Thread: Synthetic rope as a bridle?

an interesting idea, for winching or snatch recovery?

winching would be ok I guess, but I don'tknow how well it would stand up to the forces being exerted on it from 90 degreens from where it normally takes the force.

also, would it take the forces involved in a snatch recovery (if you want to use it for that).

Originally Posted by Phoenix

an interesting idea, for winching or snatch recovery?

winching would be ok I guess, but I don'tknow how well it would stand up to the forces being exerted on it from 90 degreens from where it normally takes the force.

also, would it take the forces involved in a snatch recovery (if you want to use it for that).

I was really thinking about winching or towing not snatching, though it would be interesting to know if that's possible.

Andy

interesting question as we have some synthetic rope left over from what we cut to put on the winch....kept it for a winch extension but would be interesting to know if it could be used as a bridle

Having a quick search around the web for recovery bridles I found both stretch and non-stretch ones, and a mix of webbing and rope style ones.

As long as the rope has sufficient rating (most of the bridles I found seem to be minimum 8T breaking strain) I can't see a reason why you couldn't use it.
I'm no expert though, so I'll be interested to see what those have expertise have to say.

SteveG

Leeds is your man to answer that questions - He's a polymer king!

From what I know snatching is a definate NO.

I think also that the strength of the rope is obtained by lining up the polymers along the length of the rope and as such it is significantly weaker when pulled at 90 degrees to the direction of the polymer alignment.

My advice would be to get a proper strop.

The approximate formula for the Safe Working Load of a manilla rope is the diameter squared is the approx swl in kg eg. 10mm x 10mm = 100 kg.To lift a 2000kg Landie would be 2000 x square root = approx 45 mm rope in dia.

As a bridle with two points of attachment and a third pulling point, further derate the SWL by one third. A single ended rope with a capability of 2000kg if further derated to 1340kg when it has three points of attachment.

I'm sure that a Landie stuck in mud, would exert greater than 2000 kg strain on a rope attached as a bridle.

To get a rope the right size do you know anyone who work on tugboats.

Like many questions there is not a simple yes or no answer but I would say it would not be best practise.

My arguement would be that if you had a bridle made out of a synthetic winch line for use in winching then it would soon become a general purpose bridle and would be used as a bridle in snatch recovery situations. Use of such a winch line bridle in a snatch recovery situation would be a No No in my opinion.

Winch lines are low extension lines whereas snatch recovery straps/ropes are much higher extension which allows it to cope with the shock loads involved in snatch recovery situations.

For a general purpose bridle I would use the following in this order of preference, (1) nylon, (2) polyester, (3) synthetic winch line (4) metal chain

Hope that helps

Regards


Brendan

Thanks Leeds - really useful stuff. Looks like I'll by-pass the rope idea

How's life in Gods country? I'm a Sheffield boy originally (don't hold that against me )

cheers, Andy