Can anyone offer do's and don'ts on doing your own rigging

I am replacing all wires on my mast using '1/8' 1x19 wire but find it very hard to work. I have to clamp the swage, thimble and wire loop into a vice and force the swage up the loop as far as I can before using the swage tool to crimp it before it slides back. Muscles I haven't used in years are complaining vigorously.

A number of chandlery shops said to use 7x7 and not 1x19 wire as it was: too stiff to bend around a thimble, must not be hand swaged, and that wire failure was feasible if there was 'ballooning' of the strands around the thimble. My cat builder said use 1x19 as it was standard equipment.

I found little info on rigging online and so welcome tips from those who have done their own.

Hi,
Just a thought, not necessarily an advice.
Clamping the ss fittings on the cable is delicate stuff, but you don't want that to brake or get loose. The mast is much too important and expensive to have it damaged by using home made rigging.

You should check out these companies and find resellers of their stuff.

"Jakob Inox"
"Carl Stahl"

These companies offer architectural hardware and rigging, and you can order ready made , cut to lenght rigging that is guaranteed to withstand a certain tension. The SS cable is welded to the end fittings so breaking or getting loose is out of the question. You can download their catalogues from their websites in pdf form, and then choose the exact type of fittings you want.

Just a thought. Not sure if it would be cheaper than marine rigging.

For the past couple of years, I have built and replaced my own rigging. I build them right in the hardware store where I buy the parts. They have a huge table and all the tools necessary to build the rigging. I use 1x19 and have not had any problems getting them around the spindles. It is pretty exausting on the fingers but it can be done. I hold the wire and fitting tight with both my hands while the store employee works the swage tool. It is best to make it a two-man job, just be sure to communicate well so the other person does crimp your fingers. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Since I personally build the rigging I trust it; however, I do end up changing it out more often than I would if I had bought the rigging ready made. Even though I change it so often, building the rigging is still much cheaper than buying the ready-made stuff. On the other hand, if you are having trouble getting a perfect fit and a perfect crimp, I would not trust the rigging. The mast is a very big stick to have come down on you. I should add that I sail in a bay with very flat water and my "stay on shore" wind speed is anything over 15 knots. If you sail in any kind of surf or sail in heavy winds from time to time, I would highly recommend forking out the extra cash for some professionally-made rigging. They are really not that expensive when you factor in the security and peace of mind.

The expression is "NO FRIGGIN WITH THE RIGGIN". How much money is saved by buying the materials and spending the time doing it yourself? As indicated previously on this forum some manufactures have begun using cheap ss wire rope from some Asian sources. I use a local rigging shop because they use USA or EU genuine Mil/Aero parts. I believe the person who wrote the previos post recommended that you have all fittings packed with 3M 5200 or a product similar. I actually saved about $50 from the factory prices replacing everything for a Nacra 6.0 and using a local rigging shop. If you are in South Floriad I would recommend Florida hydrolic and rigging. 561-863-7445

Florida Rigging
3905 Investment Lane
Riveria Beach, Florida
561-863-7445

If you don't have any class rules to worry about, just use spectra or similar hi-tech line. No more swaging <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It worked for IDEC around the world, it would probably be just fine on your cat.

Spectra instead of forestay and shrouds??? NO way? for real?

Not sure about rigging, have heard a few people use it for Trap wire.

I'm going to use it on the F32 so it should be do-able on a beach cat have a look on http://www.precourt.ca/ they know their stuff

P

On my P-19mx I have a Nacra 6.0NA bowfoil installed. the bridle pigtails are only 9" long. I had (3) sets of "pigtails made with "marine eyes" @ $90.00/set. the last set lasted maybe (1) month before strands broke, rigging and derigging required laying the foil over bending/crimping the pigtails,OK. I was pissed, that alot of beer drinking $$$/season.

I tried 1/8" Dynema looped around several times, maybe $2.00/side. that was several years ago ... I replace it every (2) years. Oh, I have a 25sq meter Tornado spinacker on her .... no problems.

My "big Boat" ride is on a friend's 43'Tri with rotating mast ... the shrouds are amsteel ... the biggest issue is intial "creep" as the braid tightens up to an equilibrium tightness which makes the line seem too stretch a little bit.

Sail Flat, Sail Fast
HarryMurphey
H-18mag/#9458, Fleet 54/Div11
P-19mx/#86, CRAC

A-cats allow use of spectra rigging. T-class does not permit it for standing rigging or mast diamonds, but does for traps & spin pole stays. If permitted, most T boat teams would use it all around since it's lighter. Cost wise is would be cheaper than the currently popular Dyform cable (~$1.30/foot for 3-3.35 mm).

I found a vice invaluable to get the swage close to the thimble. Using pliers to squeeze wire around the thimble while the vice forced the swage up to it meant a tight loop before swageing to finish the job.

Next task is diamond adjustment for mast prebend while keeping it straight.

You should make some pics while working on the rigging and post it on the homebuilding section. Might be usefull, or maybe you should post the pics after a test sail with strong wind.
Good luck and keep us informed. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Has anyone 3mm Marlow D12 (2280 lbs breaking strength), 4mm
D12 (3800lbs), or a similar product for standing rigging?

You really don't want to use a Dyneema based product for rigging because of the creep, unless you go with the Dyneema DUX - very expensive. It's preferable to use a Vectran based substitute. However Vectran products are not as resistant to chafe and UV exposure, which requires some sort of protective coating (usually shrinkwrap, which increases the weight and windage. The amount of weight savings for synthetic rigging on a beachcat is minimal. The a-cat guys are fanatics about weight, and you rarely see it on their platforms.

Just my humble opinion.

Ive done 3 boats at West Marine for around $50-$75 for 2 shrouds and a forestay. All 3 boats were smaller beach cats, GCat 5.0, NACRA 5.0 and 5.2. I used 1x19 wire, double thimbles, and thier bench swager. All 3 boats are still sailing with this rigging, the oldest being 6 years old(I wouldnt recommend waiting that long but these guys dont sail as much as some of us. I found it quite easy to put the thimble in the swage and cinch it up tighly by myself. The most difficult part was getting the "pull to pull" length right, especially by yourself. The West Marine guys said they couldnt help for liability purposes. The most important thing is to double thimble, IMHO.

If I were sailing with a carbon mast, or a new boat, I would probably go with a professional rigger.

IMHO, I would go synthetic. Agree with VMG "precourt" very cool stuff. Thats what I'm putting on the C-class but I am going one size up. Again IMHO for SS cables Aircraftspruce has probbally more experiance than most rig shops. And the work there is very good. and at a decent price. not cheap. Doing SS standing rigging in the garage doesn't seem like a good idea. Failure is not worth it not only will you damage the boat you might damage the crew or yourself. regaurdlees of the type of boat.

For Dave M., do you mean double nico (nickel-copper) sleeves? If not, I don't understand what you mean by double thimbles.
As for the double nicos, that used to be the standard espec. on hang gliders (I'm a sailing and hang gliding rigger btw) but when testing got better it showed the double nicos made the terminal too stiff, and increased wire fatigue in the area next to the thimble. On the length thing
if you take very careful measurements you can figure out how much length you lose going around the thimble, I have a whole chart I made for how much wire to cut to get the right finished length. Especially with loaner tools make sure to use the go gauge, which is a piece of metal with slots for the different size nicos, and if it won't fit in the slot it isn't compressed enough.
For QB2, don't use 7x7 or 7x19, both are too stretchy. As for the synthetic rigging, it can be a real pain to get symmetrical, and on the big boats they usually have a hydraulic come-along that hooks into the rig for adjusting the lashings.
All in all, it's hard to beat rotary hammered swage terminals, but if you do Kearny swage (has two rotating dies that draw the fitting through) most places do a second pass after rotating the fitting 90 deg. to flatten off the "wings" that form after the first pass, but that's shown to over work harden the fitting. If you got bucks you could also do a Norseman/Staylok type screw together terminal, very simple to do and very low wire fatigue during assembly (these are the ones you should fill with 5200, but on a regular fitting I use Lanocote).
Just for reference, my old shop had a rotary hammer that could do up to 1.5 inch wire, and you have never had fun like having the terminal stick in the die, the flywheel keeps the machine turning long after the power is shut off, turning the wire into flying jumprope of death, literally beating holes in the walls and smashing out the overhead lights until it slows down....

How many beach cats out there have completely taught leeward shrouds when you are sailing to windward?
If it isn't completely taught then you can use dyneema (I would use ultrex) for the stays as long as you build in less length to allow for creep. Once the creep is out there won't be much more lengthening. It isn't like the line continues to get longer and longer because of the creep- it stops eventually. I made a ultrex 5/32 forestay (the top "pigtail" as I call it that then attaches to the two lines going to the bow tangs- boat doesn't have a jib) on an 18HT and yes, it was a little guessing as to how much shorter to make the line when doing to eyesplices but ti works fine. One thing I try to do is make sure I pull the line out as hard as I can before doing the splices.
As Mike said though- dynex would probably be best but $$$. My f31 has 3/8 dynex dux precourt shrouds (breaking strength something like 27,000 lbs!!! a little excessive)

sbflyer, yea I meant nico's, and Im not a rigger by anymeans, just had good luck with my 3 attemts I guess.