Splicing Modern Ropes 2nd Edition

Jan-Willem Polman is a blue water sailor, entrepreneur and mechanical engineer specialised in synthetics technology. He organises courses about splicing modern ropes. He also developed the D-Splicer needles that are used widely by sailors and riggers.

Introduction 1. Synthetic fibres Developments Technical features Breaking strain Safe working load Stretch Creep Synthetic fibres used for ropes Polyester Polyamide Polypropylene HMPE (Dyneema/Spectra) LCP (Vectran) PBO (Zylon) Aramid (Kevlar/ Technora) 2. Construction of ropes Twisted ropes Single braid ropes Double braid ropes Braided sleeve with a core of twisted strands or parallel fibres Additional adjustments 3. Which type of rope? Sheets and halyards Materials Diameter and tensile strength Length Mooring lines Diameter Length Ropes combined with camcleats Maintenance and troubleshooting Inspection Friction and wear Rope does not hold in camcleats Twisted ropes Cleaning ropes 4. Before you start Splicing tools Splicing technique and core materials The size of the eye How to remove a core from the sleeve 'Tapering' the ends of a rope 'Milking' the sleeve Long bury splicing 5. Eye splice in laid ropes Three-strand rope Eight-strand rope 6. Eye splice in polyester ropes Double braid rope Rope with a laid core Rope with parallel fibres in the core 7. Eye splice in Dyneema ropes Single braid rope Basic method Method for empty Dyneema sleeves with a non-slip fibre Lock splice Double braid rope Without using the sleeve Using the sleeve Double layer sleeve 8. Dyneema shackles Soft shackles Type 1 Type 2 Integral Soft shackle knot 9. Weight savings and tapering Tapering a doubled braided Dyneema rope Joining two single braid ropes Joining steel wire with double braid polyester Joining a single braid Dyneema rope with double braid polyester 10. Thickening and strengthening Splicing or sewing in an extra sleeve Splicing in an extra sleeve Sewing in an extra sleeve Splicing in an extra core 11. Continuous loops Double braid polyester For equal thickness, spliced without the core For strength, spliced with the core Single braid Dyneema Basic loop Loop with sleeve Double braid Dyneema 12. Whippings Double stitched whippings for braid ropes Common whipping Whipping for a three-strand laid rope 13. Reeving of new halyards Reeving eye ('Flemish eye') Reeving loop with whipping 14. Splicing tools Using a soft needle How to make a soft needle Appendices 1 Features of synthetic fibres: a comparison 2 Diameters and breaking strains of ropes Calculating breaking strains for sheets and halyards Guidelines for diameters of sheets and halyards Guidelines for diameters of mooring lines