Fair Warning

[knothead]

Warning!!!Attachment 1593



Warning ignored!!!Attachment 1594

[knothead]

The doggone photos didn't show up.

I'll try it again.

[brak]

Is this stainless?

[brak]

Ok, question. If I have some surface rust on the standing rigging wires right where they enter the swage terminals - is that something to worry about? The whole setup is not quite a year old, and this rust makes me wonder.

[TrueBlue]

Reminded me of a fellow Nauticater's discovery of corroded U-bolts on his chainplates. How would you detect this potential rigging disaster, unless upgrading standing rigging, as this boatowner did?.

[knothead]

Originally Posted by brak

Is this stainless?

Yes. I'm pretty sure it's 316. These fitting were made by Garhauer. They had just outlived their usefulness.
But this is another reason why I like the welded t-bolts or the threaded eyes and pressed pins.

Originally Posted by brak

Ok, question. If I have some surface rust on the standing rigging wires right where they enter the swage terminals - is that something to worry about? The whole setup is not quite a year old, and this rust makes me wonder.

Surface corrosion is a never ending battle. It's a good idea to keep your stainless clean and rust free.
People often ask me what to apply in order to stop the rust. I usually tell them that anything is better than nothing.
I wouldn't have a problem spraying WD 40 on the wire but you have to do it pretty often. Anything that will leave a coat of oil on the stainless is going to go a long way in preventing rust.
It's also a good idea in my opinion to melt some bees wax into the wire above the lower terminal. Mechanical or swage. This will prevent water intrusion. However, this should be done when the piece is new. You don't want to trap moisture and salt inside the fitting.
Some others will tell you that the wax will prevent the fitting from breathing. I have tried it and tested it and I believe it helps.
That said, if your rigging is only a year old, I doubt that you have a problem.

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

Reminded me of a fellow Nauticater's discovery of corroded U-bolts on his chainplates. How would you detect this potential rigging disaster, unless upgrading standing rigging, as this boatowner did?.

Inspection. Inspection. Inspection. When your boat and it's systems reach a certain age, and that depends on the climate, you have to either inspect things on a very regular basis or just or replace them.
Also, your photo shows clearly that there was leaking around the u-bolts.
If you see any bleeding below around the chainplates, u-bolts or anything else for that matter, it means that there is water getting in somewhere.
Where there's smoke there's fire. Where there's rust, there is corrosion.
If there is moisture around a bolt or chainplate where it passes through the deck, it's a ticking time bomb. You can't see it and the moisture doesn't evaporate.
Just like the tape on the end of the spreaders it keeps the moisture in and the air out.

[deryk]

Very Scary... and especially the chainplates that ya cant see. How often in NJ should the standing rigging be changed? On my Watkins 27 I dont see any corrosion on the fittings...I thought there is some chemical ya can pour on it to tell if its coroded?

[brak]

Yep, chainplates are something that worries me. They look ok on the parts that I can see (though old paint peeled off, not sure why they painted stainless plates in the first place). But there is that 1/2 - 3/4" or so that sits inside the deck and I have no idea what that looks like.

I think I will use Boeshild on my swage fittings - hopefully there still isn't much salt inside there. It seems to work fairly well on the engine (though it still rusts slowly)

[knothead]

Originally Posted by brak

Yep, chainplates are something that worries me. They look ok on the parts that I can see (though old paint peeled off, not sure why they painted stainless plates in the first place). But there is that 1/2 - 3/4" or so that sits inside the deck and I have no idea what that looks like.

I think I will use Boeshild on my swage fittings - hopefully there still isn't much salt inside there. It seems to work fairly well on the engine (though it still rusts slowly)

You may want to just bite the bullet and pull the chainplates. You can do them one at a time and if you discover that the first one or two have real issues, then maybe think about arranging to have the stick pulled, if necessary, to replace them all.
If you don't see any problems (and you might want to use a dye test), then just clean them up, replace the bolts and re install them.

You will sleep better for awhile.

[sailingdog]

Basically, if you have any one piece of rigging with issues, and all the rigging is the same age... you should really replace it all. Same thing with chain plates... if you find one bad one... you're probably better off replacing all of them.