What knot???

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Ariadne

Ariadne

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The Mrs kids and boat are in Grenada. Me? I'm in S
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I want some ratlines for the kids to climb the mast as high as the spreaders. My idea is lash a rope ratline up the lower shrouds, my question is what knot do I use (bearing in mind this is S/S rigging)?

I've tried a simple clove hitch and aslo a marlin hitch, but both tend to slip down when weight is applied. I suspect I need to whip the shrouds so the rope has something to bind against but which knot - is there a specific knot used for this? I've looked on the web but so far nothing of any use.

Cheers all
 
Nothing will stop the knot slipping down the shrouds so you'll have to parcel with tape and serve with twine first. I would suggest a fisherman's bend.
 
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Nothing will stop the knot slipping down the shrouds

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes and no. If the angle of pull is maintained the rolling hitch will not move.

A fisherman's bend is for tying two ropes together /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Non-traditional approach....
You could lay a rope parallel to the shroud and then attach the two with about 10 wire ties, pulling them tight with pliers. I'm still not sure I would trust my life or (more importantly) my offspring's life to it though.
 
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A fisherman's bend is for tying two ropes together /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif oh dear...
 
A knot is tied in one piece of rope - eg bowline

A bend ties two pieces of rope together - eg sheet bend

A hitch ties a rope to a fixed object - eg clove hitch

Now wait for all the exceptions that people are at this moment feverously paging through their boy scout book of knots to find.
 
I m no expert but thought a fishermans bend was for tying a line to a ring?

Going back to the ratline question I would use some thin high tech type line for it and attatch it with rolling hitches you could put a bit of hose pipe over the line to stop it cutting into your feet.

I hang my radar reflector on the stainless 6mm backstay with rolling hitches and cant slide it down just by pulling downwards.Have to precariously balance on the rail and undoe it first.
 
I think I am suggesting more or less what Vince suggested.
Make up the ropes in an A. Hall up the apex, than attach the two /\ to the rigging wire starting from the bottom and work your way up.
You will probably have to tie in a center vertical rope from bottom to top (this could be part of the haul up rope) as the bottom rungs will sag a lot as they are quite long.
 
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their boy scout book

[/ QUOTE ] How many still have their copy of Scouting for Boys I wonder
 
I've opened a can of worms here then, whith people knot knowing the difference between knots, bends & hitches; back to RYA school for some of you then! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I think I'll serve the wire with 'Tarred Marlin or something similar' and then use rolling hitches to secure the horizontal lines with, then drop a support line down the middle.

But then I could just make up tapered rope ladder which I could haul it up on a suitable block secured to the mast.

Just out of interest, how did the Boy Sprouts end up in this thread? I thought you roasted these things over a large open fire?
 
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people knot knowing the difference between knots, bends & hitches

[/ QUOTE ]

Some people.......

Glad to be of help /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Traditionally, ratlines are secured to the central shrouds using a clove-hitch, and the forward end is secured by seizing an eye-splice in the ratline to the forward shroud. However, basically that is a technique suitable for tarred hemp shrouds that have been served and parcelled, and it won't work on a stainless steel shroud which is a) too thin and b) too slippery! In fact, I doubt anything would work without a friction layer being put on the shroud - and even then, you have the worry that all that's holding the ratlines up is the friction between your non-slip coating and the shroud itself. I'd suggest a tapering rope ladder hoisted using a halliard may well be more secure than trying to fix something to the shrouds. For serious mast climbing I use one of these ; it is safe, strong, well made and stores in an incredibly small space.

Ashley's Book of Knots is very much the bible for traditional rope usage!
 
You can improve the hold of a rolling hitch by adding more turns. Instead of the traditional two turns and a locking hitch, try five or six turns before the hitch. More turns, more friction, less slide!
 
I would suggest using a constrictor knot. Properly tightened it will not budge, even when on a smooth stainless tube; quite often it needs to be cut off.

If your rigging is the common 1x19 and the ratlines are solid braid there will be more than enough friction to prevent any movement - with one proviso:

The line that is tied needs to be substantially thinner than the object on which it is tied, otherwise it will not have enough pliability to really wrap closely around the standing rigging. Also, the softer the braid, the tighter it can be drawn.
 
If you construct as I described above, the horizontals (steps) can be spliced onto the two sides of the A frame.
As for attaching the centre vertical to the horizontal rungs, I would use two interlocking clove hitches.
But wooden steps would be far better /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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