[C38] Life-lines

[Charles B. Finn]

Steve,
First off, I too chose not to replace my lifelines and still have the 
plastic coated originals.  Like you, I do regularly inspect the lines 
and to date have only found problems with bends, breaks and especially 
welds in the stanchions, and other supporting metal.  I did do quite a 
bit of research before fabricating my arch as I had never welded 
stainless.  ASME standards are probably the best place to start if you 
really want to dig into this, but my bottom line from all the reading 
was I had to be very careful when welding 1. Not to introduce foreign 
substances into the weld (using correct gases, wire brushes, grinding 
wheels that essential excluded ferrous materials).  And 2. Making 
absolutely certain my welds were smooth with no cracks, crevices, pit 
holes.    Number one was easy as it was about housekeeping.  Number two 
was a bear as it required a lot of grinding!

Here is a good article on stainless rigging failure:    
http://www.dixielandmarine.com/yachts/DLrigprob.html

Here is a good table/discussion on galvanic corrosion about stainless:  
http://www.azom.com/details.asp?articleID=1177#_Galvanic_Corrosion

And finally, I recall (but cannot find) that Brian Toss came out quite 
strong on this issue.  I do pay attention when that guy talks!

By the way, the Mighty Quinn''s transmission is back in and she is doing 
what I love best in the summer (cruising).  That is the good news.  The 
bad news is I had a first class yard do the work at a first class 
price:  $3300.   OUCH!

Just a little poorer,
Chuck Finn
Mighty Quinn,  #114
Great Lakes

On 7/10/2010 2:07 PM, S Orton wrote:
> I was going to replace my life lines as recommended by the CC, but on 
> detailed inspection, I declined.  My reasoning:
> 1.  Where there was rust at the swaged end fitting, I cut away the 
> plastic, cleaned up the wire with a "fine" wire brush rotary tool, 
> bent the wire back and forth, and observed no failed strands.
> 2.  As far as know Catalina still uses coated wire and West Marine 
> still sells the stuff.
> 3.  I don't understand this oxygen deprived corrosion.  When you think 
> about the roller swaging of the end fittings on all our rigging, there 
> isn't much oxygen moving into the fittings.  It has to be rather 
> stagnate inside the fittings.
> 4.  My surveyor told me this was a "recommended" not a "mandatory" 
> requirement and it didn't affect my insurance.
> 5.  I'm not a metallurgist by training, but in my previous life, I 
> worked as a ME in aerospace for 40 years, working with corrosion 
> resistant materials and never coming across the term "oxygen deprived 
> corrosion" in SS.  If some body has some factual engineering info on 
> the subject I would love to read it.
> With that said I inspected every inch of the life lines, looking for 
> rust marks, cutting away the plastic, and found no broken stands of 
> wire (fish hooks).  Now I did replace my rigging (25 yrs old) at a 
> material cost of $1700.
>
> Cheers, Steve O (Santa Susanna- #304)
> > From: 1derful at comcast.net
> > To: Listserve at catalina38.org
> > Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 19:49:45 -0700
> > Subject: [C38] Life-lines
> >
> > Someone suggested I replace my life-lines because they are coated in 
> plastic
> > so I can tell if they are fraying. They advised stainless steel. Seems
> > like an expensive retro-fit.. I can't remember every really using 
> the life
> > line to prevent falling overboard.
> >
> > Also does anyone know the height of our Catalina 38's? I've been going
> > under some bridges lately and from the cockpit it looks as though I 
> am gonna
> > lose my mast. Hasn't happened yet.
> >
> > Patrick
> > Blue eyes
> > S F Bay
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Listserve mailing list
> > Listserve at catalina38.org
> > http://catalina38.org/mailman/listinfo/listserve_catalina38.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from 
> your inbox. See how. 
> <http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_2> 
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Listserve mailing list
> Listserve at catalina38.org
> http://catalina38.org/mailman/listinfo/listserve_catalina38.org
>    

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://catalina38.org/pipermail/listserve_catalina38.org/attachments/20100711/01c97eec/attachment-0001.htm>