Snatch ropes/straps

[warrenpfo]

I recovered a lady who in doing a U-turn in someone’s drive managed to get her left front wheel in a ditch to the extent that the right rear was about 500mm off the ground. She was going now where fast and so doing the manly thing offered to give her a pull out before realising that I only had my brand new never used snatch strap and no rope or normal recovery strap to use.

She was in a Mondeo which has no rear recovery eye but rather one of those screw in jobbies which she had lost. With no shackles to hand I doubled the strap over going around the rear diff and very slowly in low range pulled her out.

Much to my dismay she was not very appreciative or thankful and left on her merry way. As I started to coil my strap back up I noticed that it must have rubbed on an edge to the point where I have had to throw it in the bin.

So not only was I a bit pissed at her lack of appreciation but also at my stupidity of using my snatch strap and stuffing it up.

So after all that I need a new one and having done a bit or research it seems that a snatch rope is the preffered weapon of choice over a snatch strap and was wondering where I may get hold of a good quality one.

I must also remember to put the rest of my recovery gear back in the car for future none appreciative recoveries.

 

[Chris]

Damar.

C

 

[Red Oktober]

Wot Chris said

 

[chriscolleman]

Don't know about all the pro's and cons of ropes and straps.
Have a few of each.

Most of my recovery gear comes from the local harbour shop which caters for Yé old sailor/fisherman/boat owner.

Winch cables, shackles, ropes, chains, stainless everything and you can have any breaking strain you desire. From tying up the dinghy to mooring a cruise ship.
Recovering a stuck Toy fits in there somewhere.

 

[Andrew Prince]

So after all that I need a new one and having done a bit or research it seems that a snatch rope is the preffered weapon of choice over a snatch strap and was wondering where I may get hold of a good quality one.

I don't know that Damar do ropes at all?
I would get a couple of straps from Damar though - a kinetic strap/rope is quite a specialised piece of kit and not something to be used often unless you do hardcore offroad courses daily. A normal non-stretch strap will do the job for the majority of recoveries and is cheaper

The main plus of a strap over a rope is compactness - as you've discovered, recovery gear sitting at home (because it takes up too much space) when you need it is as much use as t!ts on a bull!

Cheers,

 

[warrenpfo]

Andrew

Many thanks for the reply I have a full recovery kit that I throw in the car when doing anything where it may be needed but on a daily basis I usually have 2 shackles and a tow strap in the car for occasions like this.

The purpose of the thread was to try and establish the benefits of a snatch/kinetic strap over a snatch/kinetic rope and as you have pointed out the rope would take up more space but still believe the snatch/kinetic rope to be the preferred weapon of choice over a snatch/kinetic strap and so was wondering where to get one from.
As Chris mentioned Damar make the straps both kinetic and recovery but have heard good things about Masterpull based in the US and SecureTech based out of SA who do a lifetime repair warranty on their straps and get good reviews from the guys back home.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Maybe I'm not fussy enough but I just use an ARB strap bought at one of the shows. I've used ropes and IMO it's easier to judge the condition of straps and they're definately easier to store. I also carry a bit of chain for wrapping round things for the reason you've discovered.

 

[Andrew Prince]

As Chris mentioned Damar make the straps both kinetic and recovery but have heard good things about Masterpull based in the US and SecureTech based out of SA who do a lifetime repair warranty on their straps and get good reviews from the guys back home.

As I understand it (i.e. I could well be wrong!), snatch ropes/straps have a finite number of stretches in them. I.e. they're good for x number of pulls and then they need to be binned because the elastic component is lost or the integrity of the rope/strap is compromised. On the basis that this is true, I can't see a lifetime warranty being applicable to kinetic ropes/straps.

But Scott, Paul H & co. who are clued up on the formal side (Lantra/Borda) of recovery can comment better than me.

I view straps as being consumable items as they get nicks and abrasions over time and need to be chucked out eventually. I haven't used my (Damar) stuff enough to get to that point yet.

 

[Chris]

Trouble with expensive stuff is, it's well.. expensive. It may last longer under test conditions, but trust me, out there, there is no such thing. The Damar kinetic strap is very good. And not expensive if you stuff it up. Remember that with a KS if it does get damaged the worst it can do is snap. Same with a static rope really. But with a static you may well be winching off it too and you could have a vehicle suspended over a cliff (daft example I know) where if it snaps some one goes over the edge. With a snatch strap where you are trying to break someone free all they'll do is drop back into the hole they're stuck in. So in my personal view, it's not as critical. Just never use a KS for winching.


Slightly OT
This weekend we had a chap very very very stuck and he snapped his rather old Plasma rope 5 times before I finally pulled him out with mine. They say when synthetic rope snaps it simply falls to the ground. Let me tell you it doesn't. It hit his windscreen every time. OK not enough force to break it but if it hit you in the face you'd know about it. Especially if it snapped and there was a metal eye still in there somehow.

Chris

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Just never use a KS for winching.

A KS can be very effective with winching when someone is very very stuck, just be careful

Especially if it snapped and there was a metal eye still in there somehow.

They don't go far with a weight on them, like a blanket or hook.

 

[Chris]

Sorry Jon - I should have said never used a damaged one for winching. Should have known you'd be watching Shouldn't really use anything damaged for winching if it comes to that.

The energy stored in one connected to other bits like shackles could in my view be quite dangerous actually. Damaged or not. If you had several ropes and straps together there could be d links in the middle sections. Agree that using a winch blanket minimises this, but not everyone that I see has quite the grasp of safe recoveries that perhaps you and I do. If the main rope snapped the KS would ping like a good un.

Remember that people only retain a small amount of what they read. Even on here. Maybe it's an advanced technique.


Chris

 

[BrendanB]

Sorry Jon - I should have said never used a damaged one for winching. Should have known you'd be watching Shouldn't really use anything damaged for winching if it comes to that.

The energy stored in one connected to other bits like shackles could in my view be quite dangerous actually. Damaged or not. If you had several ropes and straps together there could be d links in the middle sections. Agree that using a winch blanket minimises this, but not everyone that I see has quite the grasp of safe recoveries that perhaps you and I do. If the main rope snapped the KS would ping like a good un.

Remember that people only retain a small amount of what they read. Even on here. Maybe it's an advanced technique.


Chris

Joining straps together or joining a strap to a bridle using shackles is UNSAFE practise. Do you really fancy being hit by a kg of metal flying at Mach 1 when things go wrong?

Learn to join straps to a bridle or straps to straps WITHOUT using shackles.

To join a strap to a bridle attach one end to a vehicle recovery point with a shackle, pass the other end of bridle through the loop in the recovery strap and then attach other end of bridle to a second recovery point on vehicle using a shackle.


Joint straps together like this

To prevent the 'knot' tightening up on itself making it difficult to undo it after a recovery and also weakening the strength of the join you insert something soft into the joint such as a flo vest, rubber mat, fleece jacket etc. Like this

If things go wrong I would prefer to be hit by a flying flo vest/fleece then a kg of shackle. Recovery blanket/kit bag/flo jacket etc helps to identify the strap between vehicle plus helps with dampening if things go wrong


Sorry if my first post on here sounds confrontational but I do have a little bit of experience in designing, making, testing climbing and caving equipment along with a bit of experience in polymer research as well.


So the SAFE way of joining straps is WITHOUT the use of shackles

HTH


Brendan

 

[Chris]

Welcome Brendan. Not controversial. As far as I am aware anyway. No one here is advocating winching with straps held together with shackles - least of all me. That's not what my post was saying. We use that method of linking straps of we have to but it can damage the eye in some circumstances, so we'd rather try and avoid it. We prefer simple single lengths. I carry a 30m extension for my winch which generally is enough to reach something.

We're pretty experienced winchers on here. But I think we've all seen some terrible examples, especially on p&p days.

Stick a location in you side bar fella then we'll know where you are on the map.

Chris