Page 135 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

mark on the core one inch farther from the first save yourself a lot of trouble by answering with a
mark than you did this time. firm “no.” Old double-braid, broken down by sun-
Given a correct setup, there are only three rea- light, salt water, and use, is vicious, unrenderable
sons why you’d need to make this adjustment: stuff. If you must try: Wash the line first and use
You are splicing lousy rope. Cheap rope is not fabric softener; after excising the core, bunch the
well tensioned at the factory, so core and cover are cover back fiercely against the loop knot to loosen
not balanced. If you’re stuck with splicing this stuff, the fibers, then smooth it back out before mark-
you have to make up a measurement that works. ing the Core Exit; and pound on the cover with a
You are splicing nylon. For some reason, nylon rubber or wooden mallet before you go to run the
sometimes reacts differently to splicing than Dacron. splice home. Even all of that might not be enough.
Try pulling the core yarn out one-half the length of There are advanced ways around this, but the one
the cover tail from the spike. As noted elsewhere, that is most often resorted to—not burying the core
double-braided nylon doesn’t make a lot of sense, into the standing part, so there’s more room for the
because you use it in situations where you want cover—leaves a potentially weak spot on one side of
stretch. the eye. Reputable manufacturers recommend this,
You are splicing old, or even slightly used rope. at least for used rope, (I’m looking at you, Samson),
When you know how to splice this stuff quickly but it is a bad idea. Better to get new rope.
and well, people are going to ask you to do their Once the splice is completely home, use the
lines for them. It’s great work, as a favor or for pay. Cover Marker Yarn to stitch the throat of the splice
But sooner or later someone is going to ask you to a few times, as for the Single-Braid Eyesplice (see
splice a line that is not new. When they do, you can 102). Done.

Core-to-Core Splice
The Mobius Brummel (Figure 4-15) is called upon
when you are splicing an exotic that has no cover.
But you can also get the stuff with a cover, in which
case it looks just like regular old double-braid. But
it doesn’t splice like regular old double-braid; the
cover is there only to provide compression for splice
security, chafe and UV protection for the standing
part, and some extra meat for stoppers, winches,
and cleats to grip onto. So the splice, in essence, is
a 12-strand splice, with an extra- long bury, that is
made inside a cover.

Setting Up For yacht-diameter ropes, start by
tying a Butterfly Knot about 10 feet or so from the
rope end. Pull the core out of the end and bunch
the cover up, as for the regular double-braid splice.
Smooth the cover out firmly and repeatedly. With
this rope, all of the strength is in the core. Because
the cover isn’t structural, it isn’t balanced in tension
with the core at the factory; balancing is even more
important than with normal rope. It is almost a cer-
Figure 4-16J. A finished Double-Braid Eyesplice.
tainty that, after you have finished the balancing,

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