Standing rigging replacement in Plymouth

[Tranona]

It works for me and many others. Technically I could step and unstep my own mast, but then again the boatyard does it quickly and safely for a modest amount. Replacing rigging made up by a rigger is a doddle though. Even fitting a roller furler is straightforward, they all come with instructions after all.

Just going through this process. If only a lift was "modest" - £160 each way here in Poole or £350 if I get a telehandler in to do it in the club. Fortunately we have just had our derrick overhauled but it is DIY so needs members to get together a crew of 3 to operate it. You are right though the actual rigging attachment is straightforward, particularly on a simple mast head or small single spreader fractional rig. Gets a bit more challenging with a larger double spreader rig where you need both a bigger crane to unstep and step plus a bit more expertise to set it up. Looks easy when the professionals do it.

 

[WindyWindyWindy]

I do think it's a skilled job, but it would be interesting to know what people have actually paid for a given boat size..

 

[Tranona]

I do think it's a skilled job, but it would be interesting to know what people have actually paid for a given boat size..

I can tell you what mine cost - £2200 for a 31' boat 2 years ago but it won't help you much without knowing exactly what was done. Materials are relatively easy to work out as Jimmy Green Marine have all the prices on line for wire terminals and bottle screws but labour and handling costs vary enormously. To give you an idea of the type of variations. The wire , making up terminals and bottle screws accounted for approx £1600 split roughly 70% wire and terminals 30% bottle screws. So if you only replaced the stays you would save £500. Equally some terminals are as much as 50% higher cost than others. There is something like 10-15 hours labour to unstep, strip mast, fit new rigging, step and set up. So DIY can save as much as 40%, or even more if you don't have to pay for a crane.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Just going through this process. If only a lift was "modest" - £160 each way here in Poole or £350 if I get a telehandler in to do it in the club. Fortunately we have just had our derrick overhauled but it is DIY so needs members to get together a crew of 3 to operate it. You are right though the actual rigging attachment is straightforward, particularly on a simple mast head or small single spreader fractional rig. Gets a bit more challenging with a larger double spreader rig where you need both a bigger crane to unstep and step plus a bit more expertise to set it up. Looks easy when the professionals do it.

It’s about £100 each way for us. It’s actually very light, but of course theres a lot of windage, and the centre of gravity is high. Hence me not really enjoying using the on board system,

Our diamond stays are the tricky ones, but it’s do-able with a £130 tension gauge. I’d expect to manage a normal double spreader fractional rig like that too. Skill level moderate, read about it, take your time, you won’t break anything unless you shouldn’t be near a boat at all.

 

[Foster]

You could leave the mast up, do it one piece at at time, cutting your own wore and using mechanical fittings. I’ve done a few like this for cruisers on the move. You need to be careful and ideally have a dyneema rope to use as a stay.

Always great to get the job done cheap (so long as it’s done well) and great to see what people come up with to do this. Mind you, it’s the tune that makes the rig safe so be sure to do your research there or just pay for a time with a reputed rig specialist like your boys at Allspars.

 

[fredrussell]

I do think it's a skilled job, but it would be interesting to know what people have actually paid for a given boat size..

I don’t know if Z spars have a south coast office, but I’ve just had my standing rigging replaced (DIY) by them and it was very good value. Less than £700 for uppers, intermediates and a forestay. Just lowers to go so will be well under a grand all in which I reckon is pretty good for 31 ft double spreader boat. I have mast steps so doing it all with mast up.

 

[zoidberg]

Members of the 'Officer Class' such as JM may be well used to having others do the domestic 'grunt work'; not all of us have 'house elves' around to lift and lower our masts, nor have access to a suitable 'Elder Wand' to magik the great ungainly lumps of aluminium back into place.

A point worth mentioning is that AFAIK all the yards around Plymouth insist that proper-job riggers do the mast re-positioning work, for H&S and insurance purposes.
Having used a couple of 'Janner riggers' over the years, I wouldn't go past the team at Allspars.

I can confirm that Jimmy Green Marine wil happily make up and sell replacement rigging. They will not fit it.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Members of the 'Officer Class' such as JM may be well used to having others do the domestic 'grunt work'; not all of us have 'house elves' around to lift and lower our masts, nor have access to a suitable 'Elder Wand' to magik the great ungainly lumps of aluminium back into place.

A point worth mentioning is that AFAIK all the yards around Plymouth insist that proper-job riggers do the mast re-positioning work, for H&S and insurance purposes.
Having used a couple of 'Janner riggers' over the years, I wouldn't go past the team at Allspars.

I can confirm that Jimmy Green Marine wil happily make up and sell replacement rigging. They will not fit it.

I have no doubt that Allspars as many of the franchises do a good job 90% of the time but my experience was not good despite giving them a significant number of beer tokens for:
New boom, single line reefing, gas rod kicker
New telescopic seldom spinnaker pole and mast fittings for raising and securing
Full re rigging plus some very expensive new turnbuckles ( not the normal open type) two of which were substituted with conventional ones because they couldn't be arsed to re drill the stern chain plates
A Tri Sail track.

The problem arose when after taking the boat back from QAB and going for a weekend in Falmouth to see how things worked coming back in the dark the previously working masthead tricolour wasn't functioning! A trip up the mast the following weekend revealed a damaged beyond repair unit but worse the tri sail track was only held on by two rivets top and bottom . Andy's response was that he would send someone over right away but denied responsibility for the trip colour, 5hours latter in the afternoon no one had turned up and he ignored me when I went across to their workshop. My response was not good and he ended up coming across to do the job himself.

 

[zoidberg]

. Andy's response was...... he ended up coming across to do the job himself.

That's a bit troubling. I have some similar jobs for 'the rigger of choice' down there, including a new masthead tricolour unit. Hmmm...

This is a good example of a well-known principle in marketing:
A firm can spend years building a good reputation, but one ( or two ) bad experiences can destroy that 'public perception' in a day. A respected business leader - from last century - pointed out that people expect a good service so, if they get that, they may tell 2 or 3 of their friends. If they get bad service, they'll let everyone in their circle know the name of the firm that failed them. These days, via forums and social media, that runs to hundreds who get 'the hard word'. He insisted his staff spend 20 times as much time/money solving a problem/mistake so that the disappointed customer ends up telling their friends how good that firm was.

That's a principle that Lewis, of GS Products understands. He's personally battling with the fourth attempt to have a simple package of 'boaty bits' delivered to me, involving emails, phonecalls, and his own interactions with two different courier companies. He's certainly trying hard....*

*Edit: His perseverance has paid off - at the fourth attempt, this afternoon.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

That's a bit troubling. I have some similar jobs for 'the rigger of choice' down there, including a new masthead tricolour unit. Hmmm...

This is a good example of a well-known principle in marketing:
A firm can spend years building a good reputation, but one ( or two ) bad experiences can destroy that 'public perception' in a day. A respected business leader - from last century - pointed out that people expect a good service so, if they get that, they may tell 2 or 3 of their friends. If they get bad service, they'll let everyone in their circle know the name of the firm that failed them. These days, via forums and social media, that runs to hundreds who get 'the hard word'. He insisted his staff spend 20 times as much time/money solving a problem/mistake so that the disappointed customer ends up telling their friends how good that firm was.

That's a principle that Lewis, of GS Products understands. He's personally battling with the fourth attempt to have a simple package of 'boaty bits' delivered to me, involving emails, phonecalls, and his own interactions with two different courier companies. He's certainly trying hard....

It was a long time ago 2005 or 6 if I remember and as I said possibly a one off but as you say it ruined my perception of the company and why Hemisphere got subsequent work.

 

[zoidberg]

......it ruined my perception of the company and why Hemisphere got subsequent work.

I'll certainly speak with 'them/those' at Hemisphere when next I'm down there.

 

[MattS]

Will throw a vote in for Allspars at QAB in terms of recent customer service I've had from them - not being local to the boat they've made a lot of hassle disappear for me.

Can't comment on their prices relative to others, other than to say I've not felt cheated so far.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Members of the 'Officer Class' such as JM may be well used to having others do the domestic 'grunt work'; not all of us have 'house elves' around to lift and lower our masts, nor have access to a suitable 'Elder Wand' to magik the great ungainly lumps of aluminium back into place.

A point worth mentioning is that AFAIK all the yards around Plymouth insist that proper-job riggers do the mast re-positioning work, for H&S and insurance purposes.
Having used a couple of 'Janner riggers' over the years, I wouldn't go past the team at Allspars.

I can confirm that Jimmy Green Marine wil happily make up and sell replacement rigging. They will not fit it.

A rather odd statement coming from someone who was a commissioned RAF officer? In my defence I should point out I do over 98% of the work on our boat myself. The only things that invariably get subcontracted out are grit blasting old antifouling off or in stepping the mast. (I’d do it if I was allowed to and on our daughters boat I’ve always stepped and unstepped that mast with no outside help at all.)
I can’t fault Allspars quality of work. I’ve just found them not to be the most reasonably priced sometimes. However I have used them several times for a variety of jobs including a complete set of standing rigging for our SCOD and have no complaints.

 

[zoidberg]

A rather odd statement coming from someone who was a commissioned RAF officer? In my defence.....

....M'lud,

There's something of an 'int in 'ere....

 

[john_morris_uk]

....M'lud,

There's something of an 'int in 'ere....

If it makes you happy.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Nope. Always have had excellent service from Allspars.

I haven’t. I think they’ve gone off the boil. Invariably polite but they just don’t get the work done. I’m going to try Hemisphere this winter.

 

[yoda]

I priced up both Eurospars and Allspars to take down, re-rig and re-step my mast last winter. Prices were almost identical and only location drove my choice. While I could have had the rigging changed with the mast up, the ability to do a thorough inspection, rectify issues etc made a winter with the mast down a worthwhile evolution.
To be fair I have always had great service from Hemisphere as well.
Yoda

 

[paris]

I used allspars for a new mast and associated rigging and was very pleased, Andy was super helpful and went out of his way for me. Would use again.

 

[Sandy]

I haven’t. I think they’ve gone off the boil. Invariably polite but they just don’t get the work done. I’m going to try Hemisphere this winter.

Never been my experience.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

There will always be individual experiences of any company or organisation such as mine particularly when by virtue of name they are nearly always busy and as such slip ups will occur and can be expected, it's how they are dealt with that often determines the customers experience and reaction.