Which type of stainless wire for standing rigging

[Jason]

Originally Posted by ricekrgr

Hi,
I have a 1969 Morgan 33 Classic. What type of stainless wire would have been used on the original standing rigging? Can I use 316 without increasing the size?
Thank you,
Bob

Hi there,

Without sales literature or builder's records, it may not be possible to determine what was originally used on the boat. Hopefully, since 1969, it has been replaced several times! We have often found it prudent to move wire up one size when re-rigging a boat from type 304 to type 316 - as the latter has lower breaking strengths than the former. However, many boats already have "oversized" rigging, due to perceived "safety factors" or good old over-building. In these cases, upsizing wires may lead to excessive weight aloft and can also lead to problems with pin sizes.
For example, if a boat originally had 3/16" wires and someone thought it should be upsized and so made a rig out of 7/32", there is the possibility that the original rigging had 5/16" pins, which is ok with 7/32" wires (using aircraft eyes and stepped-down turnbuckle toggles), but would be difficult to go up again to 1/4" inch wires, as the smallest pins for 1/4 inch wire are normally 3/8". And so on.

Best,

jason