Trampoline for Tiki31

[Olli Väänänen]

In the plans of Tiki 31 the trampoline is made with a rope going round the netting. The leading edge of the webbing is suspended on three points: in the middle to the forestay and the corners of the webbing to the holes drilled in the top parts of the stemposts. Does this arrangement keep the webbing tight enough? I´m under the impression, that on some boats an aluminium tube is used to hold the webbing.

I am going to make the webbing out of polyester straps (like seat belts of a car).

Which one do you think is better, a rope suspended in three points or an aluminium tube?  If I would use aluminium, would a 50 millimetre tube with 2 mil thickness be strong enough?

[Axel]

There are a variety of ways to suspend the netting, using rigid tube of different kinds, ropes and so on. While I have not yet made mine, I think that a net lashed at multiple points will give a more stable platform. I have been on a Tiki with a webbing tramp that was slackly supported and it was not much fun to move on.  I also worry about a net that will drop you in the water if just one of the 3 attachment points fails. If it's independently lashed at many points, failure at one point will be inconsequential and will allow for a much tighter net. I tried to find the instructions I had seen for doing it with dyneema rope edges along the edge of the net, tied on with cord and then lashed to the boat every few inches with cord but couldn't find them. I assume this basic method would work with webbing with an edge rope or an aluminum tube as well if you wanted to go that way. The recommended lashing cord had breaking strength of 2-300 lbs so you wouldn't need a massively strong tube or edge rope to exceed that.