The heads were a source of concern on the older Navtec design. Shortly after I bought my 34 (about 20 year old), I had the heads inspected by a local shop. They used some sort of dye as I recall to facilitate the inspection. Everything looked okay to them. I also conferred with a mechanical engineer friend, and he said the rod has a certain number of “cycles” before it will fatigue. He estimated that we were nowhere near to the fatigue point, so I decided against replacement. Then one of my kids left the roller furler line uncleated after playing with a winch, and a storm came through and unfurled the sail (lesson learned). A flapping sheet wrapped around the starboard lower stay and ripped it out of the mast. At the time, South Shore Yachts was doing rod rigging work, so I had them make the replacement. I ended up replacing all the side stays (both sides) while I was at it – the Canadian exchange rate made it much more affordable.
I suspect the rod rigging on my 42 Custom is 45 years old. To be honest, I haven’t done anything but a visual inspection. Perhaps next year. From: Charlie Nelson via CnC-List <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 12, 2021 9:24 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Stus-List Rigging replacement Hello listers-- My boat is entering her 26th year (delivered for use in 1995) and except for a replaced forestay, has its original rod-rigging. Local riggers, among others, believe that rod rigging should be replaced (or re-headed?) at about 25 years of use. Since C&C finally bit the dust about 20 years ago, I suspect there are many listers whose rigging has or will soon reach this milestone. For background, I have never and don't have any plans to take Water Phantom seriously off-shore although I may cruise off-shore between marinas or up and down the ICW. She is used almost exclusively for local PHRF racing in the NC sounds/rivers with occasional trips to Charleston or the Chesapeake. I plan to have the rigging inspected in place this month--over the years one of the starboard shrouds seized and it was sent off for repair but otherwise no issues. My question is do I need to bite the bullet and re-head or replace all the rod rigging at this milestone? Or can I have it seriously inspected, perhaps by the group in RI (forget the name), and only re-head/replace what they deem questionable. Or given my use, maybe I should just "...forgetaboutit..." BTW, my rig is a triple spreader, all rod (except for the forestay) so I suspect the expense of replacement or re-heading is north of 5 boat bucks, not to mention the labor to take it apart and reassemble. What would the list do? Thanks, Charlie Nelson Water Phantom 1995 C&C 36 XL/kcb
Thanks to all of the subscribers that contributed to the list to help with the costs involved. If you want to show your support to the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks - Stu
