Rope or steel cable?

Don in LA

I haven't been here for a while. Been busy with different projects. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays. My next project involves dredging a small shallow canal to provide access for my boat to the river. As I dig mud from the canal bottom I have to drop it on a sled (possibly a 14 foot flat boat) and drag the sled about 300 feet up the canal with cable or rope through a pulley, change direction, drag the sled up the bank about 50 feet and dump the mud. The sled would have about 800-1,000 pounds of mud on it. Would it be better to use rope or steel cable for this? Of course the cable or rope would be getting wet and dirty. I havn't priced rope or steel cable. I do have a 1/2" pulley block for rope but nothing for steel cable.

Thanks,

Don

Mark G

would it be an area where you could use explosives to clear the chanel?That would save alot of work especially at a high tide to soften the big boom noise!

Don in LA

I love blowing things up! However, most of the canal that I will be dredging will be alongside my neighbor's property and too close to his house.

Eric Frei

There's some really strong ropes these days, stronger than steel cable. Much more polite to handle and if it snaps not so bad if you're nearby.

I'd go rope, most chipper winch cables have converted over to rope these days.

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bobdoesit

Check out AMSTEEL rope, we use it here in the UK for all sorts of applications. Loads of people with 4x4 use it on there self recovery winches.
I will see if i can find you a link.


And hey, Climb safe out there.
Rob.

bobdoesit

Here is a link its a UK company but you will probably be able to find some were you are then. http://tinyurl.com/yerwy8b

Hope this works for you Don in LA.

Cheers Rob.

Therrin

sherrills sells amsteel rope.

Size: Tensile Strength:
5/16" = 13,700lb
3/8" = 19,600lb
1/2" = 34,000lb
5/8" = 52,800lb

Stronger than steel, but so light it floats on water.

Amsteel : Ropes : Rigging : Professional Gear : SherrillTree Tree Care Equipment

Cole

we use amsteel it for heaps of applications rigging, earth moving, live work in substations, we have heaps of steel cable it and is a pain in the arse to move around handle etc etc

Willard Holmen

Many logging operations whether its cable yarder, skyline carriage, crawler tractor or wheeled skidder have converted to synthetic rope for their winching applications.
AmSteel Blue 12 strand rope for example has similar strength to steel wire cable of the same diameter and it weighs about 1/10 as much. But every steel cable is not all the same. When I was in the logging sector with skidders, our forestry grade 5/8" mainline steel cable had a surface weave so fine that it felt like a smooth piece of round steel. I can't remember the breaking strength but our 20 ton winchs had not affect on it, even when pulling and winching at the same time which almost doubles the 20 ton force. Abrasion was low with this fine cable also.
Logging contractors have found synthetic rope had much better ergonomic performance for the skidder operator over the steel. Production also rose because of its lightness. Synthetic rope doesn't produce "jaggers" or "barbs" as steel does.
Synthetic has a much better bending diameter radius ratio over steel.

The drawbacks from synthetic rope is it cuts easily over rocky surfaces or sharp edges. If shock loaded the fibres may have a memory and retain effects of shock loading during use.
Dirt gets inside the weave and can weaken the rope quickly.

Willard.