Splice Pulled Apart!

[Norman_E]

I have my genoa sheets attached by means of a dyneema shackle. Each sheet has an eye splice, and today I noticed that one of the sheets, (which are 16mm English Braids, braid on braid rope) had a much enlarged eye in the splice, and I was easily able to pull the splice apart. I have reversed the sheet and tied it with a bowline, but before I make a new splice I am wondering if rope that is easy to splice is also a bit too slippery for the splice to withstand hard use?

 

[bbg]

If the splice is made properly it will not move, and will tend to tighten under load rather than elongate. Edit - I would always use a splice in dyneema in preference to a knot. I h ave much more confidence in the splice holding.

 

[lenseman]

Assuming there was enough 'tucked in' when the eye was made, it is a good idea to use a needle and sail thread to just put a couple or three holding stitches through both parts to hold in place. It does not have to be elaborate and only take a few seconds to do and it holds the tucked part and will stop it moving and working loose just when you don't want it to.

 

[knuterikt]

Assuming there was enough 'tucked in' when the eye was made, it is a good idea to use a needle and sail thread to just put a couple or three holding stitches through both parts to hold in place. It does not have to be elaborate and only take a few seconds to do and it holds the tucked part and will stop it moving and working loose just when you don't want it to.

This is good advice, a splice made the rigth way will not slip under load, but i can start to slip if flogging without load..

 

[Amulet]

I have my genoa sheets attached by means of a dyneema shackle. Each sheet has an eye splice, and today I noticed that one of the sheets, (which are 16mm English Braids, braid on braid rope) had a much enlarged eye in the splice, and I was easily able to pull the splice apart. I have reversed the sheet and tied it with a bowline, but before I make a new splice I am wondering if rope that is easy to splice is also a bit too slippery for the splice to withstand hard use?

My splicing book describes braid on braid splices as "like a Chinese finger puzzle". They are fine under strain but can loosen when slack. As said above, the recommended practice is to insert a few stitches to avoid slippage when not loaded. The stitching carries no real load, but stops it working loose when idle. I whip over the stitching in the hope of preventing it chafing through.

 

[Norman_E]

Assuming there was enough 'tucked in' when the eye was made, it is a good idea to use a needle and sail thread to just put a couple or three holding stitches through both parts to hold in place. It does not have to be elaborate and only take a few seconds to do and it holds the tucked part and will stop it moving and working loose just when you don't want it to.

Thank you for that. I will stitch the other one, and any new ones I make. I guess that the lazy sheet sometimes does flog a bit, especially if the sail leach flutters when going upwind, which seems to happen to me mainly on the starboard tack, when the port sheet is loaded, and it was the starboard sheet splice that came apart. I think that the leach fluttering more on one tack has to do with the way the sacraficial strip affects the sail.

As an aside the English Braids 16mm rope has a pretty loosely woven cover and is easy to splice. I tried some Liros 16mm braid on braid and found it absolutely impossible to splice because the cover was so tightly woven.

 

[boatropes]

Thank you for that. I will stitch the other one, and any new ones I make. I guess that the lazy sheet sometimes does flog a bit, especially if the sail leach flutters when going upwind, which seems to happen to me mainly on the starboard tack, when the port sheet is loaded, and it was the starboard sheet splice that came apart. I think that the leach fluttering more on one tack has to do with the way the sacraficial strip affects the sail.

As an aside the English Braids 16mm rope has a pretty loosely woven cover and is easy to splice. I tried some Liros 16mm braid on braid and found it absolutely impossible to splice because the cover was so tightly woven.

A correctly made eye splice will never undo itself for two reasons. First - in a correct splice the core ends up going backwards round the inside of the eye (yes, it's a black art) resulting in the core and cover pulling against each other, so the bigger the load the stronger the eye! Secondly because a correct finish is to add a few lock stitches so that the eye can't vibrate loose when not under load (and my customers can't pull one apart and get into a mess!) If anyone wants an illustrated instruction sheet I can email one, I often send it when selling the required Selma Splicing Fids.

English Braids? - the rope brand I sell is even easier to splice, but here's a tweak for splicing many stiffer brands: When doing the first fid 'push' in a splice pause just before pulling out the fid. At that point snip though one bunch of core threads and remove it from the working end. Then carry on as normal. The bulk of the core is reduced by about 12% making the final pull into position so much easier. The finished eye will have 6-7% less ultimate strength but that's rarely an issue because breaking strains are so high for most applications.