In the July/August issue, more tests of reader’s knots. What I found most interesting was not the knot info, but the breaking strength of the Spectra vs. the stated strength on the spool….
30lb Sufix breaking at 44.5 - 54 lbs, no knots! And after tying the knots, the winner’s knot tested at 58lb, plus the top 4 all tested over 40lbs…
Does it bother anyone else that the braid had about a 25% variation in breaking strength in the base sample, and the winners knots broke at over the highest breaking strength of the base sample??
John, I was one of the competitors. I normally tie a Bristol for this connection, but on the insistent advice of a good friend I submitted a Worm knot. Being the only pure worm knot submission, I believe I finished 17th with a mean break near 27 lbs. The Worm is very similar if not near identical to the Bristol. Both end up with the mono wrapping around the braid, unlike the Tony Pena knot which has the braid wrapping around the mono. They did not give you a whole lot of line to practice with. In all of my test breaks, the braid broke above the bimini at from 26 to 29 lbs. It never broke at the Worm knot braid-to-mono connection. So it really was a test of how well the bimini was tied. I need to talk to Doug Olander to see how he got his bimini to break at 45 lbs?????? One thought was to simply double the bimini leaving you with two main lines for the contest. That would have one, but technically would be impossible to fish with.
I reported the results to my friend. Without knowing the variability in break strength test results of the braid, he cited exactly that as a possible explanation for the results. He is well familiar with the Sufix Braid and says it normally breaks very close to 30 lbs.
I will definitely resort to the improved Bristol with wraps going up and down the bimini double. I am already comfortable tying the Bristol and this is an easy mod.
I think my main take-away from the article is that all of the mono-to-braid knots don’t do very well.
If you look at the winner, his knot broke at 58 lbs. If their line samples of Sufix really broke at 45 lbs, then that 58 lbs is only about 67% of the doubled line strength (2x45=90), all of the others were somewhere around 50%!
On the other hand, the best single line knot broke at roughly 34 lbs = 75% of the 45lbs, which is still more than the nominal 30 lb strength.
So if it were me, I’d go with the Sebile, and set my drag appropriately for 30lb.
John, been trading e-mails with Doug Olander. He ties his bimini the same way I do: 12 turns and try to get the coils to lay tight when you roll the knot down. Finish it with half hitches each leg then a Rizutto finish on both legs. Again, when testing my braid line always broke right above the Bimini knot. The connecting knot never got tested.
When I read it, I understood that doubled line meant at the connecting knot. In the braid above the Bimini the line is single. I think the braid weakens when you roll the Bimini knot down on itself.
I did talk to Doug before the contest about doubling the braid, then tying the bimini. That would give you two main lines going into the Bimini, then two loops or four legs to the Bimini loop. That would have certainly won, but from a practical standpoint it did not represent reality. We agreed not to go there.
BTW having electrical problems with the boat. The entire dash panel is out and ignition switch does not work. I can jump start the diesel across the starter solenoid, but have to shut the engine off at the injection pump. Got towed back from South Island last weekend. Probably need a new dash panel with gauges and wiring harness. This will chew a lot of my summer :-(
John, been trading e-mails with Doug Olander. He ties his bimini the same way I do: 12 turns and try to get the coils to lay tight when you roll the knot down. Finish it with half hitches each leg then a Rizutto finish on both legs. Again, when testing my braid line always broke right above the Bimini knot. The connecting knot never got tested.
When I read it, I understood that doubled line meant at the connecting knot. In the braid above the Bimini the line is single. I think the braid weakens when you roll the Bimini knot down on itself.
I did talk to Doug before the contest about doubling the braid, then tying the bimini. That would give you two main lines going into the Bimini, then two loops or four legs to the Bimini loop. That would have certainly won, but from a practical standpoint it did not represent reality. We agreed not to go there.
BTW having electrical problems with the boat. The entire dash panel is out and ignition switch does not work. I can jump start the diesel across the starter solenoid, but have to shut the engine off at the injection pump. Got towed back from South Island last weekend. Probably need a new dash panel with gauges and wiring harness. This will chew a lot of my summer :-(
When you say “right above the Bimini”, was it at the point that the Bimini knot and the single line meet? That seems to be a common problem.
On your boat dash…Check the ground wire connection. On my boat, almost everything except the auto bilge pump float gets grounded through a common terminal post in the console, which is connected via 6 gauge wire back to the engine ground.
If everything went out at once, it has to be something that is common to all of the gauges and the ignition switch, most likely the ground.
I had a similar problem a couple of years back, due to corroded lugs on the ground post. 12V is not very much potential, has a hard time forcing those electrons through oxidation.
John, been trading e-mails with Doug Olander. He ties his bimini the same way I do: 12 turns and try to get the coils to lay tight when you roll the knot down. Finish it with half hitches each leg then a Rizutto finish on both legs. Again, when testing my braid line always broke right above the Bimini knot. The connecting knot never got tested.
When I read it, I understood that doubled line meant at the connecting knot. In the braid above the Bimini the line is single. I think the braid weakens when you roll the Bimini knot down on itself.
I did talk to Doug before the contest about doubling the braid, then tying the bimini. That would give you two main lines going into the Bimini, then two loops or four legs to the Bimini loop. That would have certainly won, but from a practical standpoint it did not represent reality. We agreed not to go there.
BTW having electrical problems with the boat. The entire dash panel is out and ignition switch does not work. I can jump start the diesel across the starter solenoid, but have to shut the engine off at the injection pump. Got towed back from South Island last weekend. Probably need a new dash panel with gauges and wiring harness. This will chew a lot of my summer :-(
When you say “right above the Bimini”, was it at the point that the Bimini knot and the single line meet? That seems to be a common problem.
Yes
On your boat dash…Check the ground wire connection. On my boat, almost everything except the auto bilge pump float gets grounded through a common terminal post in the console, which is connected via 6 gauge wire back to the engine ground.
I will if I can find it. It’s a mess of spaghetti in there. Other problem is that one screw holding the block containing the alarms and idiot lights has broken it’s post.
If everything went out at once, it has to be something that is common to all of the gauges and the ignition switch, most likely the ground.
I had a similar problem a couple of years back, due to corroded lugs on the ground post. 12V is not very much potential, has a hard time forcing those electrons through oxidation.
I do believe that the problem is in my ignition switch or the circuit board on the gauge panel. While we were trouble shooting it on the water, my buddy was playing with the ignition switch til he got a feint glow on the warning lights and the gauges partially powered up. The engine starts by jumping across the starter solenoid. That means there is good juice and ground on the engine. I noted that the battery solenoid that combines the batteries for start was not clicking. The wires that operate it come from a +/- buss bar which in turn draws + from a blue w/ red wire at the circuit board. The blue w/ red is also in the plug to the ignition switch. It should have power with the ignition on. It does not. The solenoid operates when I hot wire it. The - side of the bus bar is grounded. So I’m thinking my issue is in the circuit board or the ignition switch, more likely the circuit board. My parts supplier gave me a sail boat panel with push button ignition to test with. Plugged it into my harness and nothing. If it was my ignition switch, then it should have started. No power to that panel either.
Spent way too much time on it this weekend in between sanded and spray painted wood French windows on the house.
After discussing this with my mechanic from afar, Brian McDonnell of McDonnell Marine, he concluded that after using the test ignition panel with no results, the problem was at the engine. Either connection at the starter or at the alternator. I had not done any work near the starter, but when I was re-routing the washdown pump to the bait tank, I had to route it under the engine mount near the alternator. So off I went to check and sure enough the main power leads from the engine harness had busted out of their splice there. I had to trim back the insulation a couple inches to find good wire as the stuff near the ends was powdery and soft.
So everything is put back together. I need a new plastic panel for the gauges and one plastic bezel for the temp gauge. Otherwise it’s running fine. I pulled an all nighter for makos on Saturday with Ben Lew aboard. Fishing sucked. We started in LJ Canyon for nada. Made a move to the north end of the 9 mile and had one show and leave while I was changing bait buckets. Another about the same size (50 lbs) showed about 2 hours later and Ben hooked up on the fly gear. Very squirrely fish, lots of jumping. Finally had it boat side and it took off before I could recover the fly. One last jump and it broke the 16# IGFA spec rigging. First mako on the fly at night for me. Water temp 63 and apparently green even at night. Not good conditions for makos. We were fishing a DAC Shark Tournament and from the reports I got, it was bad all over and a successful release on that fish would have placed if not won the event. Oh well.
But hey, the boat ran well! Of course, the alternator went out on my truck on the way down to SD. I made it back home. I’m working from home this week and will try to squeeze in some of this work.
Hey, I started tying the Improved Bristol, re-rigging most of my rods that have Spectra. That instruction to give it a quick jerk to tighten really makes a difference!
Slow pull = uneven coils for me, but a with a heavy quick jerk, even with 80lb fluoro and 50lb Spectra, every thing seated correctly.
