Replacing Standing rigging

[puff6022]

I have an Island Packet 27 cutter rig. I want to replace the standing rigging myself without dropping the mast. I have already replaced the Forestay. I want to remove and replace the split backstay, the 2 uppers the 4 lowers. I have 4 halyards available, 1 halyard I will use to raise my fabric walk up steps to access the top of the mast. My question is can I take all of them down at once( one weekend) so I can take them to the rigging shop and have them duplicated so I can reinstall them(the following weekend). How many halyards will hold the mast up for a week. I do have a stailsail forestay also available to use, it is wire and connected about 8 feet below the masthead.

Help,
Puff

[sailingdog]

Puff—

Unless you are taking the mast down, I wouldn't recommend removing all of the rigging at once...

You will need to use two halyards to go up the mast, one for the ladder and one as a safety line, in case you slip and fall or the halyard supporting the ladder breaks, or the ladder breaks...

In theory, you could use a halyard to replace the shrouds on either side and one to replace the back stay, but I don't think I would do that, especially given that your mast has double lower shrouds on either side... and I don't think that those halyards would support the mast well enough for you to safely climb it.

Do it one piece at a time... and take your time to do it right.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by puff6022

I have an Island Packet 27 cutter rig. I want to replace the standing rigging myself without dropping the mast. I have already replaced the Forestay. I want to remove and replace the split backstay, the 2 uppers the 4 lowers. I have 4 halyards available, 1 halyard I will use to raise my fabric walk up steps to access the top of the mast. My question is can I take all of them down at once( one weekend) so I can take them to the rigging shop and have them duplicated so I can reinstall them(the following weekend). How many halyards will hold the mast up for a week. I do have a stailsail forestay also available to use, it is wire and connected about 8 feet below the masthead.

Help,
Puff

With an Island Packet you could feel safe having your rigging made up in pairs. Meaning that if you remove one upper you can have a pair duplicated from it.
I would feel confident removing the starboard upper, a backstay, a foward lower on one side and a port lower on the other at the same time if I had enough halyards to work with. And it was a nice day. If you have some extra halyard and some blocks and shackles, temporary halyards are easy to rig.
That said, it would still be better and probably easier in the long run if you simply sent a competent person aloft with the dumb end of a 50' steel tape on a day with little or no wind and take accurate pin to pin measurments of the shrouds and stays. Then take those numbers to the rigger, have the whole thing made up at the same time. And then with the help of the same competent assistants, install it all the same day by having the man aloft hoist each piece up as needed while the people on deck loosen, remove and reattach and tention one at a time.

[puff6022]

Thanks for the Input. That sounds like the best plan. Thanks, Puff