>I am looking to build a climbing cargo net for training. What knots
>do i need to tie one? Any recommendations on rope?
The knot at the intersection of most netting is
of sheet bend/bowline form. (You can't really
say it is either one, as all four lines coming
out of these knots are "active".) The individual
pieces of rope cross the net diagonally in a
stair-step fashion. It will be easiest to start
with a diagonal strand and work to the other
corners. You will need to make yourself a netting
needle or shuttle, as well as a gauge for the size
of mesh you intend to make. There are good instructions
in Ashley. All cargo nets I have seen were made from
manila three-strand. Lash the outer meshes to a heavier
border rope, with loops seized at the corners.
That said, calculate the number of knots in the size
you propose. You may be surprised at how many there
are.
--
--Pete
"Peter W. Meek" <pwm...@mail.msen.com>
http://www.msen.com/~pwmeek/
Here are some examples of diamond-orientation nets:
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/food-4.php
http://www.bertaut.com/netmaking.html
Try pricing cargo nets first, and then compare it to the cost of rope
(and time) you'd need to make it yourself. It might be cheaper to
just buy one.
Here's an alternative method of square-orientation netting that you
won't find in Ashely:
Imagine you have parallel blue lines crossing parallel red lines at 90
degrees.
I'll call the blue lines ones of thicker rope, but of cheaper
material. I'll call the red lines the lines at 90 degrees to the
blue, for which you'll use thinner but stronger/sq. in. material than
your bulkier blue lines. Size is really the issue here
At the crossing points tie a Boa Knot with the red lines around the
thick blue ropes, treating the blue ropes as passive objects. You'll
want to become intimately familiar with the most efficient way of
tying the Boa Knot before you make your net. Practice slowly tying and
untying a Boa several dozen times.
The blue ropes have to be big enough not to be capsized or twisted
into another shape by the Boa Knot of the smaller red rope when you
tighten them up. If you need to untie a Boa Knot, bend the blue rope
at the knot.
Although this seems relatively straighforward, the downside is that
each Boa Knot will probably eat up about 1 foot of rope per crossing.
I found that the Boa Knot holds it's form better than a Constrictor or
other crossing knots for this application, but do whatever you think's
best.
For the Boa Knot:
http://www.geocities.com/roo_two/knotindex.html
Cheers,
roo