Making my own rigging with Norseman fittings

JumbleDuck

JumbleDuck

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I have finally got to the boat and had a look at the standing rigging, which I plan to replace while the mast is down. Much to my surprise the terminals at the top - with the exception f the forestay - are not swaged on, but Norseman fittings. T-terminal on the shrouds, eye on the backstay.

I was all set to take the lot to a rigger for duplication, but I'm having my doubts. New cones for the Norseman fittings are available at £9 each. Am I mad to consider buying a bag of cones, a reel of 1x19 5mm wire and going for it? Swaged forestay as before, since there is not fitting to re-use.

A typical stay is about £75 on the Jimmy Green website with swaged fittings and would be £45 DIY so the saving isn't enormous, but would be about £300 overall, which is not insignificant.

As ever I welcome advice, particularly from people who have been there, done that and got the T-shirt. How easy and reliable are Norseman fittings?
 
I have not used Norsemen in an actual rigging situation but attended a Norseman course before my first Transatlantic as part of the preparation. It was very straightforward but like most things there are key points that have to be done correctly for the fitting to be full strength and reliable. I don't think you would be phased at all doing it.
 
My previous boat had Norseman (Norsemen?) throughout.
I only ever got round to replacing the forestay, but it really wasn't difficult. Approach the task with a bit of care and don't rush. If you can make a reliable seal with a compression plumbing fitting then you probably will succeed with a Norseman!
 
Did my rigging, used swaged top fittings, then cut to length and used Stalok on the bottom. Similar and follow the same principle. Follow the instructions for assembly and no problems. In your situation to save a bit of money I would reuse the existing fittings with new cones. .
 
The other alternative is Petersen HiMod which I haven't used myself but are supposed to be very high quality.
 
Thanks folks. As far as I can see, the cost of compression fittings is roughly the same as the cost of having a swaged fitting supplied and fitted, so the cost saving would come from re-using the fittings and just getting new cones. I am much reassured by tales of (the) norsemen, so I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll go. Since it would also mean I could fit the rigging myself (it's a logistics/timing thing) the total saving looks to be around £600, which is quite respectable for a weekend's work.

In further good news, four out of five joints in my roller reefing foil unscrewed in ten minutes today. That leaves just one, but I have a bag of tools and all tomorrow to persuade it of the error of its ways.
 
anoccasionalyachtsman said:
I did the same as @Peter Morgan - top fittings had to be swages and there was some doubt about the rig dimensions so with cheap rigger and boat in different countries it made sense. I've also used Norseman fittings, both are pretty simple and don't take that much time.
Click to expand...

I'm going this route as well, swaged fittings at the top and Sta Lok on the bottom. Means I can re-rig without dropping the mast, and I'm a long way from the nearest rigger so DIY is really the only option.
 
JumbleDuck said:
As ever I welcome advice, particularly from people who have been there, done that and got the T-shirt.
Click to expand...
Tape around the wire across the cut point.
Bolt Crops don't leave as good a cut end as an Angle Grinder, if you use an AG, do it away from boat GRP as you don't want grindings embedded in the deck.
Put some gunk (semi setting sealant) around the wire at the top of the fitting (not the cut end) before you screw the fitting down, to stop water ingress.
 
I have the same experience as others e swaged at top an Norseman at the bottom.
Norseman stood the test of time and were reused.

Sealant a good idea so is Locktite!


gary
 
JumbleDuck said:
Thanks folks. As far as I can see, the cost of compression fittings is roughly the same as the cost of having a swaged fitting supplied and fitted, so the cost saving would come from re-using the fittings and just getting new cones. I am much reassured by tales of (the) norsemen, so I'm pretty sure that's the way I'll go. Since it would also mean I could fit the rigging myself (it's a logistics/timing thing) the total saving looks to be around £600, which is quite respectable for a weekend's work.

In further good news, four out of five joints in my roller reefing foil unscrewed in ten minutes today. That leaves just one, but I have a bag of tools and all tomorrow to persuade it of the error of its ways.
Click to expand...
I recently did all the rigging n my mizzen mast with Stalok fittings. Its really easy
 
There are good YouTube videos, of course, with lots of tips.
 
LadyInBed said:
Tape around the wire across the cut point.
Bolt Crops don't leave as good a cut end as an Angle Grinder, if you use an AG, do it away from boat GRP as you don't want grindings embedded in the deck.
Put some gunk (semi setting sealant) around the wire at the top of the fitting (not the cut end) before you screw the fitting down, to stop water ingress.
Click to expand...
No need to use an angle grinder a fine tooth hacksaw and a mitre saw guide will produce perfect 90 deg cuts.
 
JumbleDuck said:
In further good news, four out of five joints in my roller reefing foil unscrewed in ten minutes today. That leaves just one, but I have a bag of tools and all tomorrow to persuade it of the error of its ways.
Click to expand...
In a clear sign that I behaved myself in a past life, the whole thing came apart easily today. Thank goodness for impact drivers, but even that was only needed for six out of twelve screws. Everything slid apart easily and, as a bonus, I discovered that my Aldi bolt croppers (from the emergency locker) cut 1/19 6mm stainless with only a bit of grunting.

The plan is now to have the forestay (6mm, swaged) made by a rigger and do everything else (5mm, Norseman) myself at home. Anyone know if Jimmy Green will sell bulk wire in lengths other than 50m and 100m? I need 55m ...
 
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