard charge to lift the mast? This is all getting very expensive!

 

[merlin3688]

Our local yard charges £60 out and £60 back in. Some Centaur's were rigged with 5mm rigging which would make the rigging cheaper. Recently done one that cost just over £500 with new rigging screws however also done one where the rigging screws were good and the cost was about £350 IE used existing rigging screws and just supplied new swage studs. Biggest cost is when you have an old furling gear such as a Rotostay or Colnebrook, costly to get apart and hard to find spares for them.

 

[Seajet]

Shakemeister,

just bear in mind I did say prices vary a lot so get a quote at the place/s near your boat; I'd think £60 a lift a bargain, there's a marina near me which I suspect would charge more like £260 each way !

 

[knuterikt]

Thank you for all the replies, what's a typical yard charge to lift the mast? This is all getting very expensive!

The get a correct picture of the cost you must get offers from riggers and yards/crane companies

Contact riggers and ask for quotes split like this
-Mast on/off the boat
-Remove/install standing rigging (on/off mast)
-Inspect mast/mast hardware
-Make new standing rigging (work & material)
-rigging screws (you might be able to reuse the existing)
Tell them that you may do some work yourself (if you are prepared to do that) and/or getting it done by someone else.

Contact some yards and/or crane companies and ask for price for mast Of/on and short time storage.

Don't know the facilities where you are but around here some yards have a permanent mast crane and others rely on mobile cranes for this kind of jobs.

This picture is from a job "my" rigger did, the mast was to tall and heavy for the mast crane so he had to hire a crane.
The mast crane used for "normal" boats is behind the large crane. The club members with training are allowed to use the crane for their own boats when not in use by the rigger (He rent from the club).

Link to full size picture: http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/...3-8DFE-4A1C-9F7D-8943D7CC4C4F_zpsilotv5f3.jpg

 

[Reptile Smile]

Shakemeister,

just bear in mind I did say prices vary a lot so get a quote at the place/s near your boat; I'd think £60 a lift a bargain, there's a marina near me which I suspect would charge more like £260 each way !

Wow, South coast prices, huh? I'm in a marina I don't think of as cheap, but de/re-masting here is £80...

 

[Seajet]

Our club hoists all the cruisers out over a 3 day period, we have our own very good hoist; anyway a couple of years ago one of the larger boats went into nearby Northney Marina to get the mast off; not only do they charge that sort of money, they kept him waiting for hours while they rounded up an employee from elsewhere skilled and insured enough to do the lift, as the marina team weren't !

 

[theoldsalt]

This picture is from a job "my" rigger did, the mast was to tall for the mast crane so he had to hire a crane.
The mast crane used for "normal" boats is behind the large crane.

Link to full size picture: http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/...3-8DFE-4A1C-9F7D-8943D7CC4C4F_zpsilotv5f3.jpg

This implies that the crane hook needs to be higher than the mast which is not true.

As long as the hook and attachment to the mast is above the mast C of G it can be safely lifted/lowered.