Too good to throw away

This project is excerpted from s/v Siempre Sabado. Steve says, "One of the sailor's arts was making these out of old rope that was too worn to use but too good to throw away."

One of our projects on our old boat, a J.R. Benford designed 23' ferrocement gaff-rigged double-ended yawl built by Dan Taylor of Bellingham (here's to ya', Dan!) was to build some fenders (too often called "bumpers") out of old manila rope. Fenders hang off the side of the boat when alongside a dock or another boat to protect her topsides from scratches, scrapes, etc. They are usually hollow air-filled plastic sausages but could just as easily be made of old tires. However, one of the sailor's arts was making these out of old rope that was too worn to use but too good to throw away. Fortunately for me, a 1992 copy of WoodenBoat magazine carried an article on how to make these devices. Having left the full complement of rope fenders with the old boat when we sold her, Lulu thought we should really make a set for Siempre Sabado. So, for Christmas a couple years ago she bought me a 250' roll of 3/4" manila line for the job. Since that time, I managed to find the time to build two of them. So, a week or so ago, I showed her how to make them and she built 2 more. We'll keep this up until we have 8 or so altogether.

Besides making the fenders themselves, I also got to make lanyards to hang them from. This allowed me to make eye splices in some 3-strand line as well as do some whipping of the end of the line. As Hervey says, an unwhipped line is an "abomination".

Steve & Lulu Yoder
KJ4STN
S/V Siempre Sabado
theyoders@earthlink.net

www.yodersafloat.blogspot.com

Wow! Those look really nautical!