Standing rig life, Old topic, different take
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Posted: Sep 19, 2017 - 08:16 AM
but are these specifically talking about sailing in salt water?
capsize and you may be forcing salt water into/under that cover -
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Posted: Sep 19, 2017 - 01:22 PM
A few sailing clubs are inland ponds. Most are oceanside, one has 44 Dart/Sprint 15's.
They did a survey on rigging failures, over 80% were on forestay, specifically the short bit of wire between the hound & swivel. The rest were at fittings, none were mid cable.
Reading the racing reports, they often sail in 30mph, with gusts into the low 40's, when all other Cats stay on the beach.
Some hardcore racers change out every 3-4 years, but there are dozens of boats with decades old rigging. Years ago, they used 3mm wire. Since changing to 4mm wire failures are almost non existent.
Being an undecanvassed boat, they probably do not see the stresses that the higher performance Cats experience.
I don't think the cover prevents water ingress, it is very difficult to prevent it from permeating via capillary action.
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Posted: Sep 19, 2017 - 01:40 PM
Again, I am not a metallurgist, but I did work for a company that manufactured SS rigging parts and SS that was used in papermaking plants and a lot of other steel products. SS does corrode, but it does so extremely slowly from what I understand, even in environments far harsher than warm salt water (like various papermaking processes). I really doubt that the presence of the vinyl covering has any impact one way or the other in terms of the rate of corrosion. Other failure modes are far more likely in my humble opinion. Just look at all the monohulls out there with SS rigging, they are not replacing their rigs every two years. And their rigs are often under high tension 100% of the time which means they can include another failure factor called hydrogen embrittlement. I don't think any beachcat rig is under the same kinds of constant high tension that those guys use. So the failure modes I think we need to be concerned with in regard to the actual wire are: 1) overload 2) fatigue 3) abrasion 4) bending. As to the SS fittings I think the best we can do is to use competent companies that have the right and well maintained swaging equipment. The competent rigging companies have to regularly submit test samples for load testing to maintain their certifications. Most companies that do any amount of swaging are involved with cable assemblies used in lifting and that is pretty well regulated. Now if you are doing your own swaging, that is going to be a whole other story.
Edited by dmgbear55 on Sep 19, 2017 - 09:44 PM.
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dg
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Posted: Sep 19, 2017 - 04:02 PM
Interesting topic and comments.
Anecdotally, most of the mast failures we see in our salty air are connection points, like shroud adjusters, swaged links and tangs/anchor points. Even dolphin strikers, mast balls and the mast itself.
Also, if you have roller furling jibs with turnbuckles, they can unwind themselves unless you take extra measures.
I recently found a forestay pin missing a ring ding, that had walked away on its own.
So while I have all new wire rigging on my 30 year old boat, I wouldn't want to miss the forestay for the trees.
Edited by nohuhu on Sep 19, 2017 - 12:05 PM.
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