Courntey,
There are several ways to do the rigging on an Amel (or any other boat, for that matter) You can have the exact dimensions on file, and cut the wires to length at a factory and prepare the end terminals there and ship out the competed product. This is what ACMO does, and does well.
The standard process that most riggers use is to measure the wires, then prepare the rig at their shop and install it on the boat. There are a couple issues here. It is very difficult to measure the lengths precisely with the rig up, so most riggers will want the rig down. Also, there are very few rigging shops that use a proper rotary hammer swaging machine, preferring the much smaller, much less expensive roller swager instead. A roller swager can certainly make a good sage, but a lot depends on the skill, experience, and careful attention of the operator.
We worked with a rigger who did things a bit differently.
When we re-rigged last year we looked at the ACMO package. If we were going to install it ourselves, we would certainly have gone that way. But we were busy with other projects, and the amount of aloft time needed to install a new rig just didn't appeal. Since local riggers make a good piece of their profit on materials, if you come to most of them with a rig on a pallet for installation (i.e., ACMO), it can get expensive.
We used Nance and Underwood in Fort Lauderdale to make and install the new rig. They have done a LOT of Amel re-rigs, under Joel Potter's tutoring. They know the boats. They have a design for a bespoke bronze turnbuckle they make in-house for the Super Maramu and others that use that furler so can fully replace the forestay fittings inside the furler without compromise. For their work process, mechanical terminals work out very well. They make up the top end of all the wires at the shop, and leave them a little long. At the boat, they take down one wire at a time, lay it out on the dock, cut the new wire to the exact length, install the lower terminal, and hang the wire. In our experience they come pretty close to the right tuning at the dock, but be prepared to go through the last couple of steps in Olivier's rigging instructions when you get the boat sailing to make sure it is right.
Things to be aware of: There will be minor changes--I believe with any USA based rigger. Getting ALL the metric based fittings here is extremely difficult, so some things will be switched over to inch sizes. That requires enlarging some holes in chainplates. If that bothers you, your only real option is to use an ACMO kit, or rerig in Europe or the French Caribbean, or wait a long time for slow deliveries. As far as I can tell, inch size rigging fittings are available everywhere, metric sizes are less widely distributed. The lower shroud turnbuckles also end up rotated 90 degrees, so the lifelines no longer go through them. A minor frustration. If it really bothered you, you COULD drill out a new cotter pin hole in the lower stud. If you use Nance and Underwood, try to find a marina with wood docks, or work with them ahead of time to figure out how to protect the wire from damage while it is being handled and dragged on a concrete dock surface.
All the terminals on our new rig are mechanical terminals--except the lower forestay. A swage is needed here because on the Super Maramu it has to fit up inside the furler, and there are no mechanical fittings of small enough diameter to do this.
Bill Kinney
SM160, Harmonie
Hollywood, FL, USA
