Ugly lifelines

[knothead]

Originally Posted by brak

As far as failures go, I never seen actual wire fail (though anything's possible) but I did see swage fittings fail a few times and wire simply slip out of it.

Wire will never "simply slip out" of a properly swaged fitting.
If enough corrosion occurs, all the strands of wire will break just inside of the swage. Usually within a 1/4" of the end. It may look like it slipped out but in fact it broke.

I have seen wire pull out of a swage fitting that was made using either the wrong size wire, the wrong size fitting or the wrong dies.
I have never seen wire pull out of a properly made and swaged terminal.
The process is called cold welding. If done correctly it is as strong as the wire.
I have purposely tried to pull the wire from a terminal that was severely cracked the entire length. Couldn't do it.

[chucklesR]

Any thoughts on dipping the lines in the same vinyl coating they use for steering wheels? I'd love to go with say a bright purple

[cnc33voodoo]

i was at west marine last week and made my own gate for my stern rail.it cost me $40.i dont know about your location but the one closest to me has all the raw materials and tools to make your own lifelines.its really not that expensive if you do it yourself and use some of the existing hardware from your old lines.
they actually impressed me as they had several types of sailboat specific cables and ropes which they didnt have in previous years.

[chef2sail]

I just replaced all the lifelines on my 35 ft C&C using Johnson stainless steel fittings and swaged them myself with thier tool which consiosted of 4 swages per fitting and tightening screwws on the tool with a rachet set. The holding power is greater than using the West marine swager.I ordered the fitting from a rigger on Florida for 1/2 what they cost at west marine and the wire the same way.

While I agree un coated wire is by far the safest, one small strand comming undone on uncoated wire in the place the jib sail comes over the bow area can cause a huge tear in a sail. I have seen this happen three times. I think its wiser to replace the lines at a timely interval and go with the coated.

Total cost $550 (12 fittings including top of line 3 inch barrel ajdusters and two gates with pelican latches. Total time spent on project 6 hours. This was for double lifelines.

Dave