Ascender and Line Wear

[John Stone]

True enough. Well perhaps one of the forum readers has some experience with a particular ascender they like. I spent a little time the other day experimenting with a prusik connected to a block and tackle on a line rigged like a halyard in my boat shed. It grips plenty tight but is difficult to rig and operate one handed. But, I believe I could make it work with practice. The real question is how well will it work on a pitching deck. Of course, cranking on a halyard winch in rough water can get interesting too. Simplicity is great until it makes your life more difficult without some corresponding advantage. But, I digress.

[knuterikt]

Spinlock has got jammer that can be put over a rope with a strop.

http://www.spinlockusa.com/webcam/ja...ed-line-8-10mm

[Ian McColgin]

I can’t see high priced solutions where modified older ways work better.

There are variation on the traditional way to attach a nipper, which is the light line that temporarily binds the line taking your load, traditionally an anchor, to the line running around the windlass. All of them amount to variations on round hitches and can be found in Leaver, Ashley and other sources. Given that you really just want to hang the top block of a trimming tackle to the halyard some point conveniently above the halyard’s cleat, I would use what’s more like a quick salvagee. (I hope I am using the right term here and spelling it correctly. Brion will fix this if I'm wrong.)

Basically the upper block has to it’s top a strop (flat works better than round rope for this, looped through with both ends free and about equal length. When the halyard’s about hand tight, belay it, pick up the block and just salvagee the strop ends - really just each end spiraling up the halyard in opposing directions. After maybe three or four complete turns - experiment will tell you what’s needed - just secure the ends with nothing more than the bottom half of a surgeon’s knot, take your strain through the tackle, re do the halyard’s belay and then take the thing off.

In short, easier and faster to rig and then unrig than a prussic and just fine for the purpose. Maybe a nano-second slower than clapping on an ascender but the strop is soft, dependable, won’t rust, and is cheap.

[John Stone]

Thanks Ian. That makes sense. I will test it and see how it works. I am all about simple solutions.

[benz]

Hi John,

My favorite ascenders are the Petzl brand--the ones with aggressive teeth. Those teeth are very useful when the rope is wet or slippery, as they help the cam get it's initial grip. But the teeth don't bear the load--the cam does (I've seen petzls with the teeth worn entirely off by use work just fine on dry ropes) The petzls are also my favorite brand for climbing the mast--easy to use one-handed, and safe (it's hard to pop them off the rope accidentally. There are other sorts of ascenders on the market with ridges on the cam instead of teeth, but they have to be assenbled around the rope--no one-hand operation.
My running backstays (you'll remember mine) are held tight by a camcleat, and the line didn't show significant wear in the vicinity after all the use they had, so I'd guess that if you used an ascender on a tackle just long enough to heave the halyard tight it should be fine. No reason why you can't clap on futher up or down from time to time, just for variety.

[John Stone]

Thanks Ben. Good gouge. I should have paid more attention . . . .

A couple of ascenders would be a good thing to have on the boat anyway. Petzl it is.

Thanks again.

[Ian McColgin]

It's well to keep different uses in mind. Ascenders are so much handier than prussicks for climbing that they are worth the cost. The salvagee attachment I described above would be utterly unsuitable for climbing as it's hard to push up without a lot of back slipping as it retightens, being such a diagonal weave like "chinese finger-handcuffs. Since the way I do it has just a half knot holding the end, it's unsuited for holding a strain long-term either, especially under shakey conditions.

The advantage is that it works for holding a tackle most anywhere. I have used it on halyards, where my ascenders that I use for climbing would fit, but also for clapping on the anchor line when I really had to just plain lift since the anchor was snagged on what turned out to be about 800' of abandoned cable. The ascender would not have fit the anchor rode. And I've used it to hang a block on a stay to help pull the stay snug while trimming a deadeye. There are specially designed ascenders in arial industries for wire but you are not likely to have one unless you're in the trade.

The salvagee is a very handy and versitile thing to learn, as are the various forms of nipper that you might use (or you might stil use the salvagee) to take the strain on a jib sheet that's gotten a riding hitch of cosmic tension.

G'luck

[John Stone]

Good stuff Ian. There is nothing like having lots of tools in the tool box. And, if the tools are techniques vice hardware so much the better. More techniques equates to more options. More options contributes to improving our seamanship. Thanks.