If you were pulling out a pined boat like using ropes with pulleys would you use your throw bag rope or would you carry different rope in your boat with you ?

It depends on what kind of rope you carry with you. If you have a 50' polypro rope, it probably wouldn't be a great idea, but if you have a 75 ft. Dyneema or Spectra rope, then you would be fine. I would presume that you are talking about mechanical advantage systems like Z-Drags, and you want to have the best rope that you can buy. Most likely, you would use your throw bag rope, but it depends on what kind of throw rope you have.

The rope in the average commercial throw bag is plenty strong (assuming that there are no defects)... I have broken a carabiner in the river and the rope was none the worst for ware...

Take a swiftwater rescue course and practice throwing your throwbag... setting upa z-drag is easy but you have to know what youre doing as there are many unforeseen dangers associated with this, or any, swiftwater rescue...

Thanks for the responses
yea i want a rope i can use for z drag and rescues like that i have a hf weasel throw bag so would this be ok for that type of rescues amd would it work ok with pulleys? and prusik? or would i need a more sold rope not a floating rope?

im pretty got with a throw bag im going on a white water safety and rescue course soon.

Thanks Dan

According to a link that I found, it is 840 DaN, which is the same as 8.4 kN, which should be plenty strong.

yea i thought it was a strong rope .
can floating rope be used with prusik because it hollow?
i guess its ok with pulleys?

It should be fine, because just about everyone uses a throw bag as their main rope in any mechanical advantage system. As long as your prusik cord is strong and wraps around your throw rope well, I don't really see any potential problems.

cjcc wrote:

It should be fine, because just about everyone uses a throw bag as their main rope in any mechanical advantage system. As long as your prusik cord is strong and wraps around your throw rope well, I don't really see any potential problems.

Just because everybody does something dosen't mean that it's smart.

Polypropylene Rope that is used in Throwbags floats. This is the most important thing for a throwbag rope. It is also easliy strong enough to pendulum a swimmer to the bank.

If you own a thin line (the HF° weasle has 7.5mm) then it can be hard to hang onto the line in a rescue. Hauling on it hurts. However it is small to carry and flys like a dream.

All knots decrease the strength of the rope so the Weasles 7.5mm rope goes down to a breaking strength of 490daN (490kg) with a knot tied into it (says it on the bag).

An adult male can straight pull about 50kg, and if you do a bit of a heave ho then it will spike up to 65kg or so. A Z-drag will increase the force on the rope 3 times. This means that 3 big guys or 4 small guys and girls stand a good chance of snapping this rope!

Given the choice use a thicker rope or a Spectra / poly mix rope for extracting boats or use a simple 2:1 system and then put another 2:1 on top of it if it's not enough power.

The HF° Compact Alpine would be better alround throwbag.

Yours,

Neil Newton Taylor

www.swiftwaterrescue.at

Thank you very much Neil this was very helpful i do like my throw bag because it fits nice in my play boat.

where can i buy a Spectra or a rope like this ?

Dan

I'm not sure what brands are available where you live, but the best option would probably be the NRS Pro Rescue Bag , but since you have a playboat, you would probably be better off with the NRS Pro Compact Rescue Bag . As long as it's dyneema or spectra, it will probably be strong enough. You could also buy just the rope, and replace the rope in your current throw bag. Link

Hi Dan,

as you live in the UK you are a bit limited unless you import a rope or bag from the USA. However HF° do make a bag called the Compact Syntec which has a Dyneema/polypro rope in it (basically the same as a Spectra/polypro). The rope is still 7.5mm diameter but it goes up to 2400 daN breaking strength and is 20m long. I love a thin rope to throw but they have limitations. For instance you cannot use a single 1/4" or 7.5mm rope to climb up a vertical wall if the rope is wet. Works if you double it or tie knots every 50cm, but you have to know that when your wet cold and stressed.

The Compact Syntec is pretty pricey (more than twice the compact alpine) so you might want to just get the rope and re-fit the bag you have. Or use the Weasel playboating and buy a bag like the alpine for Creeking.

Yours,

Neil Newton Taylor

www.swiftwaterrescue.at