Short answer
Choose 1x19 stainless for most Australian cruising yachts: it is the cheapest, most widely serviced and most easily inspected option. Compact strand adds stiffness at higher cost, rod suits performance rigs but needs specialist inspection, and Dyneema saves significant weight aloft but brings creep, chafe and UV management instead of corrosion.
Start from how the yacht is used and where it is serviced, not from what performs best on paper. For a coastal cruising yacht in Australia, 1x19 stainless is the default for sound reasons: predictable behaviour, the widest pool of riggers who can work on it, and readily available components almost anywhere.
Compact strand offers lower stretch and smaller diameter for the same strength, which sharpens a rig’s feel. It costs more and, in return for stiffness, gives up a little of the forgiving behaviour of conventional wire.
Rod rigging suits performance and larger yachts. It has excellent stretch characteristics but needs specialist terminals, specialist inspection methods and a rigger who genuinely works with it. In regional Australia, confirm somebody within reach can service it before committing.
Synthetic standing rigging such as Dyneema removes substantial weight aloft and will not corrode, but it substitutes a different maintenance model: creep, chafe and UV degradation, with inspection focused on the line and its terminations. Compare rod rigging and Dyneema standing rigging.
Key facts
- 1x19 stainless
- Default for coastal cruising; cheapest, most widely serviced
- Compact strand
- Lower stretch, smaller diameter, higher cost
- Rod
- Performance and larger yachts; specialist terminals and inspection
- Dyneema / synthetic
- Large weight saving; creep, chafe and UV replace corrosion
- Decisive question in Australia
- Who within reach can inspect and service it
Full background: read the guide