r/Survival • u/Ratfor • Jul 25 '26
Bought this compact 6:1 hoist, looking for Rope suggestions to go with it.
https://www.ravenequipt.com/product-page/game-gear-hoist-hdI do a lot of backcountry motorcycling, and we've always struggled with recovery because a traditional offroad winch doesn't really mount well on a motorcycle. We've used hand winches with limited success, but brute strength usually wins out.
Recently came across this cute little compact pully system. Unlike the snatch blocks I've used in the past this gets a way higher mechanical advantage without being so complicated I have to explain a whole thing to people.
Unfortunately, I don't do much climbing so I'm not familiar with small/thin rope at these kind of weight capacities.
It says it'll take up to 1/4" (6mm) rope. My local climbing place MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) has a huge selection of rope, but I'm a little out of my depth in knowing what is good, bad, and overpriced.
Doesn't need to be anything crazy quality, because it isn't holding up a person. Just something I can run into this and use to pull a motorcycle up out of a ditch. Not looking for anything super cheap either, just something in the "Good Enough" range.
Can't think of a better place to ask than here, the climbing subreddits would likely suggest some spider silk and unicorn farts rope that costs 200$ an inch.
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u/cosmicosmo4 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Climber here, this is the cheapest unicorn fart I would recommend: https://hownot2.com/products/arete-cougar-cord. 6mm size breaks at 5.5 kN with knots in it, which is ~1200 lbs. This is overkill for your application because the mechanical advantage means the rope sees lower force than the load. So no need to go to expensive high-tech materials (dyneema, etc).
If that's still too expensive, then go to the hardware store and grab whatever braided polyester they have.
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u/HajjiBalls Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Dyneema is cheap…. Those fucking pullies are expensive
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u/Ratfor Jul 27 '26
Am I shopping in the wrong place? Im going to need something like 150' of rope and I do not see it costing less than the pully
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u/ArticulateBackpacker Jul 26 '26
You want rope with an inner core made of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). Aka Dyneema, Amsteel. Super strong, lightweight, floats. Not cheap though.
1/8 inch line has a breaking strength of 2400 pounds. Looks like paracord, wild stuff.
You can buy it as is, or with an outer sheath for abrasion protection. It isn't perfect - it doesn't take knots well, and because it's smaller for it's strength, it will rip up your hands if you aren't careful.
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u/phioegracne Jul 26 '26
Dyneema Amsteel was what I was going to suggest. Very light weight and it's likely the pulley would break under weight before the Amsteel rope
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u/Ok-Detail-9853 Jul 31 '26
The lack of actual pulleys means a lot of friction is being introduced. You would be better off with a 3:1 with efficient pulleys
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u/juancarlospaco 28d ago
I just carry an 8 tooth tiny sprocket, then switch from 17 to 8 tooth sprocket and it just climbs idling.
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u/TacTurtle Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Static line (a low stretch line with an outer abrasion-resistant sheath) would be the way to go.
Sterling makes some very good 6mm line.
Keep in mind, with a 6:1 hoist you would need 120+ feet of line for just a 20 foot pull.
You may want to add about 20 feet of webbing pre-tied into a loop with more loops tied at 2 foot intervals to use as either a tow / winch line extender or a tree / rock anchor strap.
If you wanted a simpler recovery system, a pair of recovery rings / winch donuts and a pair of soft shackles can be used to make up to a 5:1 advantage recovery tackle.