I was reading it around the same time as you. We had the book on the shelf for years. Not sure what triggered me to finally read it. Great story. Google earth while reading adds to the understanding. I have moved on to H.W. Tilman and his entertaining shenanigans. I now have a desire for...
Looks good to me. That may not be excess cover vs. a kink fromt the tight cover strands opposite the extraction point. All of my larger eyes look similar, I am sure its there in the tight eyes, just not as noticable.
Is Samson Dynasorb II the same as Nystron? Looks like both are polyester cover with nylon core?
If it is, then its a double braid. I use a standard Class 1 splice. Below is 3/4" Nystron
No expereince with the bollards, I assume as long as they dont loose material to wear, they would work fine (maybe better as they get polished by moving rope). The winch drums rely on friction to apply tension. I would imagine minimal wear on the waves of the winch drum would affect its...
I would think the moving rope under load on aluminum drum would wear it down faster than most would prefer. The Stein system seems like the "most correct" for lowering and being able to apply tension.
I think the point is to select a prussik cord that is smaller than rigging line with a two leg hitch vs. a blakes hitch with a single leg and same diameter.
Another vote for ice-tail. Depending how you do the splice, it may end up double thick entire length. I would start with 8mm or 5/16" if you do tenex and see how you like it.
I have played with both but dont have much info based on experience using. To me, they are both equally easy to splice, Tenex-tec does seem to flatten out more so that is what I use when making a sling for a tree wrap (usually 3/4"). I keep a few E2E for grabbing onto a rigging line in my...
Not aware of a 12 strand that doesn’t do that. Seems like most double braid rigging lines have a coating that does this as well. I tend to avoid all rigging lines for animal leads. Maybe look for something marketed towards the sailing community.
ETA: Samson Icetail may work. No coating but is...
Just based on the ease of cranking. Sounds like you apply 66 lbs of force to crank handle. I dont think I apply that much and the kids certainly dont. For me, its nice to be able to one hand operate the crank without a lot of effort. Also, larger winches prob have larger drums to accept more...
I should have gotten one of these years ago. Work bench is def the weak point. I would like to mount it to a long piece of I-Beam with an anchor on the other end. Will run this as is for now. This was just some 10mm sailing line. Have done Tachyon, Blue Moon, Vortex, and Predator (toughest one...
Never tried a continuous loop before. I just did a single brummel with bury/tapers. Ended up with a suprisingly uniform double diameter loop. The brummel moved a little/is not symetrical. Will try again with a specific loop size as a goal. Thanks for motivation.