Post by JohnV on Nov 16, 2021 16:55:01 GMT
Last week I foolishly set myself the task of splicing up a new set of ropes for use in the drydock.
Half a dozen 16mm 3 ply lines, eye splice one end back splice on the other
5, 25mm 3 ply lines again eye splice and back splice
So far so good ..... then for the heavy lines ....... 50mm multiplait.
It was only when I cut off the first length that I realised that it wasn't the normal 8 ply octoplait that I have done before. (with some difficulty)
my first thought was ....shit !!!
my second thought was "well there are only 50% more strands to cock up"
I spliced up the first eye using the same basic pattern as the octoplait.
At a distance ..... a substantial distance, it looks fine.
Close up you can see that at two points I have lost track and chosen the wrong strand.
That evening I did a bit of looking at videos of splicing and came across a video by an American manufacturer of 12 strand.
That method involved feeding the tapered end down the centre of the rope.
It looked ever so easy on the video and the splice looked great (and they were claiming 95 to 100% strength)
Armed with copious notes and a huge hollow fid made to the length they said (23 times the diameter of the rope to be spliced) I started.
A half hour of carefully marking up and following the instructions and then about an hour struggling to get the fid further than halfway along the rope I gave up and asked the engineer to give me a hand.
With his assistance I got the splice completed and I must say that method really looks good.
By that time I was done in and wasn't going to try another that day.
The next day armed with an improved homemade fid I tried again. This one was even harder and needed longer assistance.
The third day the splice was damn near impossible needing 3 people to pull the final bit in in.
We worked out what was wrong, the first bit was the least worn part of the rope, the second and third lengths had been progressively stretched harder
So if you are asked to splice 12 ply, don't attempt this method with used rope. (unless you have plenty of help)
It simply won't open enough after it has stretched under load a few times.