S/S Rigging ....rusting??

[pjvz]

The boat next to me in the yard had it's standing rigging replaced last summer. It now looks as if it's rusting with brown stains tracking down the wire. The rigger who did the work says its a resin used in the wire manufacture, not rust. Has anyone else come across this?? I was going to use this rigger myself!!

 

[vyv_cox]

The boat next to me in the yard had it's standing rigging replaced last summer. It now looks as if it's rusting with brown stains tracking down the wire. The rigger who did the work says its a resin used in the wire manufacture, not rust. Has anyone else come across this?? I was going to use this rigger myself!!

I have not come across the resin theory before - shows a certain level of inventiveness!

Usually when rigging wire shows rust stains the cause is crevice corrosion on a very small scale. The crevices are created during the wire drawing process, perhaps due to varying levels of lubrication, as it doesn't always happen. Polishing the wire will both remove the rust and help to remove the crevices.

 

[boatmike]

Actually there are two possibilities here. The rigger is half right in that rigging wire is multi strand wire twisted together. In the drawing process the dies have a lubricant applied which stays on the wire and becomes trapped between the strands in the twisting process. Sometimes the lubricant leaches out and runs down the wire and shows a brown stain at the bottom end. This is not in fact rust and a wipe with any solvent or even detergent will remove it. The second is that over time the wire will indeed show a certain amount of light ferrous oxide just as the rest of the stainless on the boat will. Even highly polished pulpit tubing needs cleaning and polishing now and then. "Stainless" steel all develops a light oxide film after a while regardless of the grade and it is actually this oxide that protects it. It is not necessarily an indication that there is something wrong.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Stainless steel wire is drawn through a stearate lubricant unless for special purposed a moly disulphide lubricant or even a glass one is used. I was never involved in rope forming as opposed to wire drawing but I cant imagine any lubricant other than a stearate being used there, if at all. And the lubricant used in wiredrawing wont leave a brown stain anyway. You will have almost no remnant lubricant which is why the steel is shiny.

I would be very suspicious indeed about a brown stain appearing. The rope should be made of 316 wire and should not show any brown rusting in normal use, with the possible exception of where there are swaged fittings. Look round the boatyard - I doubt you will find any other rusty stainless rigging so why has this lot stained?

Use a rigger who will supply you with a copy of test certificate / certificate of conformity for the wire - it should have one if he uses a decent supplier as opposed to the cheapest Chinese rubbish he can find.

P.S. I worked for 10 years or so at Samuel Fox and Sons who made stainless steel wire for export all over the world. Its a while ago and memory isnt what it was, but the above comments will be nearer being technically correct than those from a rigger. Thats probably giving a hostage to fortune in view of the time lapse since I was involved, but as I say - just look round all the other boats you can see

 

[vyv_cox]

"Stainless" steel all develops a light oxide film after a while regardless of the grade and it is actually this oxide that protects it. It is not necessarily an indication that there is something wrong.

The protective film on stainless steel is chromium oxide, which is colourless. The rust-coloured stain that forms on pitted or creviced surfaces is hydrated iron oxide.

I would be very suspicious indeed about a brown stain appearing. The rope should be made of 316 wire and should not show any brown rusting in normal use, with the possible exception of where there are swaged fittings. Look round the boatyard - I doubt you will find any other rusty stainless rigging so why has this lot stained?

I don't find stained wire to be very unusual at all. Not talking about heavily rusted appearance, but a light brown stain is very common for the reasons I gave above.

I do agree that a light stain is not at all an indication that something is wrong.

 

[oldsaltoz]

The protective film on stainless steel is chromium oxide, which is colourless. The rust-coloured stain that forms on pitted or creviced surfaces is hydrated iron oxide.



I don't find stained wire to be very unusual at all. Not talking about heavily rusted appearance, but a light brown stain is very common for the reasons I gave above.

I do agree that a light stain is not at all an indication that something is wrong.

G'day Vyv,

We stopped over in Mackay harbour, this was a long time ago, about 20 years back. Back then cargo vessels would unload not mere than 200 m away.

One vessel was discharging a cargo of ilmenite and it was dusty. a few days later we noticed black spots on the deck, I asked around at the local boat club and was advised to scrub the rigging as the dust would make it rust. soon after the ship left port I did a few boats head to wash down area. We ended up cleaning her down and had no problems.

Just wondering if you have seen this or can advise if it would or could cause a problem ?

Avagoodweekend......

.

 

[ianat182]

The lifelines on my boat are stainless and have been there for 30 years, but I still have to rub them with a non-scratch washing up pad from time to time to clear it, usually at springtime after a winter spell. The lines stay clear for the rest of the year,and are worst around the pushpit and cockpit areas, so I wonder if it is where we catch hold of them with sweaty or other contaminant on our hands; the fittings stay clear all the time as does the rigging wire.

ianat182

 

[vyv_cox]

No experience of Ilmenite. This site tells me it is an oxide of iron and titanium. It's a mineral, so will not be water soluble. It is black, so maybe your black spots were simply the dust? I have some doubts that any galvanic reaction would take place in contact with stainless steel and water, but I'm really not certain. It is processed by a roasting process, which seems unlikely on a boat even in NW Australia!

Sorry, best advice is to be guided by local knowledge. If they said it would cause rusting, it probably would

 

[Martin_J]

PJVZ - Whereabouts is this rigging? Maybe I could take a high-res closeup picture and we'll have something better to discuss.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I am aware of a claim that you can get rusting stains on new wire from metal left on the wire from the die and rollers used in forging. No idea if this is factual. The dies certainly would be of a much harder material but they will wear over time. The thin smear looks like a lot of rust stain. Just an idea based on no facts that I am confident of.

 

[Resolution]

pjvz: I have seen a boat where a couple of non-s/s washers and pins were used in the rigging by some incompetent rigger. The wire was fine but the rust ran down all the way and made the wire look as though it was rusting.

 

[pjvz]

Thanks to all who have commented. I will try and get some images to help the discussion. The boat is lying in Dorset.

PJVZ

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I am aware of a claim that you can get rusting stains on new wire from metal left on the wire from the die and rollers used in forging. No idea if this is factual. The dies certainly would be of a much harder material but they will wear over time. The thin smear looks like a lot of rust stain. Just an idea based on no facts that I am confident of.

The dies used these days are carbide at the diameters concerned. If the lubricant were to break down you would get scoring of the steel wire and very rapid breakage. We never had a case that I can recall or rust because of die failure.

On the other hand I have seen bad cases of surface rusting when there has been a shotblast plant with poor filters nearby, or when someone has used an angle grinder and the steel dust has landed on the stainless.

 

[boatmike]

As usual you are getting a lot of conflicting information here. I am surprised that many people think SS never needs cleaning because it never stains (or that's the implication). Have you never needed to clean the light brown stains off your pulpit, or other SS on the boat? For a definitive answer I suggest you contact

Petersen Stainless Rigging Limited, Cowen Road, Blaydon-on-Tyne, Tyne & Wear, NE21 5TW, UK
Tel: +44 (0)191 4140156 Fax: +44 (0)191 4990041

Who will be more than happy to put your mind at rest I am sure....