Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Waste not, want not

On sailing ships of old, rope hardly ever made it off the ship. As it became too worn for it's original purpose, it was used again for other purposes. But eventually, it was too far gone to be usable for supporting a load. Then it was raw material for rope work - it became mats, fenders, baggy wrinkle, or ultimately oakum.

Here at the marina, someone discarded this piece of manila rope. I snapped it up and, feeling brotherhood with those sailors of times past, wove a welcome mat out of it:

6 comments:

  1. Do you have the plans for that electronically? That looks like a fun at anchor project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Livia: No, not really - it's an "ocean plait" out of the Ashley Book of Knots. But if you are interested, I could try to scan the relevant pages. It's just a Turk's head laid flat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks great!

    Livia: http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance-articles/37692-rope-mats.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great site!

    I put a link to your blog on my boating site, hope you don't mind.

    http://www.craftacraft.com/small_boat_projects_making_life_aboard_easier

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bdillahu: Thank you ! I don't mind at all, in fact thank you very much for doing so!

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...