Hey everyone,
I thought I'd send out warning about buying rigging on Ebay. I'm not dissing Ebay or the sellers on it, (I actually sell a bunch of stuff on it myself) but you might want to think twice about trying to save a couple of bucks on something as important as the parts that keep your mast in the air. There is a lot of force on the rig!!!
Rules that I would advise to follow:
1) Only buy rigging from a reputable source. Someone with a shop specializing in sailboats is preferred--and an authorized Hobie Dealer is best. The tolerances for swage tools is critical and you just don't know how well maintained a "garage entrepreneur's" tools are. The rigging bench up at the "Marine Store" doesn't count as a well maintained tool either.
2) Never, ever buy used rigging. Why would someone be selling used rigging anyway? Because they got new stuff for their boat, which is what you should do.
Case in point:
3 miles off of Santa Cruz
1982 H 18
'New' rigging from Ebay
Mast down in 15kts and water temp at 52 deg F.
Wire broke at swage
Boat towed in after a search by the Harbor Patrol assisted by our regatta chase boat.
Moral of the story: Replace your rigging with quality parts. Pony up and get the Hobie wires. They use a hydraulic swage tool that they keep in good shape. The few dollars you save by buying used rig will get eaten up quickly if you have to get towed at $500 per hour by Vessel Assist!
http://www.hobiecat.com/company/dealer.html