Ski Rope breakage
Ski Rope breakage
Subject: Re: Slalom ski rope and handles
>I've been skiing recreational for over 15 years and during those years
>I've gone through a rope nearly on a yearly basis; is this normal or
This is pretty normal. The more short line skiers use the ropes the
more you break. At a club north of Toronto where most skiers are
shortline skiers and they are a full time ski club they average a rope
a month or so.
A couple of tips to help save your ropes:
- Keep them out of the sun when not in use. The sun kills them fast. Both
the rope and the rubber on the handle.
- Keep them clean. Sand and grit cut fibres.
- Watch that they don't rub on things as skiers ski. May not be
possible to avoid in all boats but try.
- If you tend to break them where the rope wraps the pylon, wrap it a
different way. Instead of the usual "rope through itself" approach
try just wrapping the loop twice around the knob.
- If your ropes tend to break about a foot from the shortening loops
then it might be because a hot knife was used in manufacture. The hot
knife leaves hard and sometimes sharp lumps at the melted rope
end. These are "inside" the line when a splice is made and can cut the
line from the inside out. You can pull the end out, cut the hot
melt part off with a sharp knife and tuck it back in.
tj