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Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

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foam-n-fibre
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Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby foam-n-fibre » Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:12 am

Hi, I’m hoping someone can help me here.

I’m setting up a single line safety with a stopper ball above the swivel, in a pretty standard setup. I have thin Amsteel line to run from the C-loop up to and through the small hole on the stopper ball. I spliced a loop in the Amsteel, and when the Amsteel is folded in half at the end of the loop, it will slide through the stopper ball OK. I tied a figure 8 knot in the spliced Amsteel to stop the Amsteel from being pulled through the stopper. First test with it all assembled (not with a kite attached ) everything slides OK going from in a flying position to a flagged position, BUT, it's too fat to reset easily. I have an issue with how to connect the Q-line to the Amsteel. When they are linked together so they look like a reef-knot configuration, they get fatter than the Q-line knot and similar to the intended stopper knot, and because of the shape, it’s too fat for sliding back up into the stopper ball. In other words, the connection in the middle of the picture, although it is only 2 folded pieces of line, gets surprisingly fat.

Anyone have a fix for this? Can I untie the Q-line and sleeve it into the Amsteel and tie a number of small knots in the pair? Or maybe sew through it? Linking the two loops like two interlocking rings I think is not a good way to connect lines, correct? I don’t want a bigger hole in my stopper and bigger knots, or it does not run as smoothly through the hole on the bar.

Thanks,
Peter
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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby edt » Sun Jul 05, 2015 1:33 am

I would use a smaller red ball stopper here and let the knot of the q-powerline be what hits the stopper. Undo the knot on the dyneema entirely.

I don't actually like knots going through holes much in my setup myself. When I use q-powerline I will just run some standard 12 strand dyneema for 10 meters (that's how long I like my single center line to release) and then from there q-powerline. So you have 3 lines all q-powerline, then 1 line is half q-powerline and have regular kite line. This kind of setup lets you use the standard safety system.

I have found the knots sometimes catch on the bar when flagging out, you release, and that little knot on the q-powerline might hit the bar, not a problem I guess if you are lit and hit the safety but I often have to hit the safety because the wind dies and I'm near the rebar and break waters, so I need my safety to slide without any resistance.

But that's what I think most guys who use that sort of system do, they run the q-powerline all the way down to the chicken loop and make a knot (or figure 8 loop and then a second piece of q-powerline) in the q-powerline right before the red ball, and rely on that knot to be your stopper.

hope this makes sense.

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby foam-n-fibre » Sun Jul 05, 2015 2:20 am

Up until couple years ago I had thicker line going up high on one kite but did not like having anything up high on the lines. I found the high connection could easily snag things or twist over other lines and lead to lines being stuck together up high. This was more to do with launching and sticks, seaweed etc.

I do have extra Q-line pieces, so I suppose I could replace the blue Amsteel with Q-line. I'm a little uneasy with having just a stopper knot in Q-line for taking the front line loads though. Is this commonly done?? Maybe a sleeve over it would bulk it up and make for less sharp corners within the knot?

Thanks,
Peter

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby GregK » Mon Jul 06, 2015 10:57 am

Splice the Q-power line into the end of the blue Amsteel leader line for about 14 - 16 inches. Lock the two lines together by making the 8-knot for your stopper-ball in about the middle of the splice. Wrap the transition from leader line to Qpower with Dacron sailtape to make it a gradual transition rather than a step. Some stitches into this transition and the splice would also help lock everything in place.

When the bottom end of the mini-5th Amsteel leader line wears out from running through the bar hole, cut it off just above the worn area and splice together a new lower length. To lock this splice down you will need to put some stitches into the splice.

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby foam-n-fibre » Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:38 am

OK, that's a thought, thanks. By "splice" the Q line into the Amsteel, I assume that you mean to kind of weave it into the Amsteel? I can't imagine unravelling the Q-line into anything workable.

The other 2 minute solution I'm considering is adding a couple inches of Q-line so the Amsteel starts just below the stopper. The Q to Q connection will be more compact and go through the stopper OK. It would not be as elegant though.

Peter

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby Laughingman » Mon Jul 06, 2015 3:06 pm

GregK wrote:Splice the Q-power line into the end of the blue Amsteel leader line for about 14 - 16 inches. Lock the two lines together by making the 8-knot for your stopper-ball in about the middle of the splice. Wrap the transition from leader line to Qpower with Dacron sailtape to make it a gradual transition rather than a step. Some stitches into this transition and the splice would also help lock everything in place.

When the bottom end of the mini-5th Amsteel leader line wears out from running through the bar hole, cut it off just above the worn area and splice together a new lower length. To lock this splice down you will need to put some stitches into the splice.
The OPs challenge is exactly why I don't use Q powerline..
Greg if you know a way to splice these two lines together please share. It would be a game changer for me!

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby heemskn » Tue Jul 07, 2015 2:31 am

I use an albright knot (http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/i ... dknots.com)

The knot is small enough to easily pass through the bar when pulling the QR and has held up well for almost a year now.
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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby sflinux » Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:05 pm

heemskn wrote:I use an albright knot
The knot is small enough to easily pass through the bar when pulling the QR and has held up well for almost a year now.
Thanks for sharing. :thanx:

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby alamos_kiter » Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:45 pm

Nice one. thx!

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Re: Connecting Amsteel line and Q-line Cleanly

Postby BWD » Tue Jul 07, 2015 9:54 pm

one further idea: the end of the amsteel that connects to the qline could be thinned out by unlaying 4 of its 12 strands. The 2.5mm amsteel is much stronger than needed for the application.
This could yield a more streamlined connection, if wanted.


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