Rod

[Drinky Crow]

For headstay. Buddy says I can't do this. Huh?

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

? ? ?

And that would be ..................................

 

[FastOlson]

Of course you can... thing is, that stay has it's sag modulated by the backstay tension, so the intrinsic lack of stretch in the rod is usually not worth the extra cost.
Shrouds, however can benefit from rod rigging. Like everything else, it gets back to the cost/benefit ratio.
My class of boat has been rigged with rod and wire, and unless an owner is competing at a pretty high level it probably makes a rather small difference in the real world.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Our boat came from the builder with rod rigging except for the forestry. Never gave it a second thought assuming it was done that way for a reason. No clue why...

 

[jssailem]

Not sure you “can’t”. You can do what you want mostly.

Why?

Here’s a link with a couple of opinions on the idea.

Wire Rigging Vs. Synthetic Rigging Vs. Rod Rigging

Synthetic rigging has been getting more and more common recently. Rod rigging has lost some popularity in the past decade due to parts availability issues from manufacturers. Wire rigging has remai…

theriggingco.com

Rod Rigging

In the world of sailboat standing rigging there are three common materials used, stainless steel wire, Nitronic 50 rod, and various types of synthetic fibers, which are becoming more and more p…

theriggingco.com

 

[Jackdaw]

While not as common as wire, absolutely no reason you cannot use rod as a forestay. Many Selden furlers come with rod forestays as standard.