Life Line Replacement

[rardiH36]

Appearance: Coated vs Plain Stainless Lifelines

When I bought my boat a couple of years ago, the surveyor noticed rust showing through the cracked vinyl of the who-knows-how-old lifelines and recommended replacing them with non-coated. Also I had read about safety advantages of non-coated. So that's what I what I did. The difference in appearance once you get used to either coated or non-coated really isn't an issue in my opinion. Actually now that I'm used to bare shiny wire, the coated type look a bit clunky to me.

The SS wire diameter for my old lifelines was the same as my uncoated new ones. If the same situation on yours, here's an idea: Assuming it's been decided to replace the lifelines, how about using a sharp razor knife to shave off the vinyl in a section taking care not to score the underlying SS wire? Two benefits: 1) You can judge the look of non-coated on your boat and 2) Maybe the underlying wire is actually still in good shape and the rusting is only on the surface of the wire (just like it is at junctions of the fittings on my two year old non-coated lifelines which have already become a bit discolored). If so, continue with the vinyl stripping and put off buying new lifelines for a while. For peace of mind. Maybe get a second opinion from a rigging shop that the underlying SS is still in good shape.

 

[dserrell]

For what its worth when we bought our 20 year old 89' Compac 19/3 it had a single row of lifelines, starboard and port, covered wtih cracked and discolored vinyl cable covers. We carefully scaped off the old vinyl cable covers, cleaned and inspected the ss cables and fittings. The lifelines had pelican hooks attaching them to the stern pulpit. We cut the cables at the midship stanchions and crimped in two swiveling double gate eyes with swage stud ends, one on the starboard lifeline and one on the port lifeline, so we would have gates, starboard and port, opening into the cockpit.

When we were sure all the ss cables and fittings were in good condition we coverd the ss lifleline cables with white Davis snap-on vinyl cable covers. The lifelines look new! The vinyl covers are much less abrasive to our hands than the bare ss cable would be. The white Davis vinyl snap-on cable covers cost about $ .40/foot, so for our 20' sailboat the cost for the vinyl cable covers was less than $15. Fair weather!

David

 

[Mike G.]

Dog:

At your suggestion, I stopped by Rigging Only yesterday. They were quite helpful. At their suggestion, we reconfigured the placement of pelican hooks to better suit my needs. The change also reduced the amount of swages/turnbuckles and saved a huge amount of money. In the end it came out much less than the Suncor kit from Defender. Also, IMHO better quality fittings.

I ordered a new Spin Halyard with shackle as well. By far the best price around. Thanks for the info.

Mike

Suncor also sells lifeline replacement kits that will do up to about a 40' boat. However, I'd second going with Rigging Only, as they're my local rigging shop and are very good people. Aside from uncoated stainless steel, you could also go with a synthetic, like Amsteel.

 

[sailingdog]

Mike—

Glad to help. They're a good bunch of eggs at RiggingOnly.com. I am fortunate to have them as my local rigging loft.

 

[zeehag]

i am replacing my failing lifelines with spectra color coordinated lines--looks great and dont rust--and i donot have to worry about racing rules interfering with my choices---is allll good...lol...doing this on 2 boats--i do not like the wires whether coated or not---they have a greater tendency to cause injury than does line---just use jacklines and tethers and do not count EVER on a lifeline to save your life--they do not. they cause traumatic injuries that are difficult to treat in seaways....just a thought.....

 

[sailingdog]

Lifelines mainly serve to remind you that you're about to fall overboard... they're really not meant to prevent you from falling overboard in most situations IMHO.