Chafe protection

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oldvarnish

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What's best for protecting rope from chafe in extreme situations? I don't mean marina mooring lines, I'm talking about ropes which carry huge loads in storms ( I'm thinking of the Jordan drogue being discussed in another thread).
I've tried various things over the years, but plastic piping and the like are difficult to secure and other things seem too flimsy.

Any good ideas?
 
I think the right kind of tube or pipe is about the best you can get. I don't understand how it's "difficult to secure" - being a tube it can't come off the rope, and if you make small holes in it for a couple of lashing lines each end then you can stop it sliding along. Obviously with an unsplit pipe you do need to put it on before the line comes under tension, but that doesn't seem a big deal for a drogue where you could store it ready-rigged.

On Stavros we use squares of leather to avoid chafe on the mooring lines, slipped in between the line and the panama and held approximately in place with small lines from the corners. They're always falling out or being pulled through, though, so not particularly recommended.

I guess the other approach is simply not to give the line anything to chafe on. If a drogue is shackled directly to a tang on the transom of a steel boat, or led over a deep roller with guides to stop it falling out, then it shouldn't need additional chafing gear.

Pete
 
Alkathene MDPE Pipe For Chafe Protection

For mooring lines in the Marina I use old fire hose (blue type). For heavy duty use I have some 25mm blue Alkathene (MDPE) pipe, split along its length. It has good stiffness and hardness but without being impossible to flex.

Some lessons from using it: -

1. Sand the cut edge into a round nose.
2. Dont split it all, keep some for threading over.
3. Keep it as short as possible. If the pipe is too long it can fold and produce an edge on the inside which wears through the pipe quite fast.

If have just jammed it into the roller on the stemhead fitting retaining it in place under the pin. It would not be an issue to drill some small hole lo lash it in place.

I have also used softer, clear pipe (with the reinforcement through it) which worked well. However, I think that would wear through faster as its slightly tacky, gripping the warp more.

For Example http://www.pipestock.com/mdpe/
 
I use 1.5 inch spiral wound toilet pipe. To keep it in position I drill a small hole in one end and pass a short length of line through, tied off to the warp being protected. You can see it in the photo, protecting the snubber from chafe against the port bow roller. This arrangement has survived many big blows. The photo shows the kedge laid out through the port fairlead at about 90 degrees to the bower, wind speed about 40 knots.

IMG_0215.jpg
 
I use 20mm green polypropylene from my local fishing chandlery as a mooring bridle. I couldn't get a suitable sized pipe to thread over it so I used it bare while I searched. I wasn't too bothered if it started to chafe in the fairleads as it cost less than 90p a metre. I even made up a spare set and keep it in the rope store.

Four years on it's still not showing significant wear.
 
snowleopard said:
.... 20mm green polypropylene .... Four years on it's still not showing significant wear.
Click to expand...

Polypropylene and especially the staplespun type (hairy rope) has very good anti chafe properties; far superior to Nylon in this regard.
 
OK so you are in a storm. No way are you gonna mince about threading pipe and drilling holes. What has always worked for me is wrappping old towels and tea towels round the offending rope. Easy to do, precision not required.

In lighter airs for general anti chafe duties especially on long downwind stuff, old thick socks are great.

Thin socks are great for stopping rattling wine bottles........
 
capnsensible said:
OK so you are in a storm. No way are you gonna mince about threading pipe and drilling holes. What has always worked for me is wrappping old towels and tea towels round the offending rope. Easy to do, precision not required.

In lighter airs for general anti chafe duties especially on long downwind stuff, old thick socks are great.

Thin socks are great for stopping rattling wine bottles........
Click to expand...

You have to be kidding! Old towels:D:D

My plastic tubing is left permanently threaded on any rope anchor warps and several mooring warps, as are the lines that hold them in position. They are all used several times per season.
 
Whats to joke at?? Thickly wrapped works great, especially if you grease them up. Cant imagine trying to thread a pipe in a storm.

Greased rags aren't exactly a new invention..... Vikings knew about it!
 
capnsensible said:
..... Cant imagine trying to thread a pipe in a storm....
Click to expand...

Its dead easy, even when mincing, just before I cleat off or take a turn around the Samson post, I feed over the pipe. Its even easier if I forget to feed the pipe while preoccupied with mincing, I use one of the split ones to poke around the warp and pop it in place.

All this mincing talk, where is Old Boots!
 
I am very interested in the term 'pop it in place'.

Even in moderate gale stuff, I have tried to use split plastic pipe. To fit it on the rope is, as you suggest, fairly simple. To actually get it in the right place, nigh on impossible. So, in very heavy airs, I have used, more than once, with great success, old towels. Grease helps.

So, of the options, I stand by my reply to the original question.
 
capnsensible said:
I am very interested in the term 'pop it in place'.

Even in moderate gale stuff, I have tried to use split plastic pipe. To fit it on the rope is, as you suggest, fairly simple. To actually get it in the right place, nigh on impossible. So, in very heavy airs, I have used, more than once, with great success, old towels. Grease helps.

So, of the options, I stand by my reply to the original question.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting wrapping a towel around a bar tight warp under load in a gale? Are you looking for ease or are you wanting to look like an old Viking with grease and old towels all over the boat?
 
I have no problem with tea towels and grease capnsensible and I have used towels to protect warps.

The pop method works when the line is deployed or in the middle of a long line where threading would be difficult. When the line is deployed it is easier than on a slack line, but only marginally so.

I guess the stiffness of the pipe and opening the split over the line is what you think is hard to do. It can be when new. I have use the horn of a cleat to open the split on my smaller 1" pipes and then stuck the warp into the gap and shove the pipe down the warp where it feeds on and pops in place around the pipe.

The pipes are of course pre split, not done on the day. Its just dumb old pipe, cheap and easy protection.
 
OK. Example. This is a harbour dit.

Last winter, it blew here (med mooring) in the marina, 60 plus knots and a vicious swell. I had plastic tubing on the bow lines, shackled to big springs, onto the dock rings using chain. I had attatched, using a rollong hitch, an extra line to the lazy line, passing through a fairlead to a winch to pull us back from the dock.

More follows...
 
The pipe protection pulled through, its not short, or rolled to the wrong position or generally bu$$ered about until I selected the alternative. Probably about 2 in the morning.......its always 2 in the morning. So, an old tea towel at each of the 3 fairleads and hey presto, chafe problem solved. The rags are actually still in place.
 
Excellent. That proves the point that one size does not fit all. I use old fire hose in my marina, lasted all of last winter on my mooring warps last year. The pipe would not bend round my fairleads.

Now, what type of sea anchor ................. ;)
 
capnsensible said:
Whats to joke at?? Thickly wrapped works great, especially if you grease them up. Cant imagine trying to thread a pipe in a storm.

Greased rags aren't exactly a new invention..... Vikings knew about it!
Click to expand...

I thought boating had moved on a little since the Vikings.

As I said before, and repeat for hard of hearing, THE WARP IS THREADED THROUGH THE TUBING BEFORE THE STORM. It's known as being prepared. The tubing shown in my photo lives on the snubber. The light line is tied around the snubber or warp with a clove hitch, which keeps it permanently in position. The photo was taken after five days of 30 - 40 knot shifty winds. I have owned and used that snubber for around 20 years - it's braid-on-braid nylon ex a balloon tether line and still shows no chafe whatsoever.
 
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