UKC

So I'm wanting to bury a couple of deadman anchors into the garden to rig a slackline, I can use chains with a shackle poking out of the grass but I have some spare static rope and it'd be easier and cheaper to use that.

How will 10mm static rope cope with being burried in soil year round and used as a slackline anchor?

Am I being stupid and I should just go and buy a few galvanised lifting chains?

In reply to CHarrison:

Forever.

Or a couple off weeks.

Come on, so many variables here.....

In reply to CHarrison:

In caves, the ropes last for more than 10 years without any significant loss of the strenght, because thought it´ s wet all the time it´ s protected against UV radiation and frost. The rope burried undeground should be OK (dependig on how deep soil on your garden freezes) If there is a part of rope outside I would be much more careful then

In reply to CHarrison:

I'd have thought stretch would be your biggest problem to overcome.

In reply to CHarrison:

Am I the only one confused as to how you plan to use a slackline attached to the ground? Do you have a steep garden?

In reply to Oliver Houston:

You tension it over A-frames.

OP: Do you mean you're going to buy aluminium dead-man anchors and bury them? Bit of a waste, a couple of bits of scrap metal or even a a couple of bricks would suffice and outlast aluminium buried in soil.

I suspect your rope will be good for longer than you remain interested in your slackline.
jk

In reply to jkarran:


Bricks won't do - you're looking at ~800kg of load on each end of a slackline - you need pickets hammered in 2 feet or big deadmen at each end. Burying deadmen will require a very deep slot unless you bury them well back from the a-frame.

In reply to Toerag:

I'm well aware the force is quite high but slung bricks will do just fine buried a couple of ft deep with a modest rope rise angle, they have the same sort of frontal area as a deadman.
jk

In reply to jkarran:


I would probably say the opposite actually. The soil is rarely PH neutral, and after a quick google it seems the soil around Durham where the OP's profile says he's based is actually quite acid, with a PH as low as 4.8. I would expect a nylon rope buried in soil constantly damp with acidic water to deteriorate pretty quick.

If going for it anyway, i'd suggest sleeving the rope in a garden hose for all the buried section, and somehow stopping water from going into the hose and stagnating in there by maybe having the whole thing covered when not in use. That way it should last for a long time. Tensioning a slackline off a 'static' rope is a different story, and it's really not recommended as you'd be overloading the rope in order to get any decent tension.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

I was assuming the novelty would wear off pretty quickly

That said I left an already old abused rope out in a field for around two years before I actually got around to using it to retrieve a dead car who's floor-pan had become one with the field. It broke eventually but the horrendous abuse it took has left me with a huge respect for nylon kernmantle! It stopped a 3 series at full throttle from ~25mph a couple of times before it broke over an edge, I tied it back together and kept going, it kept stopping the BMW dead without a rest until my work was done and the other car had been torn loose, sideways (rope tied to wheel spokes!) out of the long grass.

I've got another similar rope (been out in the mud 3 years this one!) and job to do so we'll see how that one holds up. Hopefully this car is just bogged down in mud as it's my pride and joy, I'm going to have to be a bit gentler.

It's tough stuff rope.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

Oh i'm with you. Rope and most climbing gear is amazingly hardy stuff, more than people usually expect. Loads of research proving that ropes are not the delicate things we must retire as soon as they see the light of sun like we are largely led to believe.

This guy has just got hold of a bench and is doing some cool research on it. Worth following https://www.facebook.com/SiebertResearch/

In reply to jkarran:

I´ ve tested rope slings that had been 24 years (and I assume it was a used rope even then) hanging directly exposed to the sun and the worst weather San Vito Lo Capo could throw at them. 1200kg is better than many new ropes can achieve!

In reply to CHarrison:

Thanks for the replies everybody, for clarification I'll be burying an achor (thick anodised metal box section) in a T slot at either side of the garden then tensioning a slackline attatched to each end over wooden A frames.

It looks like the sensible solution is to get some chains and shackles or maybe stainless steel cable from a lifting supplies website

In reply to CHarrison:

Oh and in terms of getting bored, I plan on using this pretty infrequently, summer BBQ's and when friends are round mainly. I'm going to be doing a lot of work to the garden soon anyway so I figured digging a couple of extra holes and burying 2 anchors is worth while whilst I've got the shovel out!

In reply to jkarran:


Has the 540i been left to rot?

In reply to CHarrison:

depends if those
d*ckheads who stripped valley entrance high level traverse robbing all the krabs are about!!!!!!

In reply to Ally Smith:


Sold a few years back it to a lad from one of the Baltic states (minus reverse gear) who wanted a cheap (12mpg and at least 2 ferries!) way to get home from the Isle of Man.
jk

In reply to CHarrison:

What is the risk if it does break? If it's a slackline that's a foot high it is annoying, but you'll survive. In that case I'd just bury it and find out how long it lasts

In reply to JR_NL:


Being whipped by a free end?

In reply to Toerag:

Fair point, didn't consider that!

In reply to Toerag:

If it's tensioned over struts doesn't it take on the dynamics of a suspension bridge? i.e. less load on the ground anchors and lots of compression on the struts. With a gentle angle can't imagine it being much worse than the force on an abseil stake

Would have thought keeping it tight with everything moving in the mud more of an issue. You'll need a ratchet or some other sort of re-tensioning left in the system

What eats rope, rabbits, slugs?

In reply to Ally Smith:


There must be better ways than a drag rope to get the Z out...

In reply to trouserburp:

From doing my online research keeping them taught doesn't seem to be an issue, slackline arnt supposed to be 'tight' anyway.

I was thinking of burying the metal anchor in concrete for a larger surface area but I'll decide that when I see how deep I can bury the anchors and what the ground is like.

This will be happening in the summer months so I have a while to decide what approach is best

In reply to CHarrison:

If you're burying an aluminium section with a steel chain around it they need to be electrically insulated from each other or they won't last long.
jk