Quote:
Originally Posted by genieskip
About three years ago when my previous boat, an '85 Ericson 32, was on the hard, I was climbing aboard, holding the lifeline with my left hand and a stanchion with my right hand. Suddenly my left hand was totally unsupported as the wire on the lifeline, which had corroded unseen beneath the plastic coating, broke clean off at the fitting . Fortunately, I was holding on to the stanchion with my other hand and after a couple of seconds of interesting gyrations, I was able to regain my balance without falling off the ladder.
That was my lesson on why plastic covered lifelines are treacherous, at best and dangerous, at worst. There is a good reason why racing rules require boats to either have bare stainless (or hi tech line) or to strip the plastic off the first inch of lifeline after a fitting. If I had been in rough seas when that happened I certainly would have been over the side. It was naked stainless for me from then on. |
How old were the lifelines? Where was the boat kept?
Everything has a safe working life-span. You can believe it or not. Your prerogative. But I am telling you after having done this for a living for 15 years that the vast majority of failures in regard to wire
rigging is a direct result of neglect or abuse.
Occasionally, there is a defect in the product. And sometimes something may be installed incorrectly or incompletely. These things also may also lead to a problem or failure, but by far, most
rigging failures could be avoided if people treated their
rigging the way they would treat the tires on their car as opposed to how they treat the spare tire.
If you ignore, neglect or push it too far you are asking for trouble.
I have always tried to keep the vinyl tight against the terminal when I fabricate a lifeline but if it were mine and I were concerned about possible defects. I would certainly strip the vinyl from the wire. Then I would inspect it and the swages very carefully. If I didn't see a problem then I would probably apply a cable lube and then cover the wire with the aforementioned Davis PVC shroud covers.
Also, lifelines really shouldn't be used like you described. At the very least you will bend your stanchion or over stress the fasteners that are holding it to the deck. You are asking for leaks and loose, sloppy lifelines after you have used up all the adjustment in your
turnbuckles believing that the "
wires were stretching".
Never trust your life to a Lifeline.