Folks,
Hope that no one from another boater's group has read that word on our forum, or we are headed for scandal and disgrace. Webmon can you block that word from the search engine. We have to take quick action to cover up any references and never speak this word here again.
After all we are sailor dudes and dudettes and we just don't use the B word.
We always use LINE for everything. To tie things up - to tie things down, to hold things together and apart - to pull things - uh well I've never actually been able to push anything with a line but I'm sure some really hard core sailormon can do it.
We get line in three strand, single and double braid, nylon, polyester, Dacron, low stretch, high stretch, red, white, blue and every color in between. It comes in every size from teeny weeny to a size so big it has to be described as a Hauser. Unfortunately it's no longer available in hemp as there was a pattern of rope abuse surfacing.
Whole books are written on how to tie it and make really handy gizmos like nautical doilies. There are constant everyday references made to this humble servant of ours - walk the line - carry the line - life line - end of the line (also known as the bitter end).
When I go to the boat supply place I make a beeline for the line rack. Thank Neptune they haven't yet put line on the impulse shelf at the local supermarket check out, my garage would be full to the gills.
Imagine pirates of the Caribean swinging from ship to ship on these stretchy things, they'd end up right back on their own vessel, how embarrassing. Try tying your boat up to the pier with one of those and making a quick exit forgetting to untie - you'd spring right back to the pier and look like a motorboater. Haven't you noticed the bungee stuff is in the motorboat section of the boat store and right next to the fishing stuff in WalMart?
Please no more talk of b-u-n-g-e-e it's sacrilege - and you could be keel hauled for this (not possible to keel haul with bungees). Learn to tie a bowline and maybe a square knot and toggle hitch and you'll have it just about covered. And don't forget the next time you are surveying a used prize for a possible purchase, make sure you check to see how much line there is and if it is part of the deal.
However, I'll check my "Rules of Conduct for Sailor Dudes" to see if an exception is made for non nautical activities like tying shrouds when trailering. I'm sure bungees would be a good cover when you stop at a Waffle House for breakfast and have to park right out front where all the rednecks can see your boat. When they spot the bungees holding everything together on your road worthy vessel they will smile knowing that you have Rolling Rock beer in the cooler, and you are just experimenting with sailing.
Oh yeah, I like the ones with the molded on plastic ends best, they come in a nice blue.
Well here's to hurricane Ike taking a hike - looks like we'll be lashing things down again this weekend.
Ron
My over the road drill relies completely on bungees thanks to Gill! Before our meeting I tied everything but the 16/3 I bought from him was delivered with more bungees of every size than anyone could ever use on a flotilla of boats in any one lifetime.
ick
After BUNGEEEEE - DID SOMEONE SAY BUNGEE I really hate to admit that my best value purchase this year was two bungee's; one end with a typical bungee hook and the other a simple loop. The Admiral suggested that instead drilling a hole in the tiller and purchasing some form a tiller tender, the bungee's would be the cheap solution to tend to the tiller when single handing just slide it over the tiller and hook em to the rear cleats. She was right.
HI Doug,
I use a LINE with two of those "B" things looped at each end around the stern cleats... when I pinch the tiller lock in the middle the "B" things give a little for small corrections and then re-center... works great.
http://www.com-pacowners.com/gallery2/displayimage.php?album=49&pos=34
I also use one of the "B" thingies on my boom to gather the sail at the end of the day... it's quick and you don't have to find it... it's always right there where you need it.
http://www.com-pacowners.com/gallery2/displayimage.php?album=49&pos=12
I keep one handy on the pulpit in case I need to gather the jib.
I'm with you about letting IKE take a hike... we finally got electricity after a week on the generators after Gustav... my parents live in Terrebonne parish and don't expect to have power restored until October... this latest one might even set that back...
Part of living close enough to the water...
I admit I am a bungee-aholic, please foregive me. HAPPY SAILING BILL
Well Bill, in that case, may we address you as Bungee Boy?
Of course my bungee piece was meant entirely in good humor as the forum was a bit slow at the time, and as you have obviously discovered we all need to not take ourselves too seriously. Besides, you can keep a whole bunch of them in a bucket.
So stick to your convictions Bill, and the rest of the world may catch up with you some day. I can easily imagine Chesapeake Bay being renamed Bungee Bay in honor of us trailer sailors, as the cost of big boats may leave them sitting in the Marina yards.
If the economy goes down the tubes, we can always tighten up our bungees and go for a sail.
Pleasure to hear your input,
Ron
I couldn't live without my bugee cords. I personally like the black circular ones with the little orange plastic balls on the end. It kind of gives off the halloween spirit. When I drop them in the water, I just buy a jug full of new ones. They stand in for sail ties, hold the tiller in place, hold down the jib when dropping it while single handing... I love 'em. And it is soooo much easier than tying a bowman's knot.... in the rabbit hole... LOL
Sherie
To all bungee-ites:
I LIKE ROPE! I REALLY DO! Knot to say bungees are bad...good for holding down boat covers.
Bob23, all tied up at the moment.
I thought only cowboys used rope? :D
So...rope is good if it's called "line" and bungees are good if they're called "shock cords".
Did I get that right?
:D
Yes. I'd have to agree about the names. But, overall, I like what works. I like gaskets (flat cloth belt material) to tie sails down. I like small stuff to tie reefs and other odd jobs. I simply place a slip in the knot to untie very quickly. Think "double slipped reef knot." You likely tie it twice each morning after putting on your shoes. :D You wouldn't bungee cord your shoes, would you? ;)
However, bungee (I mean shock cord) has its place: in the cabin and maybe a few discrete locations as needed. ;)
K:
YEE-HAW!!
Yes, you got that right. I knew as I was typing rope, I'd get a response. I stand corrected: I LIKE LINE! On my truck, I like rope.
I have several books on knots and thier uses on board a ship. I've narrowed down to about half dozen knots that I use regularly that make life easier...and safer sometimes. Plus they're fun and challenging to learn. (You can tell I ain't got much of a life, eh?)
Bungee cord material is great for water balloon launchers, by the way.
Bob23, trying to learn the Chinese Lanyard Knot. ARRGGG!
I prefer bungee bill HAPPY BUNGEE SAILING BILL
Ron,
Is it acceptable to use the B-stuff to hold the halyards back so they don't slap the mast when on the mooring? It not on the trailer or holding a tarp down but not underway either.
And there is even a nautical name for these things - gilguys. I suppose calling out to the crew to "rig the gilguys before we go ashore" might make it closer to OK, but "put those b-things up between those ropes that hold the sails up and those wire things" would definitely be frowned upon. That would be my call.
Curtis
As it happens, I do use b-----s on my shoes. They go on nicely over my braces, and I never trip over them. :-)
What do you mean by braces?
Bob23
Curtisv wrote,
"halyards back so they don't slap the mast when on the mooring"
I like that.
No slap on my halyards, tied down tight with sail ties.
Be kind to your neighbors dockside.
Be kind to the lines as they do all the work for you.
skip.
Unbelievable - I think our group has been infiltrated by some malicious motorboaters. Did I hear the suggestion that we stifle those marina melodies by restraining our halyards with, of all things BUNGEES? Jimmy Buffett would be rolling over in his grave - or is he still alive? I think proponents of bungees should put their loyalty to the supreme test and be required to do a bungee jump over Royal Gorge before espousing the virtues of these creations of convenience. I just hope I don't live long enough to one day be watching the latest remake of Bounty starring Russell Crowe and spot bungees holding down cargo on deck. I do think that bungees could have played a feature role in a 3 Stooges episode had they been invented a few decades earlier.
Tie me down lads - and make sure you use rope.
Ron
The only 'rope' on a boat clangs the bell, all other's are lines.
Sail tied are Velcro. skip.
I agree, Bungees are right up there with compasses and all those other crutches that todays sailors seem to need, we should go back to old driftwood logs or bloated carcases to cross the water
we can maybe add spell check to that list of usless needs I'll nowe for shure after next post,
Spelcheek teeches people howe knot to speel. An it certainly don't do no one no good to teach 'em about correct sentence structure. In my opinion, the only way to learn to spell correctly is to spell correctly. However, some people just can't do it. My father in law is one- a 90 year old master sailor with a near photographic memory and probably a genius IQ, he spells at about a 8th grade level. He knows it; doesn't bother him a bit. He can outsail anyone I know and back in the day, when he raced Lightnings, folks would wait in line to crew for him.
Sure, bungees have thier place. But just not here in my place. As a working builder/carpenter, I regularly tie stuff on my Tundra racks and a friend (and fellow sailor) and I have this same ongoing debate. I use rope. (on the truck, it's rope friends) I know the right knots, can tie almost anything pretty quick, and I can see when the ropes getting worn.
Bungees, alas, can betray one by breaking or pulling out of the the little hooks when that little metal thing that cinches the cord decides to give up the ghost.
How many bungees do you see on the road compared to hunks of rope?
Me, I'm too much of a traditionalist to have bungees aboard but too open-minded to insist that no one else does. But, I just realized that my sail-ties are bungee cords with those little plastic nubs that hook in the loops of the bungees. Tell me they don't really count, please!
Most of the utility lines on my ship are not marine cordage. Yep, you heard me right. I refuse to spend the big bucks just to wrap the sail cover or hold the tiller in place or tie off my roller furler while moored. Tell me that I'm still accepted here! This doesn't make me a bad person, does it?
Bob23..can you believe we are having this conversation???
But I feel so good when I use spell check and find I have not need it.
What was yesterdays flight of fancy may become tomorrows necessity with the proper marketing.
I mean the metal and fiberglass thingies that keep my leg bone connected to my ankle bones, as the song says. Feet in braces, braces in shoes, off I totter!
So where do we draw the line? Would a bungee - shockcord - gilguy toting land lubber be frowned upon by the same sailor who is unrolling the furler, putting coordinates in the GPS and switching to auto-pilot. If so, maybe what we really have here is a class issue. Curious.
David-V
THAT' IT!
I'm tradin' all my lines in for...for...dare I say it: BUNGEES!!!
Well, not really. I like tying and learning new knots. While rummaging through my starboard locker the other day, I came upon a bungee. Yes, folks, me the knot-tying Bob23 has a few bungees aboard Koinonia. She doesn't mind. I don't mind. I suppose the trick in this life is to not make mountains out of molehills. Bungees are molehills. Besides, we are all Compac-tors here, right? We all sail, right? We all like a bit of green water slapping us on the face from time to time, right?
Our differences are what make us interesting.
Bob23- off to find my book of knots.
Well said Bob. And with that, how 'bout we lock this topic and throw away the key!
Amen...and a long time coming!
Bob23
I simply don't use 'spandex' anything type bungees because knowing me I'm too cheap to toss them when they become dangerously frayed and have a tendency to snap, taking out my eye! Then my view of women in spandex would be lopsided. Is that right "Captain Ron"? I liked that movie.
skip.
After selling me CP 16/3 to Rick I had to "re-bungee" for my CP19. My trailering and storage drills use a combination of bungees and lines, but mostly bungees. I also use bungees to hold my mainsail to the boom under the sailcover. My anchor is bungeed to secure it to its bracket. I use them to secure my sheet lines and halyards.
Bungees have their applications and can really be useful in many places. Bungees are typically faster to use than line.
Bungees are good . . . my 2 cents, Gil