Snubbers and climbing rope

[kas_1611]

Before anyone says anything I have a snubber and I use it religiously. Currently it is a 6m length of 14mm braided mooring line fixed to a "Shockles" elasticated snubber fixed to my chain with a 4 ton breaking strain soft shackle.

What I was thinking of doing though was using a length of climbing rope, as I'd seen discussed somewhere else, to make a longer midships snubber to try and reduce the swinging we do on anchor and also provide much more stretch for bad weather conditions. The Shockle and my current mooring line are fine for ordinary conditions.

Problem is the only climbing rope I can find only has a breaking strain of 890kg and can only withstand this 5 times before it is basically retired. Doesn't sound like a great rope to use as a storm snubber even with the 20% stretch.

Has anyone else used this kind of rope for snubbing and if so what was the experience?

Or am I just as good to go with 14mm mooring line back to the midship cleats?

Cheers and cold beers

Keiron

[LongRange]

I think you may be misinterpreting what the "5 times" means in the context of climbing ropes.

To "officially" meet the standards for a UIAA-approved single-rope dynamic life-support, the test candidate must be able to withstand 5 or more factor-2 falls without breaking.

In a factor-2 fall, the length of the drop is twice the length of the rope, which is a very severe test both for the rope and to the object whose fall is arrested. During the test, a 80Kg weight is tied to a 2m length of rope, then raised 2m above the point where the rope is secured... and dropped.

The rope must be able to take at least 5 of those drops to earn its UIAA rating.

In practice, it would be lunacy to keep using the rope after even a single factor-2 fall, and most climbing authorities advise retiring the rope if it sustains even a single factor-1 fall.

None of that matters in your application, which is not life-support. I'd have no qualms using an old climbing rope as a snubber for a 40 footer. Those ropes are tough-as-nails.

[BigBeakie]

Kaz,

CF member Thinwater pioneered this approach so check out his blog Sailing Delmarva.

You can also take the rode back to stern cleats to get more stretch, and then you won't need to have as much of the bridle out front. , but consult posts from Thinwater. I think the climbing rope you want is dynamic lead climber rope


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Before anyone says anything I have a snubber and I use it religiously. Currently it is a 6m length of 14mm braided mooring line fixed to a "Shockles" elasticated snubber fixed to my chain with a 4 ton breaking strain soft shackle.

What I was thinking of doing though was using a length of climbing rope, as I'd seen discussed somewhere else, to make a longer midships snubber to try and reduce the swinging we do on anchor and also provide much more stretch for bad weather conditions. The Shockle and my current mooring line are fine for ordinary conditions.

Problem is the only climbing rope I can find only has a breaking strain of 890kg and can only withstand this 5 times before it is basically retired. Doesn't sound like a great rope to use as a storm snubber even with the 20% stretch.

Has anyone else used this kind of rope for snubbing and if so what was the experience?

Or am I just as good to go with 14mm mooring line back to the midship cleats?

Cheers and cold beers

Keiron

You've got some bad data. Although climbing ropes are NOT rated by strength, typical static BS is about 6500 pounds for a single rope (10mm). The figure you have is impact force during a UIAA drop test, which is altogether different. In fact, the lower the impact force the better.



The drop test uses a sharp edge, which is where the break occurs. Also different.


Boats your size have successfully used 35- to 45-foot climbing rope snubbers. With a long snubber, the working load will drop to ~ 400-700 pounds even in a severe storm. Still a snubber is considered to be disposable, and depending on the weather, should be replaced every year or so of hard use (3-5 years of weekend cruisers use).


Attaching it to the midships cleats is NOT to reduce swing at anchor. It is to keep the attachment off the bottom in light winds. When it pipes up it is better attached at the bow, since this reduces chafe. I have used this system.



If you are swinging at anchor, this is aerodynamics. Remove windage forward (furled sails, dinghy on bow) and add windage aft (riding sail--Fin Delta is good). Try a hammerlock mooring.

[kas_1611]

Thanks for the advice and information. It has cleared up the mist around the idea for me which is the purpose of asking the question.

Off to the local climbing wall to see if they have any "retired" ropes I can get at a discounted price

Cheers and cold beers

Keiron

[Emouchet]

I like this idea. Never though about that..

[jen1722terry]

We carry 50' snubbers for storms. We use 9mm climbing rope on our 31' Cape Dory (about 6 tons loaded). We run them from the anchor rode, thru the bow clocks to snatch blocks midships then back to the stern cleats. Lots of shock absorption. We also use climbing rope for springs lines, which just fit on our undersized midship cleats.

We scrounged around on line and found good deals on new, rated climbing rope.

Terry

[MikeFergie]

I used 11mm climbing rope to make a bridal for my 105m2 asymmetrical spinnaker off the bows of my cat. The 20% stretch helps to keep the pressure off the bows when the puffs come. Been sailing with this for the past 2 years so it can take the pressure for sure

[Cliffhanger]

I've been using climbing rope as a snubber for years. It really is good. You just have to be a bit more careful about chafe. The braided sheath tends to wear through more easily than yacht braid. It might also be affected by longterm UV exposure as well. Even with the braid worn through it is certainly strong enough.

[KWISPEL]

For the last few months I have used these lines as landfasts. They have integrated snubbers.
https://www.biltema.se/en-se/boat/ro...ner-2000028187

[Mike OReilly]

Am following, and learning. What’s the advantage of climbing rope over standard 3-strand? Is its elasticity characteristics better?

[Kelkara]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Off to the local climbing wall to see if they have any "retired" ropes I can get at a discounted price

Be aware that there are two types of climbing rope: Dynamic rope, designed to catch a falling climber (and must be stretchy enough pass the UIAA drop test described above), and Static rope, designed to hold a hanging climber (and to stretch as little as possible).

The latter is still nylon, so stretchier than polyester, but very very much less stretchy than the dynamic rope which is designed to stretch so as to limit forces during a fall.

Climbing walls use a lot of rope for "top-roping" a climber, that is the rope goes from a belayer on the ground through a block at the top of the wall, and back down to the climber (much like climbing a mast on a halyard), so it should never have to catch a big fall. For this many of them use either a static rope, or a "semi-static" rope which has some stretch in it, but nothing like as much as a proper dynamic rope.

Just a heads-up that not all "climbing ropes" behave the same ... so check what you're getting matches what you want.

[pdxsailordiver]

I have been using climbing rope as a snubbers for years on my 42’ sailboat.
The one I use is the first climbing rope I bought when I was in my twenties !

[Gaia]

Good thread! Had no idea having always used 3 strand nylon. Problem is though where do I find climbing rope in the Bahamas?? ��

Jim

[groundtackle]

I’ve been using the aft led snubbers for the boom preventer. Nice when you can dual perpose.
Chris