Vega Eye Splice

ARLO · Nov 27, 2023

I have done several eye splices with Marlow Vega using the method recommended by Marlow and found them quite difficult to pull through unless you get everything perfect. So I decided to try some spLIFE splices with Vega and found them much easier to do. I had two of them tested and they broke at 4,820 and 4,960 lbs, respectively (22 kN). Both splices broke in the eye (see picture). So, if you are looking for an alternative method for splicing Vega I suggest you try the spLIFE splice. Since Vega has 8 core strands, I pulled 4 core strands at mark C and then pulled a single strand at each of the 4 core taper points. The cover taper is 8-3-4-3-3, same as Drenaline.

Ragnar · Nov 29, 2023

Looks good. Where is the clear instructional video of the splice? Ha.

ARLO · Nov 29, 2023

Ragnar said:
Looks good. Where is the clear instructional video of the splice? Ha.

If you go to youtube and type "Joe Stockton Drenaline splice" it will pop up. He does the spLIFE splice on Drenaline, which differs in that it has 9 core strands whereas Vega has 8 core strands. So with Vega this means that you pull out 4 core strands at mark C instead of 5 strands with Drenaline. The only other difference is that I make mark B at 79 cm instead of 78 cm. I found that produces a nice tight eye with Vega.

If you want to see the splice that Marlow recommends for Vega check out the pdf file at

https://www.gustharts.com/downloads/1532683240Vega_Splice.pdf

Phil · Dec 3, 2023

ARLO said:
If you go to youtube and type "Joe Stockton Drenaline splice" it will pop up. He does the spLIFE splice on Drenaline, which differs in that it has 9 core strands whereas Vega has 8 core strands. So with Vega this means that you pull out 4 core strands at mark C instead of 5 strands with Drenaline. The only other difference is that I make mark B at 79 cm instead of 78 cm. I found that produces a nice tight eye with Vega.

If you want to see the splice that Marlow recommends for Vega check out the pdf file at

https://www.gustharts.com/downloads/1532683240Vega_Splice.pdf

In the Marlow pdf instructions, step 5 says to cut half the cores adjacent to mark 1 but the picture shows them being cut at mark two. Is this a mistake in the instructions or am I misreading something?

ARLO · Dec 3, 2023

Phil said:
In the Marlow pdf instructions, step 5 says to cut half the cores adjacent to mark 1 but the picture shows them being cut at mark two. Is this a mistake in the instructions or am I misreading something?

You are correct. Do what they show in the picture, and ignore the wording.

Brocky · Dec 17, 2023

Interesting, the weak link was the reduced core in the eye. Doing the math, your stronger splice retained 57% of the ropes break strength, Marlow’s average is 57.6%, from their website.
I’ve been trying to come up with an easier method instead of just the brute force of pulling the bury; breaking too many fids mid-pull. The stronger of my first two attempts kept about 66%, after getting them back and saw they broke at the beginning of the eye, made an adjustment, sent in another sample and it retained 74%.
Not the prettiest, but easily covered up with some seizing and shrink tubing. A locked brummel is made just above the throat, giving a full diameter core through the eye, the core strands are then reduced to a quarter, and 200mm is buried in the cover. 400 mm of cover is quickly reduced to half and buried. I didn’t get a picture of the best one, waiting to get it back, but these are two failures, the core reduced to a third was too much, and the cover tail reductions were extended too long, needed to happen in a shorter distance.

ARLO · Dec 17, 2023

Maybe you are on to something. But you will have to draw me a picture. I am one of those visual guys - I do a lot better if I can see it. It looks like your brummel is actually in the eye as opposed to above the throat. So I am confused.

Brocky · Dec 17, 2023

Right, the locked brummel is just above the throat in the bottom of the eye.
The two above didn’t have true locking, the strands came out, wrapped around, and were buried. The one I sent in has the strands going through both sides of the cover after wrapping around, and then buried. I do the half diameter cover bury in two stages, the tail gets attached to an anchor point after the first pull, and the cover is milked into place.
I’ve used a similar method for class I double braid splicing, with the locked brummel being able to be below the throat, inside the cover.

Brocky · Dec 18, 2023

The first stage of the cover bury was a little difficult at first, the core strands would bunch up and needed to be pulled frequently to straighten them back out. Got smart on the last one, held the eye and stepped on the rope below the bury and kept it stretched while easily pulling the fid all the way through.

ARLO · Dec 18, 2023

Brocky said:
The first stage of the cover bury was a little difficult at first, the core strands would bunch up and needed to be pulled frequently to straighten them back out. Got smart on the last one, held the eye and stepped on the rope below the bury and kept it stretched while easily pulling the fid all the way through.

Would this be possible with a tight eye?

Brocky · Dec 18, 2023

The brummel wouldn’t fit inside the cover on Xstatic, I made the eye a little large to be able to seize it for a tight eye, then put on the shrink tubing.

I got my sample back, the bury pulled out, no breaking. The outside of the tail melted slightly, and there is a melted trail where it rubbed on the inside of the eye.

Matias · Dec 19, 2023

The bury pulled out at 5300#?! You almost hit the ANSI 5400!

But seriously, that's a super interesting result. I would have thought it would pull out way earlier, or just break at the bury

Brocky · Dec 19, 2023

If it had broken, I would be happy with the results and moved on, but now the bury needs to be longer, or a larger diameter to maybe get better results, more testing needed now.

Forgot to post the tight eye picture!