Cryogenically Treated Standing Rigging: One Sailor's Report

The Report, in Mark's Words

Sailboat Standing Rigging Cryo-Treatment Advantages Report

Running rigging on a sailboat is the soft stuff — the control lines that are rope-like and managed by hand. The mast (and all its accessories — you don't realize how involved the thing is until you replace it) is a stick of sorts (sailors will refer to them as “sticks”) that is the heart of the boat. The structure which holds it in place has evolved from natural-fibered “rope” to aircraft-esque stainless steel cable and commensurate fittings to keep the stick from going over.

I know this sensation, as it happened to me in December 2019. Nothing quite like a 30-something foot long aluminum beam coming down like a giant flyswatter. I was narrowly missed and the event, for a sailor, or even a landlubber, is memorable. I finished the replacement in August 2020 after much work. I love my old boat and decided to replace the lengthy spar with a carbon fiber unit. I now have a $10K mast on a $2K boat (I sail a lot, most every Sunday, all-year-round, for the last 16 years). Said stick is only as good as what holds it in place, such that when it came time to replace the hundreds of feet of SST cable, I wanted to enhance safety, of course, longevity, and if I could also add to or maintain good sailing characteristics.

I have achieved all that, and peace of mind as well, via the cryo-tempering of the cabling. Thank you, Bentzion, of CTP Cryogenics.

I have used cryo treatment to good end in some of my automotive endeavors, as well as engine parts for the boat motor and thought it might be advantageous.

All the listed gains have been realized, and more — including additional corrosion resistance! Corrosion inhibition is very important in a saltwater environment (I sail out of LA Harbor, in the salty Pacific). Not only was I able to reduce corrosion I was able to reduce cost of the materials. Instead of using 316 grade stainless, more corrosion resistant than 308, but more brittle and not as strong, I was able to use the lesser grade (less$!) and gain strength, resilience along with keeping the all-pervasive-ever-present corrosion at bay. My boat lives in the water, and has since 1964, so any method to keep the old girl alive is my friend.

But wait, there is more. After one replaces the cables there is, typically, a number (some reports tell of dozens) of adjustments for “stretch” to tune the rigging before one is satisfied with the setup, or it has “settled.”

I have had to do it only once.

I took measurements with a tension gauge over many weeks and before and after many outings with no real decay in the tension settings. Empirically, this works.

To put that in perspective, there are literally tons of force applied to the rigging, especially in high-wind events. I sailed to Catalina, recently, in gale force wind (made it in record time) with waves blowing non-stop across the bow for hours, and upon return to the mainland I did not have to adjust the cabling tension.

I have passed this info along to my mast-builder and he thinks I may be onto something, readily.

Sail ho!

What the Research Does Say About Stainless

Rigging wire is austenitic stainless, which is the family where the evidence is most mixed — and most interesting. In one university study, 304L showed a 31.8% reduction in wear volume while 316L, a molybdenum addition apart, showed no measurable change at all under the same test conditions.

Cryogenic treatment of stainless steel sets out the grade-by-grade evidence, with the sources linked so you can check them.