Hi all, i think i have seen the answer to this one some time back in the forum, someone had a simple and effective solution but sadly my memory is failing me. Anyway, how the hell to you get tight knots out of lines???? just found one in one of my lines last time out and want to get it out (or should i just leave it).

What ever you do..... don't leave it. The knot weakens the line by upto 50%. Use a hammer then chew at it for ages and the knot will simply fall out.

It is very important to check your lines when setting up to make sure there are no knots in the lines before your session. You have to sort out the line before attaching them to your kite so this take no longer time.

Good luck

chew it

Thanks for the suggestions, soaked it for an hour, tapped it with the hammer (not sure if that helped or not), chewed it (that definitely did) and eventually got it out. Then discovered i had a second knot as well (so i'll be checking more closely during set up from here on) and this led me to discover the most efficient way of getting out a knot....gave it to my wife who'd been watching me with an air of "for god sake give it to me" and she had it undone in half the time (small hands and good long nails are obviously the go).
Cheers

goofy foot said...

If my memory serves me correct Slingshot website suggests simply tieing knots in lines to shorten them and claims this does not weaken them

There is a large volume of information regarding the reduction of strength due to knotting.

Slingshot should perhaps research their information a little deeper, a small sample of knot research such as:

www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/50/knotrope.html
ww25.layhands.com/Knots/Index.htm
www.josephchansen.com/ropetest.html

I do not know the safe working loads for the lines that Slingshot refer to.

Perhaps what Slingshot could be implying is that the knots will reduce the strength but stay within the safe working load strength of the line.

Keep in mind that there are thousands of design calculated knots in use, in kiting, primarily the Larks Head knot designed for easy line attachment.

The point that Slingshot make regarding the fact that a knot shortens the line,(you now have one line shorter than the rest) is good enough reason to remove unintended knots.

Either way, knots in yor lines are a pain in the ar$e.
Regards
Fossil