Strange Rigging, is it OK??

[SailorTom]

Hi, I'm in the market for and viewed a Heavenly Twins 26 last week. First is was more a motorboat than sail. Someone had removed the outboard from the center cockpit and added  twin 9.9s on the transom, talk about out of trim! The darn thing was at least 6-inchs down aft!. Obviously BAD.....
But the real question is about the rigging. It wasn't your standard 1x19. The overall dia was about right but each wire was much thicker and then the lower connections didn't have swaged or mechanical eyes, it had the wire looping through thimbles like is done with rope. Then the end of the wire was secured to itself using three crimped sleeves :o I can't say I'm on old salt but I've never seen this done on standing rigging, well other than on a small day sailor. Anyone guess if this would be safe for the Great Loop?

[cap-couillon]

No.... 

[Tim]

And in case that was not clear enough, No   ;D

[SailorTom]

"NO", that was my analysis also, but it's always nice to have some form of confirmation:) But I admit there was a little glimmer in my cheap/furgal little heart that the answer would not be so definitive ;D But I'd done the price eval including replacing the rigging anyway.
Thanks

[Jim_ME]

Tom, Have you seen this boat for sale in your area? May be worth having a look at...

Pearson Triton 28 Sailboat - $3000 (Northport)
http://maine.craigslist.org/boa/4645552871.html

[Edit: I only just looked at the list of your boats...so you already have a Triton 28?  ;)]   

[Godot]

I don't know the boat. I don't know the rig. However...

A few years ago I saw a couple old boats using galvanized wire as standing rigging. This stuff is apparently much more flexible than 1x19 stainless. 7x7 stainless is occasionally also used for standing rigging. I think both can be wrapped around thimbles and secured somehow.

So...It may very well be a bad, unsafe situation. But maybe the owner is using a now-a-days atypical; but perhaps acceptable alternative?

[Tim]

I have used both with clamps to pull wood out around here on the ranch, The clamps do not hold, eventually slipping, not to mention corroding. I wouldn't trust them for anything more than emergency rigging. But I do keep a length of it aboard just for that reason. It is easy to work with.

[SailorTom]

Tom, Have you seen this boat for sale in your area? May be worth having a look at...

Pearson Triton 28 Sailboat - $3000 (Northport)
http://maine.craigslist.org/boa/4645552871.html

[Edit: I only just looked at the list of your boats...so you already have a Triton 28?  ;)]

Hey Jim, Thanks but I'm looking for a small catamaran to keep at a dock in Jacksonville Fla for our winter sojourn. We love Maine, but hate snow ;D We lived aboard a HT26 for 3 years so it's a boat we know and loved and wish we had never sold, but plans change. But if I found an Iroquois for cheap that would be very tempting! I looked at an alleged "excellent" condition Iroquois last week in St Augustine, more like dumpster ready worth maybe 10% of the asking price >:(

[cap-couillon]

Quick expansion on my No...

Hand crimped aluminum or copper hourglass sleeves (eg: Nicopress) are good for around 40% of wire strength when used for securing an eye in wire rope.

A quick "Molly Hogan" splice with seizing  is good for 60-70%

A "Liverpool" eye splice with seizing up to 90%

Machine swaged, poured, or mechanical (eg: StaLoc) wire rope ends are expected to be at 100% (assuming new,  not degraded condition).

I have used all of the above in emergency conditions, but would not rely on any but a proper Liverpool eye or a standard machine swage for the day to day standing rig.

[CharlieJ]

My Cross 35 Trimaran was rigged like that, using galvanized wire yet. Never had a problem.

My Lindsey 21, Necessity was (and is) rigged with 1 x 19 and Nicro press fittings, doubled on each wire. THAT'S been over 15 years or more now..

Done properly, with a proper tool, and checked to be sure the crimps are as they should be (diameter wise) it should be fine.

Note that I am NOT talking about the saddle type clamps that  bolt on over the wire,, but swaged NicroPress fittings.

[maxiSwede]

Though I have no personal expererience with anything but SS 1x19 wire for standing rigging, I;ve got to agree with Charlie. Nicopress or similar crimped on fittings are fine; and have the obvious advantage to swaged end fittings to be easily inspected. Our friends on Beau Soleil, with 3-4 circumnavigations, use 7x7 SS cables with crimped copper sleeves (nicopress) for all their rigging. The thimbles need to be machined out of one piece and not the cheapish ones you;d find at any chandlery. Galvanized wire, properly serviced and parceled outlasts SS by 10 times, according to Brion Toss. Also, SS wire if used around a thimble needs a larger radius,  i e an oversized thimble.

Peronally I am about to replace the standing rigging on Nanna, it being 14 y o at least, and I a, quite thrilled with Dyneema or Dynex Dux rope with long splices....but being a bit reluctant to be an early adopter on such vital parts of the boat I;ll probably do 1x19 SS and mechanical (Norseman) end fittings.

No more swaged fittings, ever again, at least not in the tropics. Impossible to tell how far corrosion has advanced there...

[okawbow]

I used galvanized steel "wire rope" and galvanized steel nicopress sleeves for the rigging on my Privateer 26 schooner. There is no backstay on my rig, so the side stays take a heavy load. I've often been out under full sail in heavy winds, and had the rail under several times, with no hint of the sleeves slipping or the wire being insufficient. Good quality galvanized wire is potentially longer lasting than stainless cable. It also will give telltale signs of impending failure that the stainless may not give.

I use a huge hand crimping tool with 3' handles for the 1/4" wire and sleeves.


p26schooner1 by okawbow, on Flickr