Rod Rigging
Bill, This has been, and always will be a contentious topic. As a professional yacht rigger I will tell you that at a minimum the rig should come down and all heads and turns should be carefuly checked and even tested. If there are any kinks in the rod when tension is released it must be replaced. As far as life expectancy; oy, now there is a hard question...I'll answer this with another question: How long will your car last? Your waterheater? Your furling gear? (tounge in cheek) In other words it boils down to "care and feeding". Not trying to be a smart a%! here. Rod, like everything else on a boat needs care, needs to be inspected by a person knowledgable in rod and rigging. Unlike stranded wire (1x19), rod does not suffer the elongation and elasticity factors, but it still fatigues, it is still prone to failure. The biggest problem with rod is that it gives little, if any, warning to a catastrphic failure. It just goes. Where as stand may give some warning (broken outer strands, heavy rusting, etc.). Something to think about here is the use of Dyform, or compact strand wire in place of rod. It has the same construction as 1x19, but the individual strands are thicker, and as such, less prone to the dynamic and elastic stretch. My company has converted many boats to dyform. Mainly long distant cruisers who want the ability to repair their rigging if the worst happens in far away places. Tom S/V Delphinus 81 C&C 36
