My Lifelines were beginning to show their age.  I had some bent turnbuckles, rust showing through the PVC outer coatings and some Pelican Hooks that were not holding.  I guess 25 years had taken it's toll.  This is a safety issues and it can't wait.

THE OLD STUFF

    Below are the old 1979 Lifelines. They show bent turnbuckles, rusty wiring under the PVC, patch jobs from previous owners and generally present an unsafe condition.  I had even covered some of the wire with plastic covers tiring to improve the looks.  Time to spend some boat bucks.

THE PROCESS

     It is possible to hand swage your own lifelines unlike trying to hand swage the standing rigging (not possible due to a strength issue).  My original plan was to order all this stuff, get it in, cut the wire and then drag it to the local West Marine store to use there bench mounted crimper.

     In the catalogs there are two prices listed for hardware depending on if you intend to swage your own or have them machine swaged.  I sent out faxes to five different Rigging Outfits for a price quote.  I had asked for the quote to reflect the two prices of hardware.  I got back four bids, with three in the $600+ category. The forth bid from SailNet, came in under that.

    Turns out that the hardware for hand swaging is slightly more expensive than the machine swaging hardware.  It's listed as "Hand Crimp," in the catalogs and can make a difference in who does the work.

     The difference for SailNet to machine swage the fittings was under the price difference of the hardware and me doing it, so I decided to pull the old lifelines off and send them on to SailNet.  You don't have to send the lifelines but I wanted them build exactly the same length.

BEFORE YOU ORDER...

MEASURE FIRST

• Measure the Bow - Stern Top / Bottom on each side (it's an old boat, there're not the same).

              Mikhaya Starboard Top/Bottom:   30' / 28'-8"

              Mikhaya Port Top/Bottom:           30'-2"/28'-10"

• Measure the Wire diameter:  I knew it had to be 3/16 but a quick check showed

              3.16" wire inside with 5/16" PVC coating

REMOVE THE OLD LIFELINES AND SEND THEM

• I wanted to install a gate on the Port side like the Starboard Gate.  I marked the location of the stanchion on each side of old lifelines before pulling them off (see picture).  I tagged the old lifelines, boxed them up and mailed them off to SailNet.

INSTALLING A PORT GATE

• In order to install the new gate on the Port side I needed to add two stanchion support braces like the ones on the Starboard side gate.

• I ordered my stanchion braces from .

• I reworked the backing plates on the Port stanchion that's toward the bow.  Working in through the port cabinet made the under deck access much easier.  As you can see I'm not very picky about size and general looks of the backing plates.  For an expanded section on replacing all of my backing plates check out, "Updating the Backing Plates."

      
         Gate Up and ready for the new Lifelines

• If you are without help in putting in the gate and backing plates you might find some help from a small wrench and some "duck tape."  You really thought you could do this job without duck tape?

      In the Updating the Backing Plates section I resort to using small vice grips.

• The opposite side of the gate was a little more difficult to get at and getting it bolted in.  Backing plates were impossible for this location.  Even Pearson didn't install backing plates originally.  So I installed a series of flat washers to provide some type of bolted backing area (I still don't like this idea).  Pictures below show a before - after process.  This is stronger than it looks for all of the stanchion mounts on my P35 deck are through bolted to a solid deck area.  This was a major "tuff" area to get to.  (The black box below is my 1K inverter mounted on the bulkhead wall.)  T

            The Gate Brace bolted in up beside the deck drain.

      
Gate Up and ready for the new Lifelines

THE NEW STUFF

When the lifelines arrived from SailNet I compared the old with the new.  The lengths looked good and the SS hardware looking even better. 

THINGS TO CONSIDER...

• Make sure the quote accurately reflects the work that you want done.

• If you only measure the lifelines and then provide the measurements to the outfit assembling the lines, make sure your stanchions are not bent when you measure them.  This will throw off the accuracy of the final built product. (I didn't want to admit that I had done this, but I feel better now for some reason.)

• If you choose to send your old lifelines in, then tell them that you want your old lifelines returned (if you in-fact do).

• Indicate when you are expecting the new lifelines to be shipped to you.

• Remain in contact so you are informed of the progress and any problems.

• The last issue involves stanchions that use the stanchion ring.  (These rings were used by Pearson instead of providing a second hole in the stanchion.  Better idea actually because not drilling a second hole allows the stanchion to maintains it's original strength.)  The ID of these rings are slightly smaller then the holes at the top of the existing stanchions.  The two pictures below illustrate the point I'm ultimately trying to make.  The picture on the left shows the OLD safety lines swage stud, going through the eye of the stanchion ring.  The picture on the right shows the NEW stud with a area not crimped that has a problem getting through the eye.  If your Pearson is configured with these stanchion eyes, then provide a note along with your measurements or the actual lifelines for the vendor to pay attention to this detail and fully crimp (swage) the stud.

(Left) Old Lifeline with a smooth swage.

   (Right) New Lifeline that just can't make it through.