A Sailmaker's Whipping

[Vaughan]

 

Are you fed up with your mooring ropes fraying at the ends, even though you have melted them?  

 

 

The best solution is a sailmaker's whipping.

I use No 8 Telylene whipping twine, which is great for all sorts of jobs on the boat.

Unlay about 1.5 inches of the rope, cut off about 1.5 metres of the twine, make a bight in the end and pass it between the strands, so that it loops over the strand which is furthest away from you, and passes between the other two strands.

 

Lay up the rope again by twisting the strands in your fingers as you turn them in together, and leave the whipping twine hanging out between each of the three strands.

 

With the long end of the whipping twine, you "serve" it onto the rope, making sure you are doing it "against the lay". The length of the whipped portion should be about the same as the diameter of the rope.

 

Pass the bight of the twine up the same strand that it is looped around and pass it over the end of the strand.

 

Using the short end of the twine, pull the loop as tight as possible.

 

Pass the short end of the twine up the remaining groove between the strands and tie it to the long end, with a reef knot, in the centre of the rope.

 

Cut the two ends off short and there you have it!

 

 

You can now burn the end of the rope in the usual way. Get it good and molten and then roll it into shape against a dirty metal surface, such as my old tool box. If you do it against a new clean piece of metal, the plastic will stick to it. You now have a rope end which will not fray or come apart, but will still pass easily through a mooring ring, or the sheave of a pulley, without snagging.

 

 

I always make the eye splice so that it is a tight push fit over the deck cleat. This avoids the loop coming off the cleat on the boat, while you are standing on the bank with the other end of the rope!

 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

With a thread title as such I feel I was lead here under false pretences! 

[JennyMorgan]

Liberally apply Super-Glue to the your rope either side of the whipping, looks a tad more tiddly than a heat-seal, even a neat one, in my opinion of course.

[unclemike]

west country whipping looks much neater

[Lastdraft]

But not as neat as duck tape !

[ChrisB]

42 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Liberally apply Super-Glue to the your rope either side of the whipping, looks a tad more tiddly than a heat-seal, even a neat one, in my opinion of course.

I whip with twine then paint both sides of the whipping with Starbright "Dip It Whip It" . You can use it to seal rope ends but I like twine.

[marshman]

Vaughan - instead of using the white one, you could have used the red or a nice blue!!!!