Rope Materials

  • 15 Apr 2011 00:37
    Reply # 570891 on 554766
    I followed the thread and she is looking good. 

    I reckon you are going for the right size in sheets, etc - essentially one size up from PJR.

    Generally I'd agree with your man (on the Wooden Boat Forum) who said go for cleats, but with that slippery stuff you often need an extra turn.  Rope clutches are expensive and cheap ones have handles sticking out that could rip a toe off.  Those old-fashioned jammers with two sprung jaws are good - especially for  three-strand - if you could track them down.
  • 13 Apr 2011 12:57
    Reply # 569739 on 554766
    I'm figuring on 10mm for halyard, yard hauling parrel and sheet. 8mm for everything else.
    I did some acrobatics in my shed yesterday and tried to get some decent external photos of Redwing.
    Post 657.

    http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?88318-Redwing-update&p=2954372#top
  • 13 Apr 2011 08:11
    Reply # 569616 on 554766
    Hmm, yes - so maybe my battens are as slippery as an icicle.

    Yes, Gary - go for the Silver Staple.  My local wholesaler didn't have it so it was cheaper to buy braid from him than Silver Staple from the retailer, but I know from they years I spent on Iron Bark that it is really good stuff and lasts for ages.  Bit the new stuff is seriously slippery, so don't go for too small a size :-)
  • 10 Apr 2011 00:23
    Reply # 567466 on 554766
    Deleted user
    Found a really good site for learning different knots. Never can know too many! Animated images take you through all sorts of knots. Worth the visit.

    http://www.animatedknots.com
    Last modified: 10 Apr 2011 00:23 | Deleted user
  • 07 Apr 2011 11:32
    Reply # 565976 on 554766
    I was using a length of silver rope today to tie down a load of timber on the ute and I got to thinking. I've been using this rope for several years now and it cops a fair bit of abuse and it's still good. I can buy 250 metres of 10mm silver rope for around $AU130. I think I shall use it.
  • 06 Apr 2011 23:19
    Reply # 565663 on 565634
    Deleted user
    Annie Hill wrote: I tried the icicle hitch on my battens, but it didn't like the slippery alloy.  Maybe I should try again - it's hard to believe that anodising is more slippery than ice!

    My battens are non anodized aluminum tubing. Exposure to sea water has given them a non sticky finish that is slightly more grippy than they were prior to sea water exposure. I don't think the icycle hitch would actually work on a melting icycle but I'll have to try it on a tapered plug ;-)
  • 06 Apr 2011 22:19
    Reply # 565634 on 554766
    I tried the icicle hitch on my battens, but it didn't like the slippery alloy.  Maybe I should try again - it's hard to believe that anodising is more slippery than ice!
  • 06 Apr 2011 13:27
    Reply # 565226 on 554766
    Deleted user
    The yards on Easy Go have a rope as the connection point rather than the mechanical attachment so often seen. I spliced an eye in the end of about a metre of rope and then used a knot that is found trationally on the upper yards of a square rigger to attach to the yard. This is a knot that I found in the Ashley's Book of Knots. It provides the flexibuilty to move the attachement point forward or back to tune the sails perfectly.

    Using the "Icycle Hitch" on the battens allows the standing parells to be attached at any location without the need for a mechanical stopper. I am able to fine tune the battens easily. While the knot has been known to slip this has only occurred when I did not pull the knot tight enough. This knot is purported to be the result of a contest to design a knot that could be fastened to a diminishing taper (think icycle). It works!

    I have found that it pays to put a seizing hitch on the tail end of every knot. Keeps the knots from slipping or coming undone with the slipperier types of rope. This small ounce of prevention has saved us a great deal of anxiety in heavy weather.

    Last modified: 06 Apr 2011 13:27 | Deleted user
  • 05 Apr 2011 06:23
    Reply # 564438 on 554766
    Snaked whipping, that's really a very nice way to finish off a rope end. I don't think I've seen it before.
    Good website as well.
  • 05 Apr 2011 01:08
    Reply # 564259 on 554766
    Apparently it is also known as Snaked Whipping and I found a link to it, which shows the technique where you are finishing off a rope's end: http://www.survivalworld.com/knots/snaked_whipping.html

    As I said, I use it to cover what one might term a sewn seizing.  I stitch the two ropes together through their middle from one side to the other over a distance of about 4 or 5 cm - as long as you like to feel secure.  Then ditto the top surface and then turn it over and ditto the other side.  I then take a couple of stitches to hold it.  These are also security for if the outer layer comes adrift.  Then wrap the whipping twine tightly around the two ropes, covering all the stitching, as you would any standard whipping and take another stitch to anchor it; start your Spanish (Snaked) Whipping.  The link shows what it looks like: you effectively take a half hitch with the needle and thread through (in my case) the top two strands of the whipping and pull tight.  Then the same on the bottom two strands; back and forth until you complete the circle.  Instead of tying two half hitches, I take another stitch and then send the needle through the heart of the rope for 4 or 5 cm on the long end, below the seizing, for extra security. 

    Thus far I've never had a problem with one 'creeping' or coming undone.  I feel it's more secure than a standard racking seizing, but that probably says more about the quality of my seizings than their true efficacy.

    A friend did some beautiful drawings of this type of seizing for me, for an article for Classic Boat
    .  As is all too often the case, the article was never published and my work was never returned, otherwise I would have put the drawings up on the website.
       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
                                                               - the Chinese Water Rat

                                                              Site contents © the Junk Rig Association and/or individual authors

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software