NE dinghy tow rope
A couple of weeks ago sailing from the West River onto Chesapeake Bay I noticed a small dinghy bobbing in our wake. The conversation between Janet and me went something like this:
Me: "Hey look at the little RIB way out here."
Janet: "Where? Oh there."
Me: "Wait a minute ... that's our dinghy!"
Some amount of mild swearing ensured as we gybed and headed back. Janet drove as I rolled up the jib. She did a great job of luffing the main and had us moving pretty slowly as we passed inches to windward of our wayward dinghy, Merit. I snagged the ten or twelve foot remaining tail of the polypropylene tow rope and cleated it off. I cut some off the tail end of the long piece of tow rope and climbed down into the dinghy to tie it to the towing padeye. We watched the wanderlust riven dinghy carefully the rest of the way back to Annapolis (only a couple of hours).
When you're done laughing at us I'll get to the point.
I'm pretty good about replacing the tow line regularly. The one that parted was only about a year old. I usually use the best looking 20(ish) feet of the old tow line as a stern line for the dinghy. The failure was ten or twelve feet from the towing padeye, so it wasn't a knot or chafing problem. I suspect UV deterioration.
New England Ropes makes a dinghy tow rope line that is a double braid nylon cover over a polypropylene core - it floats and the cover should protect the core from UV. I bought 75' of the stuff and this morning I spliced an eye around a thimble so I can shackle it to the towing pad eye.
While I'm no expert I have made a lot of double braid eye splices. It takes me a bit (I still follow along Brion's DVD (conveniently ripped to my iPhone for reference) or the written guidance that came with my splicing wands.
This stuff was a nightmare. Getting the core through cover to make the first part of the eye took three attempts. Getting the cover in the core wasn't too bad. Finishing the splice took forever and some serious force. I got a blister from hanging onto the line trying to get the eye to bury. I still couldn't get the last three inches (three inches!) to bury. I tried the hammer suggested in Brion's video (never had to do that before) and got another half inch. I milked and massaged until I thought I would lose my mind. I finally strapped the butterfly knot to an oak tree and used a strop to connect the eye and thimble to the trailer hitch on my truck. Which much creaking of components the bury was finished. No way is a sail needle going through that splice. I think it's going to stay.
Has anyone else spliced this stuff? Is there some magic words you have to say? Should I sprinkle it with rum or something?
No wonder the chandlery wanted so much money to splice it.
sail fast and eat well, dave
S/V Auspicious
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