NE dinghy tow rope

[Auspicious]

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

[Clyde Jenkins]

I have made a splice in NER's dinghy tow rope. As I recall it was a bit more difficult that Sta-Set. Brion has a cheat that he describes in the Rigger's Apprentice for nylon double braid. He suggests "pulling the core yarn out one-half the length of the cover tail from the spike." This is versus one third the length of the cover tail. I think I used this cheat when I made my splice.

I have found that if I am truly wrestling with finishing the splice it's better to back up, take the splice apart, check all my measurements, possibly cheat as above, and try again.

Yellow polypropylene rope or its ski tow rope variants have only one good characteristic -- they float. Derby rope is available in most hardware stores. It too is polypropylene, but it uses finer fibers. It's not spliceable, but it does seem to have more than a one year life. It also warns you when the UV damage is severe by shedding little, fine broken pieces of fiber. I used derby rope on our dinghy for about 3 years.

After discarding the derby rope, I've been using NER's dinghy tow rope for about 3 years with no apparent degradation except fading colors in the cover.

Clyde

[marujo.sortudo]

I've been enjoying using Spunflex on my painter/tow line. It floats, looks good, and splices easy. Making grommets in it is cake, too. If you can buy it by the reel, the price point is quite good. The hand feel is lousy until it spends a couple of weeks in the salt and sun, then it softens up nicely. The line looks pretty much new after about 6 months of cruising with it.

[broken857]

yes....! its really so enjoying...

[Kestrel]

Dagg,

Just received some 3/8" NE dingy line for splicing an anchor tip line and 7/16" for a new tow line. I had planed to splice some eyes in an evening. Looks like I need to plan on the weekend.

What size line were you splicing and what size wand did you use?

[Auspicious]

I used the 3/8" NER dinghy tow rope. I used Brion's medium size splicing wand.

I like the idea of the cheat to slide down half a cover tail length instead of a third. I haven't tried it but based on my experience I think that would help a lot.