Problems with Stem-ball fittings on mast?

[hdra]

Hi all,
My girlfriend and I are considering making an offer on a boat for some fairly aggressive offshore sailing and the one thing that makes me uneasy is that the mast attachments for the shrouds are stem balls into those bulgy stainless pieces that stick out of the mast, like on a beneteau. The mast is a spar craft section and it + standing rigging were new as of 2011. All of the boats that I have either owned or worked on in the past have had traditional tangs through-bolted with compression tubes, and it seems as if there are some downsides with the stem balls, particularly in ease of replacing a broken shroud, especially at sea, and I worry a bit about how much articulation they allow. Is this a legitimate concern, and are there any other things I should be wary of? My girlfriend thinks that it's not an insurmountable problem, given what we like about the rest of the boat, particularly as it's metal so that there shouldn't be the same flex issues in the deck and hull (and hence shock-loading and motion on the shrouds) as we would have on a fiberglass boat. Any advice?

[Brion Toss]

Hello,
Stemballs are not too shabby. T-bar terminals are the ones more likely to fail. Articulation can be an issue with either terminal, so make sure that the leads haven't brought things up against their stops. Also make sure that the tangs are properly installed, with good bearing on all surcaces, no rough edges, etc. On some stemball installations you will need spacer rings, to make up the difference between head and seat diameter.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Brion Toss]

Hi again,
Just yesterday I saw a new boat with stemball tangs. On the lower aft shrouds, which raked fairly far aft, the wire was severely bent where it exited the swages, because the tangs couldn't articulate sufficiently. This will result in a failure, sooner than later. So check the leads on your boat.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

PPS,
In order to avoid embarassing the manufacturer I won't mention the make of boat, but its initials are Beneteau.