Bill What kind of experimental Aircraft did you build? Bob Wcpritchett@aol.com wrote:

Yes, fittings can be magnafluxed for cracks and that's what the maxi ocean racers do to check their rigging. I saw this in a Ft.Lauderdale rigging yard where they grouped to refit. They would toss the whole stay/shroud and us "regular" people would buy the one year old wire and cut/swage to fit our boats. It's a cheap way to rerig with near new wire.Terminal fitting cracks are 99% the cause stay/shroud replacement.

Rigging yards say 10yrs is normal life for wire and that is when you turn it end for end every year...that applies to bigger "non-trailer type" boats. Old wire can look A1 but work hardens from sailing and becomes brittle. I've seen 15 yr old wire that looked perfect and it actually broke strands when coiled up while we were un-stepping the mast.

I missed the earlier postings on swage fittings but...aircraft and safety applications use flexible cable (7x19 or higher) and sailboats use the less flexible and lower stretch 1x19. Aircraft rigging has little to zero tension (I'm a past experimental plane builder) and sailboats high tension in comparison. They can share the same terminal ends but fatique is greater with sailboats.

Bill P. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats