Cargo nets

[lcurious]

Does anyone have any experience making heavy (3/8 inch to 3/4) cargo nets? I am curious how they put the line through when each knot is tied. It would take a very big needle and I doubt if that is really feasible. Suggestions??
Thanks
Paul

[drjbrennan]

I have a booklet

Rope twine and net making by Anthony Sanctuary ISBN 0-85263-918-X

It is mainly about the net and rope industry of Bridport in Devon.
One of the pictures shows men making cargo (climbing net) and the rope is too thick to go on a needle. this means they must reeve the rope through the knots all the time, and they must wrap car tyre inner tube around their hands to protect them.

Also the traditional sheet bend knot is replaced by the ' Crossing knot'.

I'll drop by later with the ABOK number.

[Andre van der Salm]

All I know about these cargo nets is that they are made out of four strand rope. This is for better symmetry . It just looks better when you reeve a rope in between two strands (going throught the middle of the rope so to speak) at each side instead of one and two when using 3 strand rope.

Hope this isn't as clear as mud to you.....

regards
Andr

[squarerigger]

Hi Lcurious,

One of our members is a master rigger and he has made cargo nets for a living as part of his career (he is now over 90 I think).  He showed us that cargo nets are made either on the diagonal or on the square (all lines appearing to be diagonal to the edge rope or otherwise parallel to the edges) and the line is literally stuck through the line it meets, as Andre has said, before itself being thrust through by the line it met.  I wish I had a drawing to send you but instead I must refer you to ABOK #3785 where he speaks to the method I am talking about #2856.  Ashley also recommends four-strand, but there is nothing wrong about seizing the crossing parts together with a round seizing so that worn parts may be quickly and effectively replaced.

SR   

[asemery]

Many suggestions offered here.   Tony
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.crafts.knots/search?group=rec.crafts.knots&q=cargo+nets

[DerekSmith]

Hi Lcurious,

One of our members is a master rigger and he has made cargo nets for a living as part of his career (he is now over 90 I think).  He showed us that cargo nets are made either on the diagonal or on the square (all lines appearing to be diagonal to the edge rope or otherwise parallel to the edges) and the line is literally stuck through the line it meets, as Andre has said, before itself being thrust through by the line it met.  I wish I had a drawing to send you but instead I must refer you to ABOK #3785 where he speaks to the method I am talking about #2856.  Ashley also recommends four-strand, but there is nothing wrong about seizing the crossing parts together with a round seizing so that worn parts may be quickly and effectively replaced.

SR   

Hi Lindsey,

Your post reminds me that time rushes on for all of us and eventually takes our skills and knowledge with our inevitable passing.  Today it takes little more than a mobile phone and a YouTube account to capture a video with voice over of any of these fast fading skills.

Do you know if our 90+ year young member would be up to being videoed in this manner?

Derek

[asemery]

http://www.usnetting.com/HTML/cargo.html

[lcurious]

Thanks to all for your replies.
I work on a ship whos bowsprit net is 3ft x 40ft x 27 ft and all the knots are sheet bends. This means that all the rope must be reeved through each knot each time. I was hoping that some technique has been developed to make this easier, but as the post by DRJBrennan suggests it must be done by hand. Our net needs replacing sooner rather than later, must give this some more thought...

[squarerigger]

Hi Lcurious,

A bowsprit netting is typically made using the through reeving of the line but may also be made by STOUTLY lashing the crossings together.  The lashings will then only require inspection to determine which if any are being worn by contact with the jib-boom, martingale stays, headsails, crew's feet or other parts of the ship.  That removes the part of the work involving reeving, but increases the work-load by taking the time to lash each and every crossing - very time-consuming!  Good luck with your project and do let us see some photographs when you are finished with it!

SR

[Andre van der Salm]

A bit late tho but here I have a few pictures of how the ropes in a cargo net are reeved through and secured with a half hitch
(3 pictures in total, one pic attached, the other two in separate postings because of their size)


Hope this helps.....

Andr

[Andre van der Salm]

Here is the 2nd picture

pictures were taken from different angles etc

[Andre van der Salm]

And the 3rd picture

As you can probably see 3 strand rope was used for this net. It looks better to use 4 strand rope instead (just my opinion)

take care
Andr

[aknotter]

Back in October of 2006, Jose taught the Rigging Club to make a cargo net using the "lock tuck" method of splicing. Here is a link to some pictures . . . http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYsmjJs1Zs2LFDA. Unfortunately, the pix don't show the lock tuck splice clearly. If anyone is interested, I still have the net and can take some closeups of the splices.

[lcurious]

AKnotter
Thanks for the offer, I would be very pleased if you could put a few pictures up.
Paul

[aknotter]

Well, I took a couple of pix of one of the lock tuck splices and added them to the existing shutterfly album. That changed the URL, so here is the new link - http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYsmjJs1Zs2LFLg . Unfortunately, I don't think the pix will be much help. I will try to aquire some rope and take pictures of the stages in forming the lock tuck splice. I have to wait for my mentor (Jose) to return from his honeymoon. Imagine that - he's more interested in honymooning than showing me more knots!!!
When costructing such a net, the splice is not necessarily the most important issue. The planning is critical. Each nettle has to be carefully measured and laid out (including length for the splices themselves). We actually laid the net out on paper with measurements before we began tying. We spliced up the Jack Rope with the eyes on the corners, spliced the nettles, then spliced the nettles into the Jack Rope. Then the final "short splice" joining the Jack Rope back to itself.
But, I do hope this is a little helpful for you.