shortening ski rope

[wholt171]

I have a normal 75 foot ski rope..(not in adjustable incriments) i wanted to shorten it without buying a new rope and i was just wondering if anyone knows how to do it. i assumed it would be cutting it and retying the knot but i don't have a clue how to tie a knot suitable for skiing. thanks a lot to anyone who can help.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: shortening ski rope

First of all, why do you want to shorten it? Secondly, a sectioned rope can be found at most sporting good stores for less than $20 bucks. Any knot will hold, just make a good ole square knot.

 

[electricjohn]

Re: shortening ski rope

There are no official ski rope knots. Spicing is the normal practice using a tool called a fid. If you want to go the tying a knot route, we have a saying on my boat, "If you can't tie a good knot, tie a lot of them."

 

[bayliner12]

Re: shortening ski rope

i agrre with haulnazz15, just tye a square knot every 5 feet or so depending on how far off you want to go....and go far!!!

 

[electricjohn]

Re: shortening ski rope

A knot weakens a rope by about 50%.

 

[skibrain]

Re: shortening ski rope

Ski rope is hollow braid, polypro rope. The rope is slippery, so standard knots like a square know hold VERY POORLY, but it is extremely easy to splice. If you do some web searches you should find some splicing instructions.

Here is the most simple type:
http://www.topkayaker.net/Articles/Instruction/EyeSplice.htm

Go ahead and try some splicing on your rope, or go to the hardware store and buy 6-8' of really cheap hollow braid polypro to PRACTICE on.

Your ski rope: On many ski ropes the handle end has a 5' section with a spliced loop end. This loop joins it to the 70' mainline that has a spliced loop at each end.

If that is so, separate the handle section from the mainline. Cut off a chunk of the 70' main line with a scissors (15' is a pretty common amount to shorten a rope and I have shortened every standard ski line I own [about 6 of them] by this amount). Use a lighter or match to melt the cut rope ends. As the melted ends cool, use a rag to shape the soft blob into a tapered point - this will make splicing easier.

See instructions above for a loop splice. A variation many ski ropes use includes a 1/2 a square knot before the rope end is fed into the hollow core. In addition to your now 55' mainline, finish a loop in the end of the 15' section you cut off, and you can put it all back to gether minus about 2' taken by the splices.

If this is too much information, go buy a sectioned mainline from $29 to $89. Have fun!

 

[1Goof]

Re: shortening ski rope

I am a pretty good slalom skiing. You definitely need to be able to shorten the rope. A shortened rope gives a much punchier ride for the slalom skier (assuming you know how to cut sharp turns). I normally run 50 feet. The first 15 feet that you take off the standard 75 foot line won't make much difference for the skier. When you get to about 50 feet, taking off just a couple of feet is quite noticeable.
Don't do granny knots on this rope because they are going to break under the tension - not right away, but with time that is where it will fail. Ski rope is a tubular braid. Once you know how it is pretty easy to tie loops. Essentially you make a loop around and the free end pokes down the middle of the tube about 8 inches or so. You would think that would never hold, because it is hardly a knot at all. But, once put under tension, the tube constricts, grabbing the end poked down the middle with so much friction that there is no way it would ever slip. The longer the rope you poke down the middle of the tube the better it will hold.

 

[sickwilly]

Re: shortening ski rope

I have tied loops in my ropes for years to dial in the rope to the perfect kneeboarding length. They key is to take the loop out after your day of skiing, or it will eventually become permanent.