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Budgetary #'s for sails/rigging

flightlead404

New Member
Lets assume I've found a vessel with sound hull, motor, cabin, electronics etc but has very tired rigging etc.

What are the high level budgetary numbers for:

1) Good set of cruising sails, main and genoa
2) New running rigging
3) New standing rigging (assume spars, gooseneck, spreaders are serviceable but replacing all the things you typically replace including at least the upper part of chainplates)

Thanks
 
Martin

Your question is a good one but it is a very arbitrary one. The range of prices for things like spars, rigging, winches, sails can vary tremendously. Do you go for top of the line racing sails, rugged offshore blue water sails, coastal cruising weekend sails? Same with rigging and spars. I think the question you should ask is what are my plans for this boat, where am I going, what am I going to do when I get there?

One thing I can offer as an answer is a recommendation to find a local sailmaker in your area and strike up a relationship based on your future need of his services. First tell him what your dreams and plans are, then give him a budget range. If he is an honest businessman, he will be able to lead you to the most sails and stuff for your money. Then if you do avail yourself of his services, and you are satisfied with what he has done for you, then you will always be a phone call away from friendly help.

Jim
 
Understand all of that Jim

Unfortunately its not any help to me at the moment. Neither is "striking up a relationship" based on future needs.

Where I am now is trying to decide if its worth attempting to negotiate based on what I know of a vessel.

Ranges are fine. $1-2k for running rigging, 8-12k for sails, 10-15k for rigging, these are the sorts of answers I'm looking for.

Idk if the numbers I just mentioned are sane at all, they're examples of the sort of high level budgetary information I'm looking for.

I specifically excluded spars, and generally excluded winches and so on. As I said in the original post, main and genny for cruising, not racing. Specially coastal cruising. Running rigging, so that's halyards (3?4?) sheets, outhaul, furling line, etc. Not winches.
 
My rough guess, since I did this a few years ago: $3,000 to $4000 each for 135 genoa and main. $2,000 to $2500 for 100% working jib. Spinnaker or cruising chute--don't know, my original is still fine. Standing rigging: $3000-$4,000. If you measure carefully, you can do the replacement yourself. Go to Rigging Only. Great folks and great prices. Great prices on furling gear, also. If the boat has original furling, you will want to replace it. All the brands are good now. You can figure out running rigging by calculating distances and size. (E.g., P on Morgan 382 is 40.5'. So a useful main hailard would be 2xP plus 8-10 feet extra, or about 91'.) And you decide rope type. You can use sta-set X for most running rigging, but to improve performance on hailards, I have gone to Amsteel (dyneema). You can check the chainplates or have them checked with die testing. I have not heard of problems with the stainless pieces. But you will wish to replace the bolts that penetrate the deck or hull if you think there has been water leaking around them. The bolts are more likely a problem than the chainplates because the bolts are in tight, low oxygen conditions. The chainplates themselves do not penetrate the deck.
 
Martin

As there are many similarities between flying and sailing, there is also one major difference. If you were buying a used aircraft you would want to be sure that all the systems are perfectly in order before you leave the ground. A failure of even a small part of the system can have catastrophic results. With a used sailboat, most gear failures are far from a major disaster. Heaven knows we've had many failures over the years and we always made it to safety, usually with nothing more then much incovienence.

My point is that as long as you have purchased a boat with a good hull and a reliable engine, you can take the time to use and learn the boat and to slowly learn about what you need to do and/or add to make it more safer, faster, comfortable, etc.

Sailing usually allows you to make mistakes that an aircraft will not. Slow down, smell the salt air, and spend your money wisely.

Jim
 
If I was spending my money wisely, not sure I'd be looking for a boat lol

But yeah, thanks for the input. Primary goal is to have something I can start sailing/weekending on immediately, do weeks+ on with moderate work, and not take a bath when I sell in a few years.
 
Sounds you are more or less a beginner, and I would not think that a Morgan 38 is where you would want to start. I would think more about a 27 foot range boat like an O Day, Erikson, or Cape Dory. However rigging costs for all the stuff you mentioned would be not much less for that size boat than it would be for the 38. It would however be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy and become acquainted with and use for coastal cruiser.
 
Martin

Very true about the wisdom of investing in a boat. But there is an intangible value in sailing across the bay on a 15kt beam reach with the wind in your hair and a beer in you hand. That being said, my thought was that it isn't always necessary to spend a lot of money right away to make the boat perfect. Sail and enjoy the boat, then decide on what is required, needed or just desired. We have owned "Dana" our 1978 382 since 1987 and we are still investing money. In fact there are two packages from Jamestown Distributers on the front porch right now.

Jim
 
Martin

Very true about the wisdom of investing in a boat. But there is an intangible value in sailing across the bay on a 15kt beam reach with the wind in your hair and a beer in you hand. That being said, my thought was that it isn't always necessary to spend a lot of money right away to make the boat perfect. Sail and enjoy the boat, then decide on what is required, needed or just desired. We have owned "Dana" our 1978 382 since 1987 and we are still investing money. In fact there are two packages from Jamestown Distributers on the front porch right now.

Jim

Indeed

Perfect is the enemy of "out there" to paraphrase a bit. I'm just trying to get "out there"
 
Sounds you are more or less a beginner, and I would not think that a Morgan 38 is where you would want to start. I would think more about a 27 foot range boat like an O Day, Erikson, or Cape Dory. However rigging costs for all the stuff you mentioned would be not much less for that size boat than it would be for the 38. It would however be a heck of a lot cheaper to buy and become acquainted with and use for coastal cruiser.

This is for a boat I can spend the marjority of 2021 on while working via wifi/phone. 27' ain't gonna cut it. A 27' is like camping. Maybe fun for a weekend but do you really want to live in a tent? I don't. Realistically its 35-39' depending on layout. I've spend time on and sailed boats from 10-50+ ranges with one and two hulls.
 
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