Page 304 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

this time finish off with frapping turns between wire
and rope (Figure 7-22). Stretch the standing part
out level and make a bight to form an eye that just
touches the opposite shroud. Mark the middle of the
eye, then cut the line, leaving enough to splice with.
Alternatively, make a Crown splice around a
half-inch drift punch. Remove the punch, then pass
the lashing as for an eyesplice. You might need to use
a carpet hooker or the like to get the lashing through
the hole easily. This configuration looks remarkably
clean, and it also delays the point at which the steps
get so short that the splices back into each other.
Speaking of which, if ratlines are big enough to
be comfortable, they are very strong for the job of
holding up humans, so they don’t need as many sets
of tucks as regular splices—3½ should be plenty.
When the splices do approach each other too
closely, switch to making grommets, of the next
smaller-diameter rope.
When you go to lash the second eye in place,
you’ll find that the splice has “shrunken” the line—
it won’t quite reach the shroud. Lashing it tightly
now will, ideally, result in a snug-fitting ratline, but
not so snug that it pulls the shrouds together. Adjust
your lengths to suit the shrinking effect of your
splices and the rope’s own characteristics. Figure 7-23. The dreaded Siamese Sine Curve
Rope ratlines fit best if you finesse each one as syndrome.
you go, rather than deducting a specific length each
time. Be slightly more generous with your initial on the shrouds or the rope ratlines. This requires a
measurements as you ascend; shorter ratlines aloft good sense of balance, a calm day, and, to repeat, a
stretch less, and splice shrinkage consumes propor- safety line.
tionately more of their length. As you proceed, you’ll So, you’ve installed the first two wood and first
find it easy to fall into a rhythm of splicing and lash- two rope ratlines. The third wooden one comes next,
ing while your partner is drilling and cutting. and you’re getting up around 10 feet (3.05 m) off
A semi-utilitarian historical aside: “Rattling the deck. At this point, have succeeding pieces come
down” originally meant just that—installing rat- up to you on a light gantline. I shackle a small block
lines from a bosun’s chair, starting at the top and to my harness for this purpose. Always leave the
working down. Most or all of the ratlines were rope, gantline hitched to the wooden rungs until the first
and standing on a rope ratline will pull even very lashing is finished.
tightly set-up shrouds toward one another. “Rattling Climb up, splicing and lashing as you go, first
up” will produce the dreaded “Siamese sine curve” one wood, then two rope, on and on. Keep every-
syndrome (Figure 7-23). That problem is prevented thing level; skewed rungs are glaringly obvious to
here by setting the wooden rungs in place first, then the most casual observer.
filling between them with rope. But while making As you climb, get firmly in the habit of holding
your fittings, be very careful to avoid leaning either onto the shrouds, not the ratlines; the former are less

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