Mast and Rigging – Enhanced Life and Performance

Various improvements and advancements have been made to modern rig components. For someone who owns a sailboat, you must truly spend a lot of time ensuring that your mast and rigging are maintained fully. Doing this, after all, can help you enhance their life and performance.

Failure of a rig can be caused by numerous things. For one, some of its components may have been misaligned. Additionally, mast and rigging components that have hard and soft surfaces might be rubbing together, which can deteriorate their properties. Other possible causes behind rig failure include poor maintenance of rig components, insufficient lubrication, excessive loads, and age. Fortunately, these potential problems can be resolved by professional riggers.

But if you want to have some knowledge about enhancing the life and performance of your rig, then here are some things that you must remember.

Begin from the Top

One crucial step in maintaining your rig is to begin the assessment from the top of your mast. Wind instruments, lights, mast cranes, and mast caps must all be checked for cracks, corrosion, and damages due to their exposure to weather elements. Their assembly must also be evaluated to ensure that they are still stable and do not move loosely. For your mast crane, you must check the sheaves for cracks, elongation, chips, and general wear and tear. If most of these issues are present on the mentioned components, then you must have them replaced right away to avoid encountering issues while sailing.

Other parts that you must check for damages include split pins, cap shrouds attachment, forestay, and backstay. Any signs of cracks, excessive wear, bending, elongation, misalignment, and other issues must be identified so that necessary actions can be conducted by professional riggers.

Continue to Spreaders

Once the assessment of the mast is done, the next part of the rig that you must check is the spreaders. The attachment system of these parts must be examined closely to ensure that no loose bolts or rivets are present. Additionally, the mast adjacent to the spreaders must be checked to ensure that the mast wall has no hidden damages or problems. You must likewise check the lower or intermediate shrouds for any loose pins, split pins, bolts, and nuts. The mast hound must also be inspected for loose or damaged components. Other components that you must assess are yard arm fittings and deck lights.

The Base of the Mast

After inspecting the components related to spreaders, the next part of the mast that you must check is its base. The base or foot of the mast must be inspected and checked since it is often exposed to saltwater deposits and stresses. These elements can damage the base of the mast if they are not eliminated effectively. Aside from this part, the mast step must also be maintained since they are also exposed to the same elements. Surface treatment of these parts can prevent them from deteriorating.

Checking and maintaining these components can help you enhance the performance of your sailboat. To know more about their proper maintenance, you can contact us at Riggtech.

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