Rig Testing
Non Destructive Testing of Yacht Rigging
Why go to all the expense of replacing the rigging when it can be satisfactory tested.
Many Blue Water Yachts have completed a Round the World voyage only to
return with no change in the readings obtained in the repeat test
Failure
of standing rigging on yachts is not uncommon and is often without
prior notice. The failure usually occurs at the wire termination either
the wire or a defect of the terminal.
The method used is to
measure the small electrical resistance between the wire and the
terminal body. The results are checked against a standard reading for
the type of fitting and size of wire, a higher than average reading
indicates a defect.
The technique has been used in the
electrical power industry for many years to check similar type joints
and for 16 years testing yacht rigging.
A detailed report is issued with each test; the reports are accepted by surveyors and insurance companies.
The test will identify the following:
Internal corrosion
Broken strands
Cracked terminals
Movement inside terminal
Defective swaging or assembly
Corrosion in keel bolts and chain plates
The test can be carried out with the rig down or standing with the
yacht afloat and at the same time as a visual inspection of rigging and
mast.
CHECKED YOUR RIGGING?
 A visual check of
rigging is the least we should do, but it will not reveal everything,
even to experienced wire-watching eyes, as this photo shows. It's a cap
shroud terminal that appeared fine, even to the Sherlock Holmes eye of
surveyor Paul Stevens, but when he tested it with an electronic
Maidsure Rig Tester he could not get a reading, which meant trouble.
When
Paul probed the strands several of them came out of the terminal neck
to reveal that all of the strands in the core were broken and only five
strands around the perimeter were still intact.
Scary or what? Certainly a good advert for The Maidsure Rig Tester.
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