Standing rigging replacment

[sailingdog]

Newport41-

The reasons that your sails don't reef well could have more to do with their shape and they way they were made, and how worn they are, more than the furling unit itself. If your sails don't have a rope or foam luff, they will tend to bag when they get reefed on the roller furler. If the sails are blown out, they will bag when reefed on the roller furler... If they were originally cut as hanked on sails and then modified to fit the furler, they may bag when reefed... or it could be a combination of all three.

It might be worth having a rigger come out and look and see what is going on.

[soul searcher]

See post #17 Here is a link to Bills gallery with a pic of the antenna. YOU should pm him he is very knowligable about ssb antennas

Gallery :: Born Free 9/26/06 :: SBF062606

You can see the antenna conected to the pulpit He also has good instructions on how to build a diapole that you could hoist in an emergency or when ever that doesn't require a tuner.
Hope this helps

[pigslo]

You could possibly have your rod rigging rebuilt by a rigger for near the cost of new wire. Rod rigging is better than wire but very expensive new.My rigger rebuilt mine by cutting and coldforming new ends.
pigslo

[sailingdog]

The reason I don't like rod rigging for cruising boats is that it can fail catastrophically without warning. It is also harder to repair and less tolerant of abuse.

[pigslo]

Most catastrophic failures are without warning, SD. The modern rod rigging does not have the closed in heads of the the early days. When my rigger rebuilt mine he used new open tangs so it is not prone to crevice corrosion. And it is hard to beat for adjust it and forget it as it is not prone to stretch like wire. Also can be sized smaller for equal strength....
pigslo

[sailingdog]

Pigslo-

Very true... it is far less stretchy... and higher strength... but if you're cruising, carrying a spare wire rope stay as long as the longest piece of rigging you've got, and some swageless terminals is pretty easy to do. Carrying an equivalent piece of rod rigging that can substitute for any failed piece is not really possible.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Pigslo-

Very true... it is far less stretchy... and higher strength... but if you're cruising, carrying a spare wire rope stay as long as the longest piece of rigging you've got, and some swageless terminals is pretty easy to do. Carrying an equivalent piece of rod rigging that can substitute for any failed piece is not really possible.

SD

There is nothing stopping you from replacing a broken rod with wire in an emergency. IMHO

[sailingdog]

Simon-

I don't think it is wise to have one piece of rigging that is significantly weaker, heavier or stretchier than the rest of the rigging on the boat. It will cause the rest of the rigging to fatigue more quickly IMHO. Also, the fittings for the terminal end are a bit different for rod rigging compared to wire rigging IIRC.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Simon-

I don't think it is wise to have one piece of rigging that is significantly weaker, heavier or stretchier than the rest of the rigging on the boat. It will cause the rest of the rigging to fatigue more quickly IMHO. Also, the fittings for the terminal end are a bit different for rod rigging compared to wire rigging IIRC.

SD

Don’t forget we are talking about an emergency; in an emergency I would even use a rope halyard to relive the strain on the rig.

[hellosailor]

SD- There is always one weaker/weakest piece of rigging on a boat. Even if the are all the same, the loads on them are different so one is "weaker" based on working loads on them.

IIRC there are fittings that can be used with rod rigging as well, I know I've read recommendations to keep one extra piece, as long as the longest in the rigging, on board with rod rigged boats. Wouldn't do much good unless it could be attached, right?

There's one other thing not mentioned here. If you replace rod rigging with wire, when it is time to sell the boat you may take a loss offsetting the savings. What you are doing is replacing a diesel engine with a gasoline one: Cheaper, but not what the buyer expects to find on that boat, or her sister ships. It might be worthwhile having a shop inspect the end fittings and give you some options, before junking the rod rigging and replacing it with the cheaper option of wire.