Standing and running rigging, mast work, rig checks, furling systems and rigging replacement.
Written by Daniel Mercer, Boating & Yacht Ownership EditorLast updated
Standing rigging is one of very few things on a yacht with an accepted replacement interval rather than a condition-based one. Insurers and riggers generally work to ten years for stainless wire in UK coastal use, sooner for a boat that races, cruises hard or lives in the Mediterranean sun. The failure mode is what makes the interval matter: 1x19 stainless work-hardens and cracks internally at swage terminals and around the rollers of a furler foil, where you cannot see it, and it fails suddenly under load rather than stretching as a warning.
A rigger's work covers more than the wire. Mast stepping and unstepping, rig tuning under load, furling systems, running rigging and halyard replacement, spreaders, tangs and terminals, chainplate inspection where the deck is involved, mast wiring, sheaves and blocks, deck hardware and — increasingly — synthetic and rod rigging on performance boats. Much of it is inspection: an annual check aloft, a mast-down survey at ten years, and a rig-tension record so tuning changes are deliberate rather than accidental.
It is also safety-critical, so it is one of the jobs on which insurers ask questions. A rig failure claim will invite scrutiny of when the wire was last replaced and by whom, and a well-documented rig service history genuinely helps at renewal and at resale.
Ask whether they can unstep and step your rig themselves, or whether that has to be booked with a yard crane. A rigger with their own gantry or a standing arrangement at the yard removes a scheduling headache and a separate bill.
In-house swaging and terminal work means measurements, manufacture and fitting sit with one firm, so a mis-measured wire is their problem. Riggers who send lengths away to be made up are slower and harder to hold responsible.
Masthead cruising rigs, fractional rigs, in-mast furling, deck-stepped versus keel-stepped, rod rigging and synthetic standing rigging all need different judgement. Ask what they routinely work on and whether they have handled your make of spar.
You want a written report with photographs of terminals, spreader roots, chainplates and sheaves, plus a defect list. Insurers and buyers both take that report seriously; a verbal 'looks fine' is worth nothing at renewal.
New wire is only half the job. Confirm that tuning under sail, with a tension gauge and a recorded final setting, is part of the price — an untuned new rig sails badly and loads the hull unevenly.
Check public liability cover and how they go up: proper climbing systems and a second person, not your unqualified crew on a halyard. Ask who is liable if a dropped tool goes through your deck or the boat alongside.
Salt-laden air on the South Coast, the Channel and the East Coast attacks terminals and running rigging faster than inland or west-coast lochs, and boats left rigged all winter in exposed marinas take a steady beating from halyard slatting and gusts. The Solent racing fleet is the busiest rigging market in the country, with the deepest concentration of specialists — elsewhere you may be booking around one mobile rigger covering a long stretch of coast.
Timing follows the crane. Winter lay-up with the mast down is the sensible window for wire replacement and full inspection, because everything is on the ground and accessible. Leave it to March and you are competing for the same crane slots as every antifoul and survey lift-out on the coast.
The widely accepted interval for stainless wire in UK coastal use is ten years, or sooner for hard-raced or heavily cruised boats. Some insurers set a condition at ten to fifteen years, others accept a satisfactory rig report instead — check your policy wording rather than assuming.
As a rough guide, £3,000 to £6,000 for a 32 to 36ft masthead cruiser including new wire, terminals, unstep and step, and tuning; more with furler replacement, rod rigging or a larger boat. Getting the mast up and down is a significant slice of that, which is why it pairs well with other mast-down work.
You can and should do the annual walk-round: check for rust weeping at swages, cracked terminals, bent toggles, worn sheaves, split pins and movement at chainplates. It does not replace a rigger's inspection aloft, but it catches the obvious things between them.
Increasingly yes on older boats, particularly where the rig age is unknown. A dated professional rig report satisfies most underwriters and is far cheaper than a declined dismasting claim.
On performance boats, sometimes: it is lighter and does not suffer hidden metal fatigue, but it needs UV protection, correct terminations and a rigger who works with it regularly. On a standard cruising boat, stainless wire remains the cheaper and simpler choice.
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