Re: lifelines: although virtually no one does it, I have read in an authoritative source (i.e., I can't remember where) that the very best lifelines are made of uncoated stainless steel because the vinyl coating can hide corrosion, as Peter found out. I actually considered using uncoated stainless when I installed stanchions/lifelines, but I didn't want to deal with the issues posed by mixing aluminum Matella stanchions and uncoated stainless.