At the end of the day what are the important things on a sailboat? Most importantly I would say “A good attitude and common sense, but after that I’d say “a sound hull, rig, rudder, and canvas”.
The weakest link in my “proverbial” chain is my rig. I started going through the rig today and found a few cracks in turnbuckles and I didn’t look that hard. I had a long chat with Allie who is an engineer and welder. He’s been working with metal for about as long as I’ve been kicking. Looking at his boat “Geneses” I couldn’t find any stainless in his rig, I asked why? In his German accent he replied “stainless rigging is crap man, always the reason the mast falls down”. “You can’t see the flaws with stainless, with galvanized, you can see the problems”.
Anyway, I got about an hour education on metals. Stainless may be pretty and shiny but I have a few problems to address. The other good thing about galvanized is it is cheap. I’ve also been worried about my life line for a while. It is the new kind, the kind of cable that is covered with plastic so you can’t see if there are any problems with it. Allie has some cable that he’s giving me for new life lines, and I’m off to buy some galvanized turnbuckles, shackles, and other rigging stuff in the morning. Most of the stainless hardware that I bought only 5 years ago is questionable. For example I bought a new bobstay which was just under $200, it needs replacing. I’m going to use galvanized 5/16ths chain in its stead. Come to think of it you don’t find stainless on commercial boats either?
Well I don’t think I’ll make Monday as a departure date but I will be out of here soon.
Peace, Love, and a sound rig!
Alex
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