Creative bungee
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 8:22 am
We got an 8" rain yesterday - could have kayaked in my yard, but instead, stayed in doing a little rigging.
I've showed before that I have bungee on the dashboard bar for pinning stuff to the bar, and out of the way in the cockpit.
Time to replace, and I had just the right piece of 3/16" bungee left from the last time I bought cordage.
Last time I used two pieces of bungee through the slots in the dashboard bar, and knotted at each end, but since bungee rigged this way is full-time tensioned during storage, it doesn't age gracefully.
This time I got smarter, and used one loop of bungee with a sliding double cord stop.
First thing I gain with this, the bungee is 100% relaxed during storage, so it will last longer.
There are 3 different places I can pin the loop across the bar to let me use it for different purposes.
I can also shorten the bungee by tightening at the sliding cord stop.
Looped over the rod holder, it's a couple of inches short of being tight, and perfect for securing a large item, out of the way, in front of the cockpit - here an oversized fishing bag, but could also be a dry bag, small ice chest or gel-ice lunch bag.
The other two positions are looped over the bar, pinned by the legs, where it's just slightly tensioned, and pinned by an outside wing nut under the bar adds two more inches of tension. Can also slide the bungee at the point it's pinned, making one side tighter, and the other side looser for more stretch.
This photo is probably easier to see than the last one.
Here's the double sliding cord lock - I added wraps of polyimide tape on the other side of the knots, also, so the bungee living inside the cord lock won't get frayed.
I also had a large Ronstan shock left over, and slid both bungee ends opposite ways through the lashing side. The shock is a slick sheaveless block, shackle, or fairlead, this size is 7mm - will take a 3/8" line. Line or bungee easily slides through either side of the shock as if it was rolling on the sheave of a trolley block.
It's out of the way here - better here than stored in a cigar box - and an example of how I could use it is quickly staking out 3 boats.
Stake out one boat, slide the bow line of the third boat through the shock, and cleat the line on the staked boat.
Can also use it as a fairlead going to the Z-cleat (bait bucket), or simply tie off a line with a bowline knot.
Editing this post. I first had a 1/4-inch shock cord fitted here, but couldn't find a good double cord lock. Finally found one and swapped the 3/16" black bungee loop for the 1/4-inch. Easily packs a small gel-ice cooler in front of the dashboard bar.
I've showed before that I have bungee on the dashboard bar for pinning stuff to the bar, and out of the way in the cockpit.
Time to replace, and I had just the right piece of 3/16" bungee left from the last time I bought cordage.
Last time I used two pieces of bungee through the slots in the dashboard bar, and knotted at each end, but since bungee rigged this way is full-time tensioned during storage, it doesn't age gracefully.
This time I got smarter, and used one loop of bungee with a sliding double cord stop.
First thing I gain with this, the bungee is 100% relaxed during storage, so it will last longer.
There are 3 different places I can pin the loop across the bar to let me use it for different purposes.
I can also shorten the bungee by tightening at the sliding cord stop.
Looped over the rod holder, it's a couple of inches short of being tight, and perfect for securing a large item, out of the way, in front of the cockpit - here an oversized fishing bag, but could also be a dry bag, small ice chest or gel-ice lunch bag.
The other two positions are looped over the bar, pinned by the legs, where it's just slightly tensioned, and pinned by an outside wing nut under the bar adds two more inches of tension. Can also slide the bungee at the point it's pinned, making one side tighter, and the other side looser for more stretch.
This photo is probably easier to see than the last one.
Here's the double sliding cord lock - I added wraps of polyimide tape on the other side of the knots, also, so the bungee living inside the cord lock won't get frayed.
I also had a large Ronstan shock left over, and slid both bungee ends opposite ways through the lashing side. The shock is a slick sheaveless block, shackle, or fairlead, this size is 7mm - will take a 3/8" line. Line or bungee easily slides through either side of the shock as if it was rolling on the sheave of a trolley block.
It's out of the way here - better here than stored in a cigar box - and an example of how I could use it is quickly staking out 3 boats.
Stake out one boat, slide the bow line of the third boat through the shock, and cleat the line on the staked boat.
Can also use it as a fairlead going to the Z-cleat (bait bucket), or simply tie off a line with a bowline knot.
Editing this post. I first had a 1/4-inch shock cord fitted here, but couldn't find a good double cord lock. Finally found one and swapped the 3/16" black bungee loop for the 1/4-inch. Easily packs a small gel-ice cooler in front of the dashboard bar.