#7/ The rigging. Special Refitting. Time for change. Ten questions in ten episodes.
THE PERFECT GIFT!
Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
In this seventh installment we look up true the mast and rigging to check that everything is okay.
7.Are the shrouds to be changed or checked?
If it has been four years since you last dismasted to check the condition of the shrouds and all terminals, the answer to this question is yes. An analysis should also be done every four years to check the condition of the cable: if a replacement is needed, the best solution should be figured out depending on the boat. For steel and other modern materials (carbon, titanium, PBO, etc.), it is a good idea to include specific analyses in the maintenance cycles provided by the manufacturer: liquid penetrant and ultrasonic analysis are very low-cost operations when compared to the effect of the rig on the deck. There are many factors that determine the life of a steel cable.
First, how much it is sized in relation to the actual load it will have to bear. Typically, the rigging of a cruising boat is oversized by more than 15 to 20 percent of the actual tensile strength under maximum sailing conditions. a calculation of how many miles the boat has sailed under sail should then be kept: usually after 30/35 thousand miles a complete and thorough inspection and almost certain replacement of rigging and some worn parts should be done. Maintenance also needs to be taken into account; the cleaner it is kept from salt and weathering, the longer the rigging will have a long life.
In case a rod cable was armed, it can be cut, repressed and still be used for a long time. The rebar is a cold-drawn steel cable with much higher tensile strengths, at the same diameter with the spiroidal one, and lower elongation.
Otherwise, if you mount spiroidal cable, which is cheaper, on board, this must be replaced. Robust and reliable and lower cost has high elongation and low aerodynamic surface. Dyfrom cables were born to overcome these drawbacks. They are still 19-wire spiroidals but different profile and size. The result is a more profiled cable that offers lower wind resistance and 20 to 30 percent higher tensile strengths than traditional 1×19. Only downside: it costs three times as much. Possibly, to save weight and improve performance, consider switching to carbon or PBO (textile fiber) rigging, which has high costs but almost no elongation. The latter option is recommended only if you are an experienced sailor: there is no point in spending a lot of money to rig PBO rigging if you are then unable to properly trim the sails. Better to invest that amount to upgrade other areas of the boat.
Share:
Are you already a subscriber?
Ultimi annunci
Our social
Sign up for our Newsletter
We give you a gift
Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!
You may also be interested in.
Not just ports and marinas: here’s where floating docks are being installed in Italy
More and more ports and marinas are deciding to renovate their operations with floating docks: more modern, flexible and sustainable. Ingemar is the world’s leading floating structure design company, which has contributed to the modernization of many in the Mediterranean
Now you have the incentive if you buy an electric motor
Incentives are coming for the purchase of a marine electric motor. After years of vain waiting, bureaucratic delays and the feeling of being practically “invisible” in the eyes of the government in that much-ballyhooed race for “ecological transition,” a
Sail-pod 25 kW: electric, Italian, environmentally friendly. For sailboats from 12 m!
Italian company Velettrica has come up with Sail-pod 25 kW, a innovative electric propulsion system with a hi-tech propeller that works like a normal propeller, but at the same time allows for energy recovery when the boat is propelled by
Here are the right self-inflating jackets to sail safely
Self-inflating jackets are personal protective equipment that ensure the safety of the entire crew. Just as we wear helmets when we ride motorcycles, when we are sailing life jackets and can mean the difference between life and death. By wearing