On a sailboat, the engine is the sails. And to hold them in place, you need a rigging. This fundamental element in the smooth running of the boat is often overlooked by users who neglect its maintenance. However, as an engine requires draining, the rigging needs to be monitored. It is necessary to check for corrosion, cracks, pins...
Rigging refers to the mast (often an aluminium tube) and the standing rigging (the cables that hold it in place). The rigging is checked from top to bottom. We start from the masthead and end up checking the rigging screws at deck level. This verification is mainly visual. So you have to be able to get to the top to take a look.
Starting from the mast head, each guy anchorage point must be checked. We're looking to see if the aluminium in the mast is cracked. If there are no cracks. We also look at the pins to see if they are not open. We take advantage of the passage at the masthead to check that all the sheaves in which the halyards are running are working well, if they are not damaged.
At the cable level, we look at the crimping. While they cannot talk much about their strength, the broken strands were identified. If a strand is broken, the cable must be replaced. This is often the case on the forestay when it is equipped with a genoa furling system. Indeed, the cable works in torsion if the swivel of the reel has difficulty rotating, thus driving the cable.
At the spreaders, we look for the play that can occur on the anchors. If the boat is equipped with a releasable forestay, it also often rubs against the spreader bar causing deformation. Finally, we look at each rigging screw at deck level, identifying rust problems in the crimping process.
This visual inspection must be done at least once a year. A rigger whose job it is will have the eye for this check-up and will also be able to detect non-compliant modifications made to the mast. For example, beware of electrolysis problems that occur between the aluminium of the mast and other metals from the various supports added to the rigging. Indeed, these parts must be well insulated during assembly to avoid corrosion, which results in white dust (alumina) visible to the naked eye.
