Wet Rope Strength

But a wet nylon rope is also weaker than a dry one.

Wet rope strength.

One boater will talk about tensile strength while the other will talk about working load. A wet rope is not dangerously weakened for rappelling compared with a dry rope. Strength is the tensile strength from the manufactures specifications without knots. Test 1 is the dry test with figure of eight knots.

Manufacturers results for knotted tensile strength throwbag rope values with an overhand knot. However when wet it is possible to see as much as a 70 percent reduction in dynamic performance which is important when taking a lead fall. But again for toproping this isn t an issue. Static strength is most important when rappelling and ropes can have up to a 30 percent strength loss there.

Any bend tighter than 4 reduces the strength of rope because they stress the rope in flexure the fibers weaker direction. Rope strength is a misunderstood metric. A wet rope is not dangerously weakened for rappelling compared with a dry rope. In sterling s tests an 11 mm drycore rope held 11 falls dry and seven falls wet.

According to sterling rope a non dry treated rope can lose 70 percent of its strength and a dry treated rope can be 40 percent weaker when wet. Static strength is most important when rappelling and ropes can have up to a 30 percent strength loss there. However when wet it is possible to see as much as a 70 percent reduction in dynamic performance which is important when taking a lead fall see below. Both of these are important measurements and it s worth learning how to measure and understand them.

Each of these measurements has different uses and here we re going to give.