We won’t fall through
With all of the crucial bits and pieces on a boat, it is difficult to have a truly defined schedule of maintenance for every single item. In some ways it is better to cultivate a keen eye, or ear, to know when things are not quite as they should be. In this way you head off problems before they become too serious. This is exactly what happened with us with the line holding our trampoline together.
Interestingly, replacing that line is one of the items that was on the Moorings Phase Out list for the boat, and they did do it. Unfortunately, they had no idea just how demanding Rebecca’s morning workouts on the bow can be. The line they selected was obviously not up to the task!
I first noticed the chafing problem back in Grenada and have been monitoring it to make sure it didn’t become too dangerous. We purchased the replacement line at Budget Marine the other day and just yesterday had a spare hour to tend to it. As you can see from the pics, it was none too soon.
I posted the image of the chafed line on the Zero To Cruising Facebook page and received a number of good suggestions. For example, use a high-strength, chafe-resistant line like Dyneema. Note that in addition to those good qualities, it is also relatively pricey which is why we didn’t do that. Another suggestion was to use smaller lengths of line or add hitches every several feet so that if one length fails, the entire side will not fail with it. Excellent point and it’s worth noting that the starboard and port sides do have a hitch in the middle of the length of line. In the future, perhaps more hitches would be better.
Old line. Looks OK, right?
Um, not so OK!
New line. All better!
We’re off to the BVI this morning, hopefully with just enough wind to propel us comfortably. Although a hundred things can happen while on passage, with our trampoline secured with nice new line, you can at least be pretty sure we won’t fall through it while underway. See you on the other side.
I was going to ask about the Dyneema. I guess they didn’t include that in the free set you won a while back, huh? 😀
Different boat. 🙂
I had frequently read that trampoline lines had to be individually tied (a horrible job) or in short sections. Stories of people going through or getting hurt have been too common for comfort. This seems to be less likely these days with better modern ropes.
Otherwise, get Rebecca to bounce on the other side of the tramp. 🙂
Mike
I have never actually heard to do that although it kind of makes sense.
I am doing mine this winter so if you were to do it again, what would you use and do?
I don’t know. If money didn’t matter i’d probably use spectra of some sort. The thing is, that line doesn’t stretch and maybe we want some stretch, I don’t know.
Before I used Spectra or Amsteel I would talk with a canvass maker or rigger. My gut, engineering sense, and experience is that the line provides important impact absorption and prevents over stressing the tramp. I truly believe that good quality polyester yacht braid is the correct choice.
The line failed because it was undersized and low quality. I’ve used that junk and it chafes fast. Were the knobs rough too, perhaps?
I don’t disagree. Did you not use spectra for your tramp or did you bail on that idea?
The knobs were not rough. I checked. The line was just cheap.
Actually, I found some new 7 mm climber’s accessory cord (haul line) from my old climbing gear business hiding in the basement and used that; much like low stretch 5/16″ polyester yacht braid but with a tighter cover. I like it and it was free. I think it has just the right amount of give.
I also added a lashing in the center, much as you did with a shackles, to keep the tramp in the track. It worked.
Anything that increases the pull on the bolt ropes scares me, as they are a problem area.
Cool. Thanks for clarifying.