Measuring diameter of 'braid' rope

[sarabande]

Braid (and braid on braid) seems to relax and increase in diameter when not under tension.

What is the proper 'state' at which to measure a rope pls ?


I am about to order new genoa sheets to make handling easier, and want to make sure they are not too large for the jaws on the ST winches. I have laid a sample round the gripper waves and it seemed OK when under slight tension (not the full 'in use' tension).

 

[pandos]

Did this last week. About 1m from the end tie the line to something. Milk the cover towards the end. Put as much pressure on by pulling it towards you...measure under tension. What I thought were 14mm were exactly 12mm in the end....

There's a youtube video ...sorry no time to search...

 

[[70521]]

Does the winch size not indicate the maximum rope diameter that it can handle?

My Lewmar winch self tailer struggled with old nominal 12mm sheets, but they were old and had "expanded", with my new nominal 10mm sheets they need to "grow" a bit as currently I need to do a bit of tailing.

 

[lustyd]

Self tailers often can be adjusted too so worth checking the manual.

 

[Neeves]

A chandler near you will offer advice: Jimmy Green has a section on measuring rope

Google is your friend

Jonathan