550 Cord, I love thee.

[Captain Spaulding]

Other than making lanyards, tricking out all my Maxpedition pack's zipper pulls, and making nifty bracelets for my 2 year old and her friends, today I happened upon a stranded co-worker (we are having a blizzard of epic proportions here). His awful lil Civic was stuck in the snow and he had no way to get out. I had no ties, but, in the lovely Commander that dbltap45acp gave me over the holidays I happened to have a 100' hank of 550 cord.

You know, if you double it over on itself 3 times and tie it off on two vehicles you can easily tow someone...thus eliminating the need for towing gear...damn that stuff is strong. Easily towed him out of the berm...then used it to tow my wife's 2 WD Expedition out of the driveway when I got home.

 

[remmmm]

I've wondered if this would work if I didn't have a tow strap with me. Not even a phone pic? Did you cut it into three equal lengths or tie it off at your truck, then loop it to the car three times?

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Nope no pics...I will rig it up later and take a few. no cutting just folding and 2 knots...I will try to get some pics tomorrow.

 

[mtwarden]

that certainly would be a lot less bulky than a toe rope- obviously more multi function

 

[Captain Spaulding]

That was my thought. Hopefully I will have some pics of the rig manana in the evening.

 

[Fallbrook Forge]

I'm glad this worked for you, however I would not recomend carrying only 550 for towing purposes. A decent chain or strap is the way to go

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Of course inwould have preferred a tow cable or tow truck. I had 550 cord and it was effective.

 

[sircantaloupe]

Thats awesome, I always wondered how 550 would hold up to something like that. I guess it helps that it has something like 30% elongation before failure. If it was static it would probably not have worked out as well.

 

[banana-clip]

I knew it was strong, but didn't know it was that strong.

Good to know you can use it in a emergency.

 

[VA27]

He wasn't all that stuck if you got him out with a hank of 550.

'Stuck' is when you break a 1.5" tow rope and it slingshots back through the grill and knocks a hole in the radiator of the guy you're trying to help.

'Stuck' is when the wrecker driver has to chain the wrecker to a coupla trees to keep the wrecker from dragging itself down into the hole with you.

Don't ask me how I know these things.

 

[holygoat]

Heh, this is a picture of me and two friends pulling one guy's jeep out of a snowbank. Turns out backing down an icy hill isn't easy.