Double Braided Line "Hernia" Repair

[BobSail]

My double braided spinnaker sheet (Samson LS) has developed two "hernias" where the core line has pooched out the side wall of the double braid. I can't seem to coax them back to the inside of the line. Is there a way to repair this? Thank you in advance!

 

[RichH]

Your rope has a 'hockle'

.... caused by improper rope handling - ie. putting strain on a rope that was twisted and looped. The outter braided has slipped and the inner core didnt slip and there should be a zone where just the opposite occurred.How to remove: Try to slip/push the outter braid *towards* the hockle (from each side of the hockle), then put heavy strain on the 'entire' rope. Start at about 10ft from the hockle and 'push' the outter braid 'towards' the hockle. Just keep 'milking' the outter braid. Every attempt to 'milk' will resuslt in a very teeny movement of the outter braid towards the hockle. When you have slipped enough outter braid towards the hockle, pull a LOT of strain and the inner and outter braid should realign. Do NOT cut the whipped or melted ends and attempt to let the rope slip from the unbound 'ends'. To prevent hockling, make sure that the rope is not twisted when you put strain on it

 

[r.w.landau]

If RichH 's idea does not work , cut one end

of the sheet. Pull the core out about 12 ". Work the slack cover back to the uncut end. Then work the cover the from the end you did not cut ,(this may take working it 2 or 3 times) with the uncut end fastened to something as you work the cover over the core to the cut end. You should see that the core is protruding out longer than the cover when you are done.That is why the core came through the cover in the first place, it was to long. This is often caused by not working the line before it is burned on the end. r.w.landau

 

[Ross]

When finally

you get things back where they belong sew a whipping on to the cut end and be sure that you catch the core with your sewing. There are several occasions when you purposefully slip the inner and outer braids. ( making an eye splice) and care must be taken to balance the tension on both.

 

[Gord May]

hockles

A hockle can reduce line strength by as much as one third, which is why most authorities advise that a hockled line be removed from service (or cut & served into two lines).

 

[Scott]

Heard the term before - didn't know ...

exactly what it meant. I love having these small mysteries cleared up. Unfortunately, I had them occur on both my newly acquired genoa sheets last summer. It appeared that they happened when the tail end of the sheets caught on a cotter pin that wasn't adequately protected. I fixed that problem but I couldn't get rid of the hockles.I simply cut out the inner core at the hockle and it "disappeared" when the sheet was stretched. I was concerned about strength, but the hockles were at the tail end of the sheets that are never under any load. Will the "loose" ends inside the outer covering reduce strenth at the "working" end of the sheets?