UKC

Retiring gear after 15 years

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 Pbob 09 Feb 2015
I've just started climbing again after a 15 year break. My ropes where long since destroyed (towing cars etc) but my rack has been stored in a dry loft and I'm wondering if I can use it again confidently. The metalwork all looks OK. Some of the crabs need are a bit "sqeeky". Obviously there isn't much can go wrong with a hex. I'm more concerned with the slings. I'm probably going to re-string the hexes. But I've got a few friends and nuts/hexes on dynema which couldn't easily have the slings replaced. I've read that if a sling looks OK then it probably is, and obviously I know the history of it all. I don't want to retire stuff and buy new if I don't need to.
Any sage advice out there?
 goose299 09 Feb 2015
In reply to Pbob:

Loads of threads on here about this
Would trustte metal, resling anything dyneema though

Ultimatley would you feel ok 20ft above an old nut on some dodgy tape?
 OwenM 09 Feb 2015
 IPPurewater 09 Feb 2015
In reply to Pbob:
I'd check the nuts on wire too. I'd push the wire back up through the nut and check there isn't any hidden corrosion of the wire.

I'm still using friends I have rethreaded with nylon tape. You can knot Dyneema with a triple fishermans knot. Make sure you leave an inch or so sticking out of the knot, each side after tightening it, if you do that.

A friend of mine has drilled out the holes in his larger hexes to take slightly wider cord - 8mm I think.
Post edited at 11:11
 SenzuBean 09 Feb 2015
In reply to IPPurewater:

> I'd check the nuts on wire too. I'd push the wire back up through the nut and check there isn't any hidden corrosion of the wire.

> I'm still using friends I have rethreaded with nylon tape. You can knot Dyneema with a triple fishermans knot. Make sure you leave an inch or so sticking out of the knot, each side after tightening it, if you do that.

> A friend of mine has drilled out the holes in his larger hexes to take slightly wider cord - 8mm I think.

Triple fisherman's will slip easily under load in Dyneema (at around 25-35% of line strength, or somewhere between 11 - 15kN). This means it could be the weakest link of the newly slung nut (a big modern nut is rated to 14kN, which means it's failure point is a fair bit higher than 14kN). So perhaps by reslinging with dyneema, you're reducing the strength of a big nut to that of a small nut. I have done some research into alternative knots for dyneema and found a few new knots that could work almost as good as a sewn joint (they break in dyneema rather than slipping), but more testing is needed before relying on them.
Better to stick a material with more predictable properties than dyneema.
 IPPurewater 09 Feb 2015
In reply to SenzuBean:

I stand corrected. Thanks SenzuBean !
 ianstevens 09 Feb 2015
In reply to OwenM:

> For replacing your old squeeky crabs try http://www.v12outdoor.com/section.php/268/1/cometic-2nd-snapgates

Or just give them a once over with WD40.
 dek 09 Feb 2015
In reply to Pbob:

Hah! I recently found a few small, unused W/C flexible stem Friends that have never been used. (Stashed away and forgotten about)
They have the original Tubular Tape fitted, I'm wondering if I should replace it after the approx 15 years of dark storage, or just ignore it, and use them?!
Does tape 'deteriorate' significantly when stored for such a long time...anyone know for sure?
 jimtitt 09 Feb 2015
In reply to SenzuBean:

> Triple fisherman's will slip easily under load in Dyneema (at around 25-35% of line strength, or somewhere between 11 - 15kN). This means it could be the weakest link of the newly slung nut (a big modern nut is rated to 14kN, which means it's failure point is a fair bit higher than 14kN). So perhaps by reslinging with dyneema, you're reducing the strength of a big nut to that of a small nut. I have done some research into alternative knots for dyneema and found a few new knots that could work almost as good as a sewn joint (they break in dyneema rather than slipping), but more testing is needed before relying on them.

> Better to stick a material with more predictable properties than dyneema.

A triple fishermans is more than acceptable in any of the Dyneema blend cords sold for this purpose such as Tech Cord, Dyneema tape is not normally sold by the meter as a retail item.
Mountain Tools Ultratape and Edelrid Tech Web are designed to be knotted.
OP Pbob 10 Feb 2015
In reply to Pbob:

Cheers folks. Thanks for the answers. I'm going to spend a few pennies reslinging the bigger hexes. The friends and smaller hexes and nuts on dynema I'll take a view on. The crabs are serviceable so they can have a squirt of Wd40. I suppose at the end of the day the weakest link will be my infamously dodgey gear placement!
valjean 10 Feb 2015
In reply to SenzuBean:

do you have this info/link on knots and dyneema?

i was curious about clove hitches on dyneema. i know someone who frequently clove hitches the power point on dyneema sling instead of a sliding x or overhand or fig-8. If one point of the anchor blows, does the dyneema slip through the clover or break?
 jimtitt 11 Feb 2015
In reply to valjean:

The have DAV tested clove hitches in Dyneema hybrid tape, both static pulled and drop tested. 12mm was adequate and 8mm slightly below their limit of 6kN in drop testing. In the master point of an anchor slip isn´t really relevant as the failed point of the anchor would not be able to pass through the clove hitch, it´s still a crap knot for this purpose though as it would be impossible to untie aftewards. (In our pull testing we used a knife). You also don´t have a convenient loop to clip extra karabiners into and for this reason they recommend using a bowline on the bight for the central point.
 SenzuBean 11 Feb 2015
In reply to valjean:

These are the links I can remember / have handy:
http://dmmclimbing.com/knowledge/knotting-dyneema-vid/

http://dmmclimbing.com/knowledge/how-to-break-nylon-dyneema-slings/

http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4756.150

Triple fishermans actually performs better than I had remembered, still not quite as sewn however. Also worth bearing in mind that slings weaken with age, which is likely to further increase the difference. Lastly the forces on a climbing system are just about never as severe as that of a drop test, so it's quite likely that these limits are never really tested in the wild.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...