Safety Netting

Initially sailing with two cats (now a dog - the cats get to stay home) on , I felt that I needed safety netting in order to keep them from falling off the boat. Besides the cats, I have a history of loosing things overboard - digital camera, cell phone, and keys are some of my worse incidents. Netting would have stopped two of the three for sure. The netting I purchased from a local marine supplier was the typical light weight white material. By the end of the first year it had taken a few hits. At the end of the second year it was worse, and I did not wait for the 3rd year to finish before I took it down. Looking for a replacement I had suggestions of fishing net as a low cost solution. My fear was that fishing net would not outlast the first netting and putting it on is just not that much fun. A web search located Gourock (www.gourock.com), a supplier of nylon netting for golf and batting cages. I requested a sample of their product with an explanation of it's intended use and they sent me several different thread size samples. The four of interest to me were the 1 3/4" diamond pattern. They differed in thread weight - which of course translates into strength and higher prices. Below are a couple of pictures of the 4 samples. The upper left is the #15 thread which has a breaking strength of 144 pounds. The upper right is #21 with a breaking strength of 241 pounds. Bottom left is #36 with a breaking strength of 381 pounds. And finally the bottom right is a #72 thread with a breaking strength of 740 pounds. I have chosen the #36 - has a good heavy strong feel and is not overly expensive $0.36/square foot. I figure 2' x 100' for a total of 200 sq. feet and a cost of $72.00. Cheaper than what I remember paying before. The tread is DuPont 66-728 nylon that has been colored and UV treated. It should last much longer than the old material. The black will take a little getting used too.

The four samples. The four samples with a hand to give scale.

April 18, 2004

The new netting started going up this weekend. As noted above, I ordered a piece of the #36 netting 100'x2' along with 300' of the #72 twine to secure the netting to the boat. Total cost including shipping was $108.72. Installation started at the forward most stanchion of the bow pulpit aft to each gate. The back half of the boat will have to wait for another weekend. Below are images of the work so far. I like the black.

Previous white netting Overall View

Bow Upper life line wrap

Area around forward cleat Toe rail wrap

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