Over stretched guard wire.

[Seajet]

Nothing old wives tale about plastic covered guardwires, they're a menace; my chum thought his were spiffing too until he leant on one...

 

[parbuckle]

If he thought it was splitting he should have changed it. I dont use pvc covered wire mainly because it comes in too small dia. and is not man enough for my liking.

 

[rivonia]

Nothing old wives tale about plastic covered guardwires, they're a menace; my chum thought his were spiffing too until he leant on one...

Our guard wires have plastic white covering on. They have a split running from end to end. This means that I can PEEL the protective covering off clean and inspect the wire at my leisure and then replace it. NOT a problem at all. And it looks very smart and is safe if you fall or rub against it.

Peter

 

[Seajet]

Funnily enough no-one yet has been sliced in half against my wires; if plastic covered is so great, how come it's not allowed in the offshore racing rules ?

A matter of choice as to whether it looks smart, I happen to think it makes a boat look toy-like, but they're not banned on the grounds of looks...

 

[rivonia]

Funnily enough no-one yet has been sliced in half against my wires; if plastic covered is so great, how come it's not allowed in the offshore racing rules ?

A matter of choice as to whether it looks smart, I happen to think it makes a boat look toy-like, but they're not banned on the grounds of looks...

I do not race I am a cruiser/live aboard on my 11 meter catamaran.

 

[johnphilip]

Been there on this one, changing the end to an eye for lashing does not help, as the eye still leaves the wire too long. For not many quids local rigger cut off the end and swaged new fitting, at the same time showing reassuringly that the wire despite appearance of surface rust at the entrance to the swage was in very good condition. Also put down the old wives tale above.

I duly lit blue touch paper and up it went!

On the matter of stretch or not I bet mine is not the only boat where the push and pull pits are a bit flexible, the pulpit particularly where the two sides are joined with a half height bar and only a single leg to the deck. However the slack lifeline issue arose after I had the pulpit rebuilt following a collision when a yacht powered into us on autopilot.

 

[Seajet]

Agreed, slack will be due to flex, either stanchions or end rails.

I don't race either - apart from maybe once a year, but base my equipment level on personal experience, and taking note of any lessons learned in serious offshore sailing.

I haven't been out in a hurricane, but I read ' Heavy Weather Sailing ' to learn what I could, ignoring lessons learned the hard way is an insult to all those who have given their lives ( or worse, boats ! ) for us to have this info available.

 

[Daydream believer]

Guardrails and their stanchions should take the weight of an adult and withstand this type of use. If they cant they are too weak for the job and most likely the stanchion base needs beefed up or the mount made good again.

My guardwires are designed to withstand USE not ABUSE

 

[Little Sam]

Plastic covered is bad news, hides any corrosion so if you rebuild then do it with plain wire.

Stainless wire stretching ... nope the stanchions have bent in, lots of alternatives discussed above.

Hint for the future.....stop people from using the lifelines to climb aboard!

Totally agree. the idea of stainless wire stretching under normal human day to day use is not possible.
Stanchions bent, Come loose in some way i would vouch for.

Second that comment too. Its amazing how you get some fat backsided 18st person riving the hell out of stanchions and guard wires to heave themselves aboard !

 

[Seajet]

Totally agree. the idea of stainless wire stretching under normal human day to day use is not possible.
Stanchions bent, Come loose in some way i would vouch for.

Second that comment too. Its amazing how you get some fat backsided 18st person riving the hell out of stanchions and guard wires to heave themselves aboard !

Yup, it's bad enough when the *******s just have to twang the shrouds like a harp...

 

[Sneaky Pete]

You can't "repair them" as such. The end fittings are swaged on to the wire and can't be moved. The wires don't "stretch" very much anyway, so if they are close to the end of their adjustment they'll either fit or not. Do they fit now?

They do fit just now but the 8mm threaded part is at the end of the thread if you understand what I mean no further room for adjustment on the other side of the lock nut there is about 30mm of thread.

 

[Sneaky Pete]

Good point, why do visitors to ones boat insist on yanking the wires as hard as they can.
When berthing i m often single handed so appreciate help but really squirm when people insist on tugging at the guardrail wires
My family are drilled to get aboard by the shrouds where they can reach higher up & to pull on cleated ropes, or staunchion bases , not staunchion tops

I agree with this use the shroud wires I usually back onto a pontoon and get access on and off from the swim platform on the transom it does appear that over the years the stantions have bent inwards slightly and over the years I believe the slack has been adjusted up I will turn the stantion around and see what difference this makes. thanks for all the advice all seem to be of the same opinion.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

My guardwires are designed to withstand USE not ABUSE

Are they, so what are the design loads of your guard wires? A man falling from the high side would exert a force probably greater than that applied by someone standing on a wire or hauling themselves onboard from the pontoon.