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Post by ianpowolny on Jul 17, 2015 9:31:03 GMT
Folks, I've just bought 40m x 10mm rope for a Genoa sheet when running (low wind strength). I don't want to cut the rope but tie it to the Genoa at the rope mid-point. What knot should I use?
Ian
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Post by Don Reaves on Jul 17, 2015 9:34:09 GMT
Use a cow hitch. Push the center of the rope through the clew to form a loop and then pull the ends through the loop.
Hmmm.... Maybe that won't work for a temporary sheet.
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Post by ianpowolny on Jul 17, 2015 9:53:19 GMT
Don, I wonder if I made a soft shackle and used a cow hitch? Could I tie a bowline on a bit and use a soft shackle? Ian
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Post by Don Reaves on Jul 17, 2015 17:36:01 GMT
You might try a farmer's loop in the middle of the sheet and a soft shackle between it and the clew. |
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Post by MartyB on Jul 17, 2015 18:50:14 GMT
Being as this is for light winds. The smallest knot or bouncing of rope mass you can use, the better.
Or if you have a mini forestay, again, smallest total knot size allows the flew end to tack/gybe around the stay with out getting caught, some one haven by to go forward to help the sail around etc.
My favorite is the cow hitch. A soft shackle and cow or holiness worst, will hang up as mentioned on my boat.
Marty
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bigred
Junior Member
Posts: 19 
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Post by bigred on Jul 17, 2015 19:02:34 GMT
Why not cut the rope? For my own knowledge I'm interested.
My preference would have been to in fact cut the rope. Two shorter sheets are much easier to handle & store than one really long one. Then I'd put a splice in the end of each sheet, and attach with a soft shackle.
If you really want light wind sheeting you might want to consider a tapered sheet with a soft shackle
And if you want to avoid an extra soft shackle you can also do this
I'm not sure if you can taper and integrate a soft shackle.
I'm intrigued to see others input on this, if I was to use a knot choice would have been a double figure-8. It creates a loop that can be later undone despite being loaded (hence it's so popular with climbers).
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Post by ianpowolny on Jul 18, 2015 8:01:21 GMT
Thanks for all the input. I didn't know the Farmers Loop and had forgotten the Double Figure of Eight.
I don't want to cut the sheet as I'm not sure if we will want to use the sheet for other duties on board. We don't plan to have it set up permanently.
We don't have a pole and sailing on the west coast of Spain we are often running in front of the Portugese Trades. By taking a sheet directly from the Genoa clew to the cockpit winch, not going through the car we add 0.5 knots and it's much easier to helm. A new 145% Genoa is on its way so just wanted to see what might be possible.
Ian
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Post by rene460 on Jul 18, 2015 12:38:19 GMT
Hi Ian,
I used a bowline on a bight for 20 years on my previous boat without any problems. The bowline on a bight gives two loops, I worked them through so one was much shorter than the other. The short one was pushed through the clew eyelet and the other loop pushed through the first so it could not pull back through the clew. The rope size was quite tight in the clew eye, and the short loop only long enough to make the longer loop quite tight in the protruding loop. It only rarely hung up on the mast or shrouds and then only in very light conditions when freeing it was not an issue. It allowed me to use the same sheet with four headsails as it was so easy to change over.
However your 10 mm rope may be a bit small in the clew eye on your sail size, as four parts of the line would probably fit through the eye so the long loop could be pulled through the eye by the short loop. In this case the double figure of eight may work better for you, as it would not be affected by the small line size.
Take care in sheeting directly to the winch as the lead angle may lead to overriding turns. A block to ensure the correct lead angle is usually safer. If you use a block with a becket, it can be tied up to the lifelines with shock cord to stop it from flopping around.
rene460
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Post by boltnbrew on Jul 17, 2016 21:06:47 GMT
Cow hitch- why would you ever cut the sheet? Just to compel two knots? Keep it simple.
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Post by seattle519 on Jul 31, 2016 23:31:28 GMT
Try a butterfly hitch, a glacier climbing knot that distributes load very well while minimizing strength loss. See the web or the Mountaineers web site for instructions. We will use tapered sheets and soft shackles after we had several Tylaska T12 shackles shake loose, which cost us the destruction of our A5 spinnaker.
Dean
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Post by rxc on Aug 1, 2016 1:36:57 GMT
I used to use a cow-hitch on my old boat, and it worked quite well. Needed a big pair of pliers and a strong fid to get it apart at the end of the season, but it did work, and it kept me with one long lehngth of line with no bowline knots to snag on the rigging.
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Post by blade on Aug 1, 2016 13:52:01 GMT
Try a butterfly hitch, a glacier climbing knot that distributes load very well while minimizing strength loss. See the web or the Mountaineers web site for instructions. We will use tapered sheets and soft shackles after we had several Tylaska T12 shackles shake loose, which cost us the destruction of our A5 spinnaker. Dean I was led to believe that Tylaska shackles were the dog's whatsits of shackles and didn't shake loose, therefore surprised to read your comment. Barry |
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Post by Damir on Aug 1, 2016 16:54:12 GMT
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