Swages at Bobstay & Boomkin Stays

Anyone ever have issues with swages on the bottom (lower) ends of their boomkin and bobstay fittings? I was under the impression with regular shrouds and stays the generally accepted practice is to avoid swages on the bottoms due to salt water flowing down into them and accelerating corrosion. But I see most all of our Bobstays and Boomkin Stays have swages on the bottom end, and are very close to salt water and often underwater. This I thought curious. Anyone care to steer my right with this seeming contradiction.

Thanks,
Ben

I had a similar question for Brion Toss, after he spoke at a local West Marine store, reguarding rigging.

He had two reccomendations, one was to fill the newly swaged barrel with a heated solution of, I can’t remember, maybe Lanolin or bees wax,or something else

and two, install link plates at the overside lower chainplate fittings, to raise the swage fitting out of, or above the water.

He went on to say that “stagnant” salt water is the enemy of SS, and all SS fittings should be designed to shed off water and be visually inspected regularly.

Congratulations Ben, your type of thinking will save you much, when you need it the most.

Douglas, Calliste

An old surveyor told me to spray the swages with a liberal amount of WD40 a few

times a season and wash with fresh water when laying up. I’ve been doing this and

never had corrosion.

Bob & Lois

BCC Jolie Brise

Hi Ben, is Elizabeth on the road today , Thursday, May 8th ?

Hey Douglas,

Thanks for asking! Almost… the truck breaking her axle held us up about 3 weeks. I spoke to the driver yesterday. He said he’ll be in TX today, May 8, but will load tomorrow. He expects to be up in Danvers, MA late Monday, and off-load Tuesday.

Then the fun really begins…

Where are you at these days?

Stainless steel’s resistance to corrosion is dependent on an oxide coating on the surface of the steel. Remove the oxide coating or deprive the material of oxygen and it becomes susceptible to corrosion. High concentrations of chlorides, such as found in sea water, moderate temperatures and/or increased acidity of the environment surrounding the material contribute to pitting and crevice corrosion of stainless steel.

The fact that there are thousands of boats sailing with stainless steel fittings and rigging shows the material works in a marine environment but it is also subject to catastrophic failure if pitting or crevice corrosion goes undetected. It’s important to inspect stainless rigging fittings on a regular basis. Two cruising friends of ours were recently dismasted when a chainplate tang failed because of crevice corrosion.

You can read more about stainless steel corrosion at the following links.

Gee Whiz , I very much like Rod’s research and clairity, when he drops those specific web site addresses, for our education - updates,
Good On You Mate , as they say in OZ !
Thank You , very much, Rod !!!
I personally know how hard that info on SS, is to come by !

Currently and for the next 2 1/2 months, I am located in Burlington , VT. My BCC is still in S’pore.

Do you have a boatyard in/on Vineyard Haven, or where are you going to drop your boat back in the water, to prepare for your summer cruising ?

My wife is looking for a larger Cape Dory, so we have already been to Robinhood & Spartan Marine, last weekend, we will be going there again soon !

I did notice on the DEE DEE ANN photos, that we both have some similar maintaince items to address.

Bil of BCC Zygote, has done a remarkable job and research addressing most aspects on our BCC’s,
hope you can get a copy of his “Praxis” (sp-?) as it is very informative, and I refer to it, quite often, myself.

Happy re-launchings , Douglas, S/V Calliste