Red card: bowline knot with Dyneema®
She’s a beautiful boat, fitted with beautiful purchases made of great Dyneema ropes… with bowline knots! What! Really! Seeing such barbaric practice made our blood boil… Well, let’s collect our thoughts to give you some technical clarification and advice, which will be much more useful than our outraged groans.
Our expertise
Dyneema® is an extremely slippery fibre with a very low friction coefficient. To such an extent that a bowline knot, despite its good holding reputation, will end up loosening when it is under load. Besides, we conducted the test by putting a Dyneema® rope under load, fixed to a shackle with a round turn and two half hitches, and then a bowline knot. Click here to see the result in this video.
Our advice:
Tying a bowline knot, on any rope whatsoever, reduces its resistance by 45%. Indeed, splicing on a Dyneema® single braid without a cover is not complicated. Finally, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it !
Ultimately, should you need to make a lashing with a Dyneema® rope, remember to secure your half hitches with a simple knot termination, as explained by Julien in this must-see tutorial (here).
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Rope for frequent use (cruising, regatta…) low elongation | Dyneema®2,16 € – 22,16 € -
Rope to splice, SK99 Dyneema® core, SK78 Dyneema® cover9,30 € – 23,51 €
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Rope with low elongation (runners, shrouds, strops…) | 100% Dyneema®0,90 € – 13,28 €
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Line for lashing, abrasion resistant | Dyneema®0,88 € – 14,56 €
