getting the ultimate anchor rode together
Thanks Mike!
That is good stuff to know!
and thanks to John Danicic.
The 'elongated splice' (we have to come up with a better descriptive term!*) with 8 plait has my attention.
I know I'd feel safer with strands intertwining a number of links. It just looks right with the 8 plait. [Ebb's wrong here - see below.]
When you buy the made up 30/270 it's a single link back splice.
Aren't we loosing a big percentage of rope strength making a splice like that?
Long splicing 8-plait onto a number of links has to be the best soft connection you can make between nylon and iron.
All fiber rope makers seem to have their plants on the Eastern Seaboard. So shipping costs are a real impediment for us over here. Haven't found a chandlery here either that stocks 8 plait anchor line, nor shorter lengths of 5/16 G4 galv chain.
[I don't bother to bring up Lost Marine on the net anymore. Their pages are often not specific to a search, in fact they seem to be illiterate or just don't care. Their prices are often OUTRAGEOUIS, higher than any other cataloger. You'd think the largest retailer would be a discounter.]
Defender sells 5/16 G4 Acco BY THE FOOT ($3.49) - but ships it UPS it at 2# per foot!
They have Buccaneer 8 strand nylon plait (5/8" $.99ft) - 11# per 100' shipping.
Really impressed with that long rope-to-chain splice and have to try it myself.
If I ordered 30' chain and 300' of 5/8" Buccaneer that's 100 Defender pounds by UPS!!!
Actual weight is probably half that.
No warm fuzzy loyalty feelings here.:(
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* How about 'the eight to eight splice'?
8 TO 8 PLAIT
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SO, what would you have at the other end of your rode?
A soft or hard EYE?
the good ole future, Craig
Hmmm,
manila, jute, cotton, sisal, and coir.
But hemp* rope may have been around the longest, and it's probably the strongest.
Loved the smell of manila (Probably the preservative!) Made from banana leaves.
All that vegetable rope and cord had better aroma than the sickly sweet plastic lot.
Wasn't too shabby, was it,
in the great age of sail?
They'll find some natural juice to soak it in (or landfill oil-of-plastic-bag), and it'll become as strong as Spectra.
They'll call it Green Line.
They'll have an 8 strand plait made out of hemp fiber and cellulose.
Dodgers of the next generation will be made from UV resistant linen.
And the sails of our indestructible Ariels and Commanders will be creamy feel good Egyptian cotton again!:D
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Remember a PBS documentary. Has to be a classic.
The folks had to get across a steep gorge with raging waters in Peru. The women went out and harvested local grass for several days. Then the whole village had a party. Each person who was going to work on the project had to bring six others. Before long the grass had become twisted and plaited into rope and the gorge had a graceful suspension bridge crossing it.
Just reminded by Pedro here on the ranch, who also saw the film - that the main suspension members were gathered into threes and sewn together.
Trying to point out that natural technology exists or comes into being out of necessity. No archeological record for grass bridges, but don't you think they've been around for tens of thousands of years. Man. the innovator, was never dumb. Stupid probably.
Those Peruvians have been making three strand for millenia! The only thing new with cordage is the application.
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*(had to look it up....)Hemp is a non-tropical fiber, grows everywhere. It's been around for at least 10,000 years. It's cut the widest swath in political history of any fiber. It was the rigging and the sails and the shirt on the jacktar's back on every ship since ships began sailing. Hemp was more versatile than cotton and wool. It's largest production was around the turn of the century. Then came drip dry nylon.
Have you noticed hemp as a fiber is making a commercial comeback?
Maybe a super hemp can be grown that will rival plastic, or perhaps a synergistic composite of old and petroleum will be our next anchor rode.
google> Ecofibre Industries Limited - Origin and History of Hemp
www.ecofibre.com.au/history.html
