wire rigging from home depot

[northoceanbeach]

I need new standing rigging and at west marine 3/16 is 2.29 a foot, I know I can get it cheaper online, but I was in Home Depot and they have 3/16 cables for 50 cents a foot. Is it the same? THey had galvanized or not. Can I, Should I, use this?

[MARC2012]

I wouldn't use galvanized,the outside looks good but inner rusts & fails.Only use good stainless steel.If you have a marine store nearby that caters to commercial fishing would most likely be cheaper than wm.marc

[Maine Sail]

My friend has a pair of scissors and an Exacto knife, and claims he read a book on surgery. He'd only charge me a case of beer, a lot cheaper than the doctor......

Kind of the same question... You can mail order good quality rigging from many vendors who have considerably better pricing than West Marine

[sailingdog]

Riggingonly.com is an excellent source for rigging and much more reasonably priced than WM.

[kd3pc]

home depot cable on a good day, on land and in the hands of someone knowledgeable about what they are doing is....junk, period...

and you want to risk using it to hold up a pole of aluminum, wood or carbon and hope it stays there...

order it from someone who deals in a marine environment...

darwin award may go to you if you do choose to use the home depot, google stranding, lay, and tensile strength and then ask the "expert" at HD to tell you about their cable..

[sailingdog]

Also, Home Depot tends to order their cable and rope from the lowest priced vendor...with an eye towards profit more than anything else.

[4arch]

I knew someone who made lifelines from the Home Depot stuff. One of them broke when a crewman was sitting on the cockpit coaming leaning back against it during a daysail on a calm weather day. The lifelines were only a few months old. Luckily the guy didn't go overboard. He ended up having a rigger install 1x19 stainless lifelines after that incident so trying to go cheap ended up costing him more than just doing it right in the first place.

[captbillc]

several years ago i ordered 1/4 ss for a new headstay from defender. i had them swage the top fitting & got it a little long so i could cut it to exact length and install a stay-loc fitting on the bottom. if you can follow instructions exactly & are careful you can do this. if not, have a rigger make one up or you can loose the rig in a blow.

[Bene505]

Even for home projects, Home Depot is suspect. While buying a load of copper pipes for a home project, another customr said that Home Depot gets their copper pipe made with special, thinner material than normal pipe. Great way to make a profit, but replacing pipes (and tearing walls and ceilings down in the process) is a very expensive way to go.

Granted, that's heresay from an unknown source.

I would use their electrical tape and tools, Zip ties, things like that. But definitly not their wire for use as rigging.

Regards,
Brad

[CaptKermie]

There is Stainless Steel and then there is stainless steel, it comes in varying grades.The highest grade being 316 which is produced for the most caustic and corrosive environments, namely the marine environment, West Marine would most likely be carrying the 316 grade. I would not buy anything less myself.