Cracked swage terminals: how surveyors inspect standing rigging and when to replace it

Standing rigging rarely fails in the middle of a wire. SAIL's rigging feature is plain about it: the wire itself rarely fails midway along a shroud. It fails at the ends, in the swaged terminals, where the wire is pressed into a stainless sleeve and salt water sits in the gap. The usual sign is a crack along the barrel, and the usual result of missing it is a dismasting.

How a surveyor inspects the rig

From deck level, every lower terminal, turnbuckle and clevis pin, with a magnifier on the swages. SAIL's checklist: cracks, usually running lengthwise, broken wires where the shroud enters the terminal, and terminals or stays out of line. A terminal that's been bent will crack first.

The top terminals are where a deck-level survey stops. A pre-purchase survey usually inspects from deck and says so; a rig survey goes aloft. Where a line on a terminal could be a crack, dye penetrant settles it. SAIL notes that internal corrosion and poor swaging can cause failure with nothing visible, which is why age matters as much as appearance.

Age, records and insurers

SAIL gives 10 to 15 years as the generally accepted life of standing rigging, and reports that most insurers expect replacement about every 10 years. So the surveyor asks for the invoice. Rigging with no record is treated as original, and on an older boat that usually means a B with a budget line, even when nothing looks wrong from deck.

What re-rigging costs

Mast unstepping and restepping is usually on top, and rod rigging or larger boats cost more. Replace shrouds in pairs, as SAIL advises.

Photos to take

Each suspect terminal close up with a ruler, the shroud overall so it can be identified, the turnbuckles, and the rigging invoice or a note that there isn't one. With Axsail, name the shroud as you photograph it and the photo goes on its finding.

Writing it up

Name the wire by side and position, which end, and what you saw. State the rig's age and how you know it, and what you couldn't inspect, such as the top terminals from deck. That last line protects the surveyor and tells the buyer what's still unknown.