lankylarry's Profile

This is truly awesome - we tried it today. We had an 8'4" pipe and used 1/2 inch manila rope. To calculate how much rope you need, measure the diameter or width of the pipe (inches), multiply by 3.14, multiply the height of the pipe (feet x 12). Then divide that amount by the size of your rope (if it is 1/2 inch, divide by 0.5)

For example, if your pipe is 2.5 inches wide and 10 feet tall and your rope is 1/2 inch wide, then:

2.5 (pipe width or diameter) x 3.14 x 10 (height in feet) x 12 (to convert feet to inches) = 942 - that is the area you need to cover. 942 / 0.5 = 1,884 inches or 157 feet of rope.

We needed about 130 feet, since our pipe was about 8.3 feet. We bought 2 100-ft spools - at the end of one, you just employ the same technique as when you start, leaving a piece at the end to wrap the new spool over.

I will say that it is effort to wrap the rope around the pipe, since with every wrap the entire length of rope needs to also get passed through - this can be a challenge if there is not much space between the pipe and the wall. It is helpful at the beginning to gather end of the rope up in a spool to pass it around the pipe easily.