Can you do a Whoopies in 3/8" hollow poly rope...?

[Flash Grundelore]

I picked up a thread injector** at an estate sale the other day, and the guy tossed in one of the AirChairs.
Would I be safe making a whoopie sling in each of the top 3/8ths poly ropes [off the eye-hook to the spreader bar] so that it would be easily adjustable for height off the ground? ... Basically a 200 pound load split onto two ropes. [I can easily bury at least a foot if not 16 inches... I'm just worried that the poly is too slick for a whoopie to hold fast]
It looks like they did utilize blind-buries on some the side lines. You can see the thickening in the line at the left hand edge above the side-dowel.


** Singer FM22-C~~ any opinions of this one?

[jadekayak]

Poly-what,

Poly ethylene,
Poly propylene
Poly ester???

The first 2 stretch a bit but polyester doesn't.

A whoopie sling or UCR can be made from any type of material as long as the rope structure is suitable, I.e. must be braided with a core to place the bitter end.

Vehicle tow ropes have had self splicing eyes for decades so the principle has been around for a while,someone just came up with a decent product for us to use.

[Flash Grundelore]

From what I think is the manufacturer's page.... "super-strong, polyethylene rope the coast guard uses as water ski tow rope. It is rated to hold 2,200 pounds and is UV protected"... and IT IS definitely hollow braid.
It doesn't look like it would be that big of a deal. It is way easier to open up than Amsteel.
If nobody really discourages me I'll probably give it a shot.

I don't know if the un-capitalized coast guard is different from the US Coast Guard, and I didn't know that the Coast Guard went in for a lot of waterskiing...

[gargoyle]

Next time you see the CG guys waterskiing ask them.

Yes, you can splice it and make whoopies with that rope. I made some before and it works fine. IIRC, my buries were 8-10".
Do not shorten the suspension triangle above the chair. The compression forces may shatter the spreader bar.

[Flash Grundelore]

Thanks for the tip, Garg. I have no idea what the original length above the spreader bar might've been. You would not believe the mess of knots that was up there...
I did go ahead and make a pair of Whoopies in the lines. "They haven't let me down"... yet.
My thanks to you and Jadekayak for the reassurance that I could work with the poly. I have never really liked that type of line, but it's good to know that you can do better things with it.



As you can see you in the photo, I have pretty much an equilateral triangle with the spreader bar. The descenders might be a little shorter, but the dowels are quite heavy, and there's a good bit of running/free line that can be slacked off. It could be my imagination, but the chair seems to hang more evenly now, and rotate less. I get more of a forward and backward rocking motion.
Tomorrow I'm going to throw a third Whoopie on the line that suspends the foot rest. Because Whoopies sure do make a suspension look clean.

[jadekayak]

Thanks for the tip, Garg. I have no idea what the original length above the spreader bar might've been. You would not believe the mess of knots that was up there...
I did go ahead and make a pair of Whoopies in the lines. "They haven't let me down"... yet.
My thanks to you and Jadekayak for the reassurance that I could work with the poly. I have never really liked that type of line, but it's good to know that you can do better things with it.



As you can see you in the photo, I have pretty much an equilateral triangle with the spreader bar. The descenders might be a little shorter, but the dowels are quite heavy, and there's a good bit of running/free line that can be slacked off. It could be my imagination, but the chair seems to hang more evenly now, and rotate less. I get more of a forward and backward rocking motion.
Tomorrow I'm going to throw a third Whoopie on the line that suspends the foot rest. Because Whoopies sure do make a suspension look clean.

That's a pretty fine piece of rope work.

[perrito]

Nice application. Looks comfy.

[willic]

Great idea! I had no idea whoopies worked in other ropes!

[Flash Grundelore]

The poly-rope on mine opened right up to around 1"... piece of cake to pass the line thru. And each one took only about a minute to do.
As you can see you though, just for safety sake, I tossed a half hitch around the line below the Whoopie exit.

[WV]

Larger diameter rope requires longer buries. I'm surprised that Gargoyle's worked. They shouldn't have.