How to Inspect Your Own Rigging | Sailing Wisdom

[@chappyd5109]

These last two videos were excellent. You do very well on the technical issues. Well done.

[@RiggingDoctor]

Thanks! 👍

[@jasonsmith9388]

I've never been sailing in the 42 years I have been alive. I plan on retiring onto a sailboat within the next ten years. current plan is to learn as I go. Thanks to many other sailing channels just like this one 20+ and counting I'm learning many important things mainly what not to do or what to think about before it's to late. I'm sure it not as good as real life hands on experience but invaluable information non the less. I like to thank you for everything you teach us. Without people like you living the dream and sharing it, There wouldn't be people like me dreaming to live the life. I live work and play in west Michigan 20 miles from lake Michigan up the river from Saugatuck that has a sheltered inlet from lake Michigan. If anyone finds themselves in my neck of the woods I would love to spend a little time on board to get that hands on feel on how things work. thankyou once again love your channel

[@supershane1960]

Jason Smith; I'm in the same boat (no pun intended) and am looking forward to the time when I can start sailing myself. I live on the other side of the world from you but you never know, might get a chance to catch up some time out on the wide blue yonder. Cheers for now mate... ;-}

[@vanseventy]

Jason. Do yourself a favor and go to a sailing school and learn on small vessels like lazers or sunfish then step up to 16 ft hobie cats. Then find a marina that has ASA sailing courses. 101,103,104,105,106. Find other people to split the cost of the sailboat and Captain that certifies You in all these courses. You will log all the time under that Captain on the boat and he certifies your stickers to put in log book so you can bareboat charter any boat anywhere in the world. By doing this,you will save yourself tons of money by learning what to do and not tear your boat apart by not having training. The training saves your life and tons of money on the water.Try to find a really well known Captain with a lot of blue water experience.I grew up on the Great Lakes back in the 70’s on an old C & C sailboat. Great times and learned a lot young. Been living in Florida for 36 yrs now and if your planning on sailing here the keys,and the Island chains all the way down to South America,then here are musts for sailboats......... 1 Need passports and get your ASA 101,103,104,105,106 stamps 2 Bluewater sailboats. Google them 3 no more than 5 ft for a draft. Your keel. Wing keel preferably or you will be waiting for tides everywhere to get through most of the seas from Florida on down to South America 4 mast height. No higher than 65 ft. 63ft is perfect then you have your wind vein and other things on top of your mast.This way you can get through most of the intracoastal bridges of Florida. Miami’s Julia Tuttle bridge is 56 ft and many people wreck their masts on it. There are quite a few in the panhandle and upper Florida. Google them. The waters up there are very shallow. 5 Handheld marine radios say 2 with epurbs on them at least 1 with epurb. You need a handheld at the helm.You cannot pilot the boat and run down to the nav station to talk to other boat traffic or bridges. 6 Any marina from North Florida down you will have to jump in the water and clean your boat from the water line down once a week from barnacle growth,you can sponge it off if it’s done every week or you will scrape it with putty knife,preferably sponge. You do this by taking the boat out deep enough not to run aground and anchor properly(ASA courses will show you how) BIG DEAL! Seriously! Then sponge off everything in the water,your boat and prop,rudder anything in the water,and your through hull fittings which is your plumbing.The hotter the water the faster the barnacles grow! In marinas you want to hire a diver. Water is nasty and it’s dark. Most charge 2 dollars a foot. 7 Keep your plumbing clean of debri,preventative maintenance,there are safe chemicals to knock scaling off and out the through hull fittings,but it’s essential to keep maintained or it’s a big deal to fix. 8 I cannot stress enough to do the sailing courses,IT WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE OR LIVES WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND SAVE YOU TONS OF MONEY! Alex from Chasing Bubbles documentary didn’t take any courses and he damaged a lot of stuff from my understanding,if you haven’t watched it,please do,he wishes he had learned before going out on his journey. 9 I see a lot of sailors singlehanded not wearing their safety harnesses,where you are tied to your boat in case you are knocked of somehow,strong winds,waves.....etc. They also inflate to keep you above water. 10 Did I mention ASA sailing courses 101,103,104,105,106? Other things for journeys. Always let someone know your journey,where your going,your entire route with how many people and animals onboard.You can call Coat Guard to let them know exactly where you are and where your going. In thee Islands the most expensive things are fresh water and alcohol if you drink,Sooo water makers are very sought after onboard. Another important thing to learn on shore is learning your knots and rigging with dyneema which a lot of people are doing now. I used to trim trees for yrs. still do and a lot of he knots are similar for use in sailing but the rigging is helpful in both. Buy The Riggers Apprentice by Brian Toss. Sailing Zingaro has rigging videos to learn from. You can buy fids at West Marine or online for splicing Dyneema and other line. The Ashley book of knots is another great book. There are a lot of rope splicing videos and knot videos. Hope this helps. Did I mention Sailing Courses ASA 101,103,104,105,106?

[@jasonsmith9388]

@@vanseventy thank-you for all the great information I will start looking for these things you have recommended

[@ontiltsailingdalehudson7170]

Being a solo sailor, I installed mast steps on my mast, and I love it! No problem going up or down! (I do have a safety line attached around the mast)

[@mohamedayad7453]

Thanks!

[@terrybest3036]

Well Done! This was very informative and helpful. I appreciate the detail of what to look for when checking the rigging.

[@robertorzech8922]

Thanks for sharing all the valuable information ! Cheers

[@jamesadams1064]

Another good instructional video, Wisdomites. Periodic rig checking is a common sense thing, like checking the air in your tires. And who wouldn’t pet their animal if they had one? Good analogy.

[@melinda5777]

I can't imagine why I didn't add a comment to this the 1st time I saw this! Another outstanding job with your great tutorials. Loved the top part of mast 'bit' w/the stays and nomenclature! Awesome! Great editing Maddie! You guys, what can I say that I haven't already!❤🍹⛵🍻

[@felonebike9859]

HA! Found the video I was looking for. You guys are the best. ❤

[@RiggingDoctor]

Thanks!

[@over-there]

yep i was using three ascenders, one tied short to the seat, upper ascender to a sling for my foot to step up then pull up the seat with me sit down move foot ascender up, repeat, and another ascender on another line as safety, 55 feet in the air seems up there, with a harness tied with seat, so if i get tired i just sit awhile, and harness cant cut off leg circulation after sitting in it awhile with harness alone

[@RiggingDoctor]

I tried the leg powered ascent but was not coordinated enough to pull it off 😕

[@HandyMan657]

Herby, once again I have learned quite a bit from your knowledge. Thanks so much, man. Have a safe flight and hugs to Maddie.

[@Stnndn]

Amazing Video, thanks so much for the details!

[@RiggingDoctor]

Glad it was helpful

[@supershane1960]

Great video Herbie, very comprehensive. Glad you made. It and I got to see it. I'll save it because I'm pretty slack and I need to know where these instructional videos are for when I start having to do it myself. Thanks again, cheers for now mate... ;-}

[@sailingavocet]

comprehensive indeed!

[@richardbohlingsr3490]

Thanks for sharing. You can't be to careful with the boats rigging and just like your car engine it needs to be maintained. As for cotter pins, they are cheap and I only use it one time and then I replace mine if I remove it. It helps me sleep at night. 8-) Happy sailing.

[@jonathanoasis]

How about checking wooden spreaders? I originally had wooden spreaders. I hired a rigger and he convinced me to 'upgrade' to aluminum spreaders and had them fabricated custom. Problem is, when he went to install them, they were 4" too long. So now I have 'modern' aluminum spreaders which stick out 4" on each side. I keep considering going back to my wooden spreaders. They look more authentic anyways.

[@RiggingDoctor]

Wood spreaders work just as well as aluminum, but you have to keep an eye on them for rot. I personally find wood spreaders (made from a really good wood) to be my favorite choice since you can make them to the exact shape you need more easily than I could form aluminum. If mine broke (I have seen aluminum spreaders break at the seam and open up like a bursting can) I would replace it with wood in a heartbeat. Our second sailboat also has wood spreaders and I’m going to be keeping them that way. The important thing is that the spreader first and hold the cap shrouds in the correct position.

[@ironhorse3497]

So, I've got three questions: 1). I'd like to know how do you know such specifics regards the consequences of poking bee/wasp nests in your rigging while tied off at 60+ ft in the air? 2). Is there footage of above mentioned experience? 3). Can we see it? :) P.S. - Great info. Thanks for posting!

[@sailingavocet]

Very informative and helpful, cheers!

[@RiggingDoctor]

👍

[@NAVIGATOR600]

VERY WELL DONE !

[@pierrelapointe8511]

Nice vid, very instructive. I'll have one comment about LED anchor light, yes they drained less power for the same given brightness but there's a dark side, when they start to fail, they can drain your batteries in less then a night before they stop working. It ruined my day last summer because of it :O(

[@RiggingDoctor]

I had no idea! Thanks for the heads up!

[@redwood1957]

Good job

[@jmunozar]

Thank you so much for this video! (I know its 2 years old yet its quite informative (to me)). Quick question. if you see galvanic corrotion, is there anything that can be done about it?, like any treatment, or perhaps cut a square / oval in the mast and replace it with new aluminum or something that can be done about it?. Are there any ways to prevent galvanic corrotion over the top of the mast? (I would assume perhaps a plastic separator between the metals?), again, many thanks for these videos, I dont have a boat yet but I am learning a lot from these!

[@RiggingDoctor]

If it’s minor, you can scrape off the flaky white powder and then sand the metal to make it shiny, then place lanolin on the metal to protect it. Normally it will be seen next to a screw where you can’t really cut it out, so you just pull the screw and coat the threads/hole with lanolin, then replace the screw. If the screw looks bad, you will need a new screw. Basically, keep dissimilar metals separated by plastic separators and lanolin when you can’t keep it separate. :)

[@jmunozar]

@@RiggingDoctor sweet!, many many thanks for your replies! :D

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

You remember when I said I was looking at buying a 60 foot wooden schooner , well will let you know how it goes next week as it has come back on the market. It it old time Sailing ship. Tall ship. And yes it will have two giant lines , reference to your last video and comment.

[@RiggingDoctor]

Awesome!

[@RiggingDoctor]

By chance, is it the Lynx? I remember it being for sale a while back and being about that size ;)

[@CaptMarkSVAlcina]

Rigging Doctor , oh I don’t know it was for sale, would like to have one like that. I was one that was 45 m and 250 t for 9 years as Mate,This one is in Australia and only about 55t and about 60/70 feet

[@RiggingDoctor]

👍⛵️

[@MrMediterrano]

A few more photos for the mentioned potential problems would have been nice

[@RiggingDoctor]

Good point for future videos

[@seanrhone5306]

What is keeping the shrouds to the spreader tips? It looks like they are just running down a channel but I didn't see anything holding them in place.

[@RiggingDoctor]

There is a seizing knot on the tip. If you look closely, you will see a thin band of Dyneema lines wrapping around the side of the spreader tip. That’s the seizing. This was how I did it on another boat with two spreaders: www.riggingdoctor.com/life-aboard/2016/11/6/islander-36-conversion-seizing-the-spreader-tips

[@PetervanGinneken]

First of all, thanks for the lesson. I learned quite a bit. But a few questions remain. I have the option of lowering my mast. Is it necessary for my mast to be up during an inspection or is it ok to take it down to check it. (It only takes 20 minutes). And what about the tension? How tight should my rigging be?

[@RiggingDoctor]

It is much easier to inspect if it’s down, so that would be preferable. As for tension, it depends on the rig design. Some need the stays to be at 25% of their breaking strength, other designs allow for much slacker rigging. I personally prefer my rigging to be set “as slack as possible” because this leads to less stress on everything which hopefully translates into everything lasting longer. I would suggest looking up your rig design on the Selden website and see what they recommend for tensions and go from there. You don’t have to have a Selden rig, but their website has a comprehensive list of almost every rig you could imagine and all the details associated with them.

[@maryetdave]

We will be lowering our mast at the beginning of summer to travel down the ICW. We will take the opportunity to inspect all our rigging. I hate heights so Ill make sure to revise everything from lights to wiring. Id really like replace my rigging with dynema when it will needs replacement. If you had to do it again would you still chose synthetic?

[@RiggingDoctor]

Yes indeed! Our inner forestay is the only steel stay left and just died. Replacing it with steel would take about an hour, with synthetic about a week. I’m replacing it with synthetic.

[@sailingmoonshadow3169]

@@RiggingDoctor I just had my rigging replaced but stayed with the dark side (stainless lol!). When it comes time to replace it (2030!) I'll go with synthetic. Maybe by then they'll have figured out how to have roller furling on s synthetic forestay. 🤔

[@johnhart29]

​@@RiggingDoctor Wouldn't synthetic to be quicker to make and replace rigging than steel?

[@DowneastThunderCreations]

Good job, Herby! "No frigging in the rigging."😁

[@RiggingDoctor]

🤣🤣

[@elsespels]

Thank you! This was an excellent video on a topic not very well covered in detail. I will soon start the restoration of my old little boat and I will replace (install) the rigging with synthetic rather than stainless, that is your fault!!! I will surely be asking you some questions later but I have to plug all the holes first. Thanks again for your channel! M

[@yashmanwani6232]

If it's just a visual inspection then can't one send up a drone rather than climbing up the mast?

[@RiggingDoctor]

You could, but the drone needs to have really good resolution to see everything. For quick checks, I use a telephoto lens on our DSLR. From the deck I can shoot up and zoom in on each and every cotter pin to check them out. If I see anything questionable, then I go up. Makes life easier! That said, I still go up before a long passage just to give it a good proper looksy.

[@sharkmentality9717]

Sail Freedom 28 ketch. 2 people can simply lower the masts. Isn't it an unstayed carbon world? Climb the mast was 70's.... haha

[@RiggingDoctor]

Freedom rigs put me out of business! Haha!

[@alposimani2295]

You funny. You should be a delivery captain? Your crew will be laughing across the ocean.

[@RiggingDoctor]

👍

[@JonMadsen70]

:)

[@robertrantane6867]

Not a fan of the double image technique, might be ok for a very special effect or segue but as part of the video with explanatory dialogue it's disorienting and distracting.