Hi Howard, My $0.02 worth.........
There are two things to consider: the quality of the fitting and the quality of the S/S wire. If both are good quality, and the swage is done properly, it should be almost indestructible. On our Tripp-Lentsch 29, I had all swaged fittings on the rigging and on the railings (doubles), and in 26 years the only failure I had was with the section of railing that was about 4 feet long and had a pelican hook as an opening gate. The railing wire was covered with a plastic cover, and one day in spring I noticed a discoloration at the swage fitting. Closer inspection and some flexing of the wire showed that I had an incipient failure on my hands. The wire had rusted (S/S rusting?) under the plastic coating. The rigging itself; fore stay; back stay; two lower shrouds on each side; and an upper shroud on each side; all bare S/S wire operated flawlessly for the 26 years we owned the boat, and we experienced some serious weather conditions. Of course, I examined each swaged fitting with a loupe, looking for cracks at the beginning of each season, but never found one. So wire quality is important too. LEPPO's rigging was closely inspected each spring, prior to our first sail, and always was in excellent shape. Things you should be looking for are signs of rust showing between the wire strands at the swages. If you find any, then I'd seriously consider getting new rigging. Any broken wire strands (fish hooks) are also cause for concern. You see one. How many more that you can't see might be broken? Connie _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
