Should standing rigging be regularly renewed ?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by laurie42

Many thanks to everyone who has weighed in to this thread, answering my question - I have read all your posts carefully. I have to say the advice I am getting is rather varied, but "replace every 10 years" crops up fairly often.

In answer to David_Old_Jersey and others who talk about the risks involved, my mast is attached to the cabin roof via a pretty solid pin, transverse to the boat's length. Sure, I am only lake/bay sailing but if a shroud parted, I imagine the mast would take a chunk of the cabin with it as it went over the side. This is the picture which prompted the original post . . .

Fair enough .....12 years is well into the territory of preventative replacement.....albeit (IMO!) not yet outside the ballpark!

Given that I have just given someone else a kicking on another thread about not doing exactly that - then perhaps I should clarify that for a boat used further away from shore / potential assistance that 10 years would be (and is) my own personal limit.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by laurie42

. . . but if a shroud parted, I imagine the mast would take a chunk of the cabin with it as it went over the side. This is the picture which prompted the original post . . .

I rather doubt that. I had a 17 ft Newport and the aluminum mast was light enough I could lift it off the trailer storage and carry it to the proper position for the tabernacle pin. If the mast fell forward or aft you might put a dent in the mast and maybe a "ding" in the fiberglass hull where it hit. If the mast fell athwartship, as might happen if a shroud failed while really heeled over you might bend the pin or deform the tabernacle/mast shoe, but I doubt you would do any damage to the actual hull/cabin top. The aluminum mast is thin and light and like a "soda straw" would bend or dent a lot sooner than anything else.

But in any case finding a replacement mast is both time consuming and expensive - so a careful examination of the wire and any fittings/swags/nicropress, etc., is well worth it. I had problems with the shrouds/stays getting "kinked" in the process of raising and lower the mast. The invariably got stuck on something as I raised the mast and a kink resulted.