Shrink Wrap Spreader Tips

[Ducati]

My experiments in finding other cool uses for shrink wrap continues.

We rig our mast every spring and tried using shrink wrap (2 layers) over the spreader tips.

Very simple: Cut oversized pieces, wrap over the tips secured with a zip tie, give a bit of heat, shrink, cut off any extra beyond the zips ties and ta da!

Works like a charm and looks super smooth.

I think I'll market my idea.

 

[Stu Jackson]

One of the bad things you can do to stainless steel, which is what your shrouds are made of, is to encase them in an airtight environment. It's not good for the metal. You might want to rethink...

 

[FourPoints]

Stainless steel is only stainless and rust proof when exposed to air, devoid of moving air it can start to corode.

 

[Ross]

This will work IF there is no posibility of water getting in there and not being able to get out.

 

[Cayennita]

Look at your life lines encased in plastic. You will see rust forming where the cover goes through the stanchions. In racing, it is now required that life lines be of bare SS wire. There must be a reason for this.
In my boat I took a sharp knife and removed all the cover and now I have no more rust showing. The plus side is that you can inspect the lines much better

 

[ffaubert]

My shrouds are covered in a split-plastic tube (chafe protection?) The wire shrouds are black-ish under the tube (no red or weeping). This black seems more like dirt and less like oxidation. I'm in a freshwater environment.

Should I be concerned?

Frank

 

[Winkfish]

Frank, you're probably OK since I'd imagine there is some airflow between your shrouds and the tubes.

 

[ffaubert]

It would be close. The ID of the tube seems to an exact match to the OD of the wire.

I think I'll take it off and clean the wire to see where I stand. I can do enough things to topple the mast into the water on my own, I really don't need any help from rust.