Other than inspections, I have never had to repair or replace any standing rigging on any of my boats, so please bear with my description of the problem:

The (3/16" 1 x19) outer wire layer on a lower shroud seems to be seperating from the inner wire layer where the wire enters the swage stud on the turnbuckle. I can squeeze the outer layer and it compresses against the inner layer. All of the other shrouds look fine. No turnbuckle or swage fitting cracking, no rust or corrosion, freshwater boat since new in 1986.

Everything looks good at the top of the mast and where the lower shrouds terminate at the mast. I intend to pull the mast next year during a bottom job and rewire the lights and replace the standing rigging, so I really don't want to deal with replacing the standing rigging now.

My question is: would it make sense to cut the lower end of the failing shroud and install a new extra-long stud terminal, allowing for the shortened shroud length?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Steve W.