Standing Rigging Shrouds or Side Stays

[paydirt]

how do you know when to replace your side stays or shrouds? I can see if you had some wire chafing or some obvious signs like that but is there any recommended method of inspection? If those things snap, that could be bad
thanks

[Jim in TC]

I will watch this with interest...some years ago on a little 15' wet sailor I had a shroud part with the obvious result of mast and sails in the water, lines and cables all in a tangle. Not a huge issue with a little boat on a very small lake but I don't want to be 5 miles out in our Sun Cat with that going on...

I had no obvious warning of that impending break, but also was not inspecting for that sort of thing.

[JTMeissner]

Having just been dismasted due to a failed forestay, probably something I should have been paying more attention to earlier...

From Sail Magazine (https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/inspecting-maintaining-and-replacing-standing-rigging):
Most insurance companies reckon you should replace your standing rigging about every 10 years. Sometimes they let you go longer if you have the rig professionally inspected, particularly if you have an electronic check carried out on the terminals and other crucial fittings. The wire itself rarely fails midway along a shroud, so this makes good sense. There's no reason good quality rigging shouldn't last up to 20 years or so if it is well maintained and any problems that arise are sorted right away.

When I had the chandlery look at the stays and make new ones, I was told that they didn't make the says the same way anymore and had updated how they did the ends.  My stays were probably original, so failed at 40+ years... but it could have been much worse. 

Some things I should have read:
http://cruisinglealea.com/standingrigging.html
http://sailingmagazine.net/article-1040-maintaining-standing-rigging.html  My stay failed right at the swage like picture 2.

-Justin