Zanshin,
Here is a copy with some editing, of a local email list group, with a question re rod vs stainless. Original question is at bottom, then subsequent towards the top. So you will be backwards reading. Personaly, I would luv to have rod rigging as an initial option. IE lighter and stronger. In your shoes, not sure what would work best down the road. If my 22 yr old rigging went tomorrow, I would probably replace the wire with wire. BUT, if rod was reasonably close in cost.......hmmmmmmm.......twould be tempting. But on smaller boats like mine, ie 30', there is not as much wt savins aloft as compared to your rig. IIRC a magizine article IIRC in sailing world, a boat like yours would save the equal to a 150 lb person on the rail going to rod vs stainless wire. My 30'r obviously not as much. The person answering the email from what I can gather is a local rigger or does this for a living.
Marty
""""The answer comes down to the age of the rod.
The rod heads fatigue with age and it is not easy to detect with inspection.
Our rule of thumb is at around 10 years careful inspection and dye checking is generally reliable. Most of the Hi Tech methods of inspection are too expensive to be of value. At 20 years re-heading takes care of most rigs.
The other areas of concern are the spreader bends. If the rod runs straight through the spreader look for corrosion due to the contact with the aluminum. If it bends through a navtech bend then the alignment is critical, especially when you re-install the rod. If you don't align the bend in the right direction it will break right away.
The first thing to do to inspect is to see if the ends are free to turn on the rod heads. If they don't I would say re-head no mater how good it looks. Also look for any rust, and figure out its source, it usually comes out of cracks.
Check out
www.navtec.net/support/riggingmatt.cfm for their recommendations for inspection.
Just when I think I got to the point that I have enough information to make a decision out comes more data. So now what I hear is rehead the rod and take a couple of mechanical fitting with me plus a length of wire. If I check the head of the rod and all looks good should I leave it and sail off? What would you do Bob? Had a good day of single handed racing in Nanaimo yesterday AND the rig happily stayed up!
I am usually a lurker on lists but once in a while the topic falls into my area of expertise.
I hope I don't bore anyone as I pontificate on this topic.
While studying aeronautical engineering we were taught in no uncertain terms never put a mechanical wire rope terminal on an aircraft.
The reason being that swage terminals are the only full strength reliable terminal.
All others provide on average about 85% of the wire strength. and the opportunity for error in assembly is too high.
Before you jump all over we for that statement the Hayn designers claim that under laboratory conditions when assembled by there team of engineers they are stronger than swage fittings when new.
In all my year as a rigging designer I have never seen a swage terminal fail in service, although they do, but I have seen all others fail (I have a whole bin of them in the shop that we call the little box of horrors) and some with catastrophic consequences.
When you see a swage fitting with a crack running the length of the swage you are looking at the results of failure due to rust within the wire. The rust pressure causes the unyielding swage to burst and tells you it is past time to replace the wire. This is the sales pitch for mechanical fittings (they don't burst when the wire rusts out, not very comforting)
My boss hates to here me say this because mechanical fittings are so profitable.
On the topic of rod the fail point is almost always the head so if you cut off the head and re-head the rod you can usually get another 15 years safely out of the rod you have and it will save you the cost of upgrading the fittings on the mast if you have rod only fittings. If you take the time to time to dye check the rod for cracks you will have that much more peace of mind.
As for the fix it factor. Take a copy of the longest wire on the boat and a few of fittings in a drawer and you can fix anything.
Hope this helps.
----- Original Message ----
Our Newport 41 has rod rigging. Before heading off to far away places I was going to rerig the boat. I like the rod rigging for its strength but it will be expensive to replace. Also there is the fix it factor which brings up some of the other rigging terminals that one can do them selves. Has any in the group experience with Sta-lok, Norseman or Blue wave rigging?"""""""
