Maintenance Monday – Shrouds, Turnbuckles, Other Odds and Sods

This will be the last of four Maintenance Mondays based on a lecture by Dave Thompson of Eggers Sails. Today some tips on shrouds. 1. What's better rod or wire shrouds? Rod as it lasts at least twice as long. The downside is that with wire you can see when it's failing as fibers start to part from the shroud. With rod you have no idea when it's going to fail. 2. What's Crevice Corrosion? This is a sign that a turnbuckle, sheave or other solid steel equipment is failing. If you see cracks in steel replace the gear immediately! Look for incipient cracks in swage fittings. The lower fittings are more prone to corrosion than higher fittings as they are more exposed to salt. You should still get up your mast or step it at least every 3 years to inspect the upper fittings. 3. Is coated wire better? In fact coated wire such as plastic-coated lifelines are worse. Steel needs to "breathe" and any plastic coating increases the likelihood of corrosion. One of the worst things to do is to encase your shrouds and turnbuckles in plastic tubing to protect the sails for this reason. In fact they don't help much with chafe protection either. Use rigging tape instead. 4. Chain-plates: Inspect them very carefully. If there is any sign of damage they should be replaced immediately. Any bend in the chain-plates halves their strength.