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  • Fish Id Wardrobe ⁂fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de
    Jul 14, 2026, 2:39 PM

    i wonder if anyone reading this is a sailing type that would answer a stupid question? i'm not a boat/ship person, but it looks as i need to buy some line and a couple of pulley blocks. a chandlery seems the best place to do that.

    this is going to sound weird, but i want it to get stuff in and out of the attic. i can't carry boxes up a ladder any more; i'm getting old.

    so, i bought a vehicle cargo net, some washing line, and a couple of shitty pulleys. it works! two pulley system makes it a doddle to lift a box, and beam in attic shows no signs of strain lifting ~30kg.

    but it's all a bit crap. it jams, the cables foul. clearly i need better pulleys, at least.

    any suggestions on how i stop the line fouling all the time? any ideas?

    i'm thinking proper line would help. what do i need?

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Replies

  • Fish Id Wardrobe ⁂fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de
    Jul 14, 2026, 2:55 PM

    hmm. detail, if you want it: line is fixed to beam, from which it goes down to a free pulley at the cargo end, then up to a fixed pulley.

    not sure where i got the line. i have the idea that it was sold as washing line, but i certainly wouldn't use it for that. i think it's cotton, like victorian climbing rope. it seems to be quarter-inch; say 6cm.

    the pulleys are tiny little things that can only weigh a matter of 200g or so.

    the problem is, i think, that the line twists so badly that it locks up. it certainly doesn't run free when unloaded - which would be very useful…

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  • rdmrdm@aus.social
    Jul 14, 2026, 3:04 PM

    @fishidwardrobe
    Braided polyethylene rope will help, having blocks with nylon pulleys will help. Remember cleats for tying off on, and eyes for routing the cordage. Also consider a clam cleat in the run to give you a quick hold point.

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  • Slash909uk EMF 📞 2909Slash909uk@mastodon.me.uk
    Jul 14, 2026, 3:08 PM

    @fishidwardrobe toolstation/screwfix do a range of ok ropes. you need braided rope, not twisted for pulley work.

    Having said that the last batch I got was from middle of lidl 😅 & its fine for light work. My Scout group used that up...

    i found a couple of ok pulleys in B&Q to suspend a rope swing chair from a roof beam, but yes a chandler would have a much better range. For rather more £££ 🙄

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  • Alien software, human hardwaremavu@mastodon.social
    Jul 14, 2026, 3:08 PM

    @fishidwardrobe i made a pulley setup for lifting heavy plants for root cutting and soil change.
    I bought the "tackle block" (?) In a home improvement store, and they also had rope in the right strength and diameter.
    Works well, but i didnt have to lift far, just a meter off the ground to get the old pot off.
    So i cant speak to fouling of the line.
    But i would suspect that clothesline might be resposible. Try a nice rope if you can find it.

    Small plastic tackle block and pulley on a green cutting mat.
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  • Allen but one of the good onesuastronomer@mastodon.monoceros.co.za
    Jul 14, 2026, 7:01 PM

    @fishidwardrobe back when I sailed, a very long time ago, all the ropes on my dad's boat were actually climbing lines. Sheathed in a soft braid, and something like 10mm thick so they were easy to grip without hurting my hands. The pulleys were plastic, and quite large: at least 7cm diameter. When the boat was at home, we hung it from the rafters in the garage, and we repurposed the rigging to hoist it up from the car roof racks.

    But the main thing that stopped it tangling was to always keep the ropes under tension. Maybe hang a permanent weight from the free pulley so that the ropes can't go slack and slip from the pulley?

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  • Gideon Hallettgmh@mastodon.social
    Jul 15, 2026, 5:36 AM

    @fishidwardrobe It definitely isn’t a silly question, and the gun tackle I rigged up to get fencing equipment up to the loft was ad hoc, but worked so well I kept the bits afterwards.

    Good rope helps with the twisting problem, but doesn’t cure it totally - but it was a minor irritation and the system as a whole worked well.

    I think most yacht chandlers outside coastal towns are online nowadays (Arthur Beale still had a shop when I bought my bits).

    A typical loft hatch - a hole in the ceiling of a hallway leading up to the roof void. Through the hatch dangles a gun tackle - a lifting arrangement consisting of two pulleys and a rope linking them, with a hook hanging from the bottom pulley; a backpack is suspended from the hook.
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  • Gideon Hallettgmh@mastodon.social
    Jul 15, 2026, 9:46 AM

    @fishidwardrobe In my case, I tested up to 55kg with no problems (the brown beam in the photo is a rolled steel joist).

    I think the heaviest single object I used it for was an old Iiyama 19" CRT which weighed just under 30kg; the hoist worked just fine.

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  • Alex Block 🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦AlexBlock@ottawa.place
    Jul 15, 2026, 11:18 AM

    @fishidwardrobe If you use a special pulley called a "block", as shown in the photo, you benefit from leverage, making your heavy load easier to lift. Make sure your line is the appropriate diameter for the pulley - it should fit comfortably within the curve of the pulley (for example, you wouldn't want to use sewing thread or yarn in a pulley!)

    Want to get very fancy, note the second photo shows a "boom vang" with two blocks and a jam cleat to lock the line in a desired position.

    A marine block that shows how two pulleys can sit in the same housing. This is used to improve leverage on heavy loads.
    The photo shows two blocks separated from each other with a line running through each pulley and then out through a jam cleat.
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  • Jeffrey Rogers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿Jeffrey@tooting.ch
    Jul 15, 2026, 6:26 PM

    @fishidwardrobe Sheave diameters (the round bits in the pulley) should be 10 x the diameter of the line for it to run smoothly. Another comment on braided line being kinder to the hands is spot on. Use a cleat to attach the free end of the line and this will give you the ability to stop the raise of the load securely at the loft hatch. Then you can climb in and swing it to one side instead of it returning to the ground floor unexpectedly. :-)

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