Braid on braid splice in old rope

[Piddy]

Hi all,

I want to reuse a rope that has a shackle in an eye splice where it has been chafed badly. This rope is quite big - 12mm but not heavily loaded but is about 5 years old.
I have enough spare tail to end-for-end the rope and splice the shackle back in again but is it practical (with respect to the structure of the rope and the act of splicing).
I have a set of proper fids and have done braid on braid splices successfully in the past on bigger (and smaller) lines so am not quite a novice but haven’t tackled older rope before.

Cheers

Piddy

 

[ghostlymoron]

Splicing old rope is a bit harder than new as it seems to lose some of it's flexibility but it depends on the state of the rope.

 

[DaveS]

I once did one in old 10 mm and it was a right sod of a job. It took two attempts. On the first I had to pull on the rope so hard and repeatedly that patches of skin detached themselves from my fingers - then the fid broke. Before trying again (weeks later, after my hands were back to normal) I spent a fair bit of time "milking" the end of the rope - trying to make it shorter and fatter. The second attempt then worked, but I wouldn't describe it as easy.

 

[boguing]

I've quite enjoyed splicing it - when new.

Only you know how much abuse it has had, and whether it might have life in it for a critical purpose. (UV etc..).

Chuck it in a cloth bag and then wash it in a machine with fabric conditioner before you do the splice.

 

[knuterikt]

Samson rope has made this "Special Tips for splicing double braid" http://www.samsonrope.com/site_files/Special_Tips_for_Splicing_Used_Rope.pdf
You might find some useful tips there.

 

[Piddy]

Thanks for that.

Piddy

 

[prv]

I did a splice the other week in some fairly old rope, and it was not significantly harder than in new rope. The crucial difference I think is that this rope, while old, hadn't been heavily used.

I don't think it's mere calendar age that makes rope hard to splice, but the amount of work and use it's gone through. With any luck, the tail end of a halyard ought to have had a pretty easy life, so you might be in luck.

Pete