[Public-List] Alberg 30 Rig Weak Links

[crufone at comcast.net]

John Birch wrote, 
Harry was of the opinion that the Alberg masts suffered from a lack of the 
compression tube and was critical of the excessive number of holes Whitby 
had in the area of the spreaders including installing the steaming light so 
close to the spreaders. 
Also, if you have nicro presses on your shrouds at the mast head and 
spreader bases instead of proper terminals, there is a unanimous consensus 
from Harry, Danny and every surveyor I know that this is a bad bad bad 
practice. They should be swaged terminals at least, norseman or staloc's 
being much much better. 

Best 
John 

John; great information to have indeed, 
Oh NO another item to address on my #133.  All of my Standing rigging has the bronze Nicro Press fittings installed. In most cases there is only one crimp fitting per terminal. I say that they are bronze because they have a slight green colouration.  All the wire and the fittings look to be in Excellent condition. I was going to wait a couple of seasons before replacing the wire rigging, but now you have me concerned.  I had not heard from the Alberg group that the Nicro Press fittings failed and were generally "bad News". 
Another item not mentioned is the aft chain plate for the aft stay.  I would think with all this talk about the Dynamic loads while sailing that one should inspect that fitting as well as the shroud chain plates. 
I wonder if the 1/4" bolts are adequate but should be inspected regularly and replace every 5 years or so. There are many items on our boats that owners do not inspect for fatigue at regular enough intervals.  Your talk of the cycling effect on the accumulation of fatigue makes me think that we should all have a check list of regular inspections/replacements. 
I agree that the cast aluminum mast head fitting appears to be a weak link. Many production sailboats used them. I know of NO rig failure of an Alberg 30 because of the mast head fitting failure. Do you know of any? 
Some years ago I purchased a 1966 Seafarer and asked the previous owner when he last had the mast down. He responded not since he had brought the boat to Florida and that was about 30 years ago!! I decided to unstep the mast at my earliest opportunity. 
Thanks for you most helpful comments 
Michael #133