8/14/2019 Make Your Own Grapnel

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EPOXYWORKS Number 35, Fall 2012, 2012 Gougeon Brothers, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 of 1

By Capt. J.R. Watson

A grapnel or grappling hook is a de-vice with curved tines or flukes at-tached to a rope used for retrievingoverboard objects. For pleasureboaters, a grapnel should be small,lightweight and made of non-rustingmaterials. I think every cruising boatshould have one. The only ones Icould find were too large, or werea folding grapnel anchor, not aretrieving hook.

To get what I wanted I had to makemy own. I settled on a treble config-uration and chose galvanized steel.

Although plenty strong, this grapnel

is intended for light service, up toabout 40 lb, which is about as muchas the average person can lift with aline anyway.

Grapnel specifications

Length 8"Overall diameter 6"Weight 2 lb

Constructinga grapnel like mine callsfora fewcommon, inexpensive compo-nents:

38" 3 8" dia. galvanized spikes

18" " galvanized pipe

1516" 2" galvanized forged eyebolt

WESTSYSTEM Epoxy (105 Resin and206 Slow Hardener)

1807 SyringePlumbers putty

Toolsrequired

VicePropane TorchChannel locks3" dia. about 12" pipePlywood scrapString

Step 1.Cut the pipe to 6" long re-moving any threads. This pipe isnow your grapnels shank. File theends flat and smooth.

Step 2.Cut the heads off the spikesto make the flukes. Place one spike

in a vice, heat with a propane torchand bend to shape in steps usingchannel locks and a 3" pipe as a le-ver. They bend easily. When thefluke is at the desired shape, quenchit in water to toughen the steel a lit-tle. Repeat until all three are com-pleted. They should all be about thesame shape.

Step 4.Using a 38" or " scrap of

plywood, fashion three 38" wide slots

cut as shown so the three flukes restin the slots 120 apart in the end

view. In a side view you want thecurves of the flukes even, so thestraight ends of the flukes stand ver-tical and level. This is the crown ofyour grapnel.

Step 5.Slide the shank over thethree flukes until it stops where thebends begin. At the crown end of thegrapnel, seal the shanks end withplumbers putty so the epoxy wont

run out of the end. Use a bit ofstring to suspend the eye bolt (withthe nut on, just past the bolts end)

from something in your shop andadjust until its shoulder is even withthe shanks cut end. Eyeball and ad-just until youre satisfied that itsstraight.

Step 6.Mix three pumps strokes of105 Resin with three pump strokesof 206 Slow Hardener. This isnt es-sential, but if you have 404 HighDensity filler on hand you can add aheaping tablespoon to the epoxy. Stirthe epoxy mixture thoroughly. Pourinto an 807 syringe and inject in the

opening along side of the bolt. Re-load the syringe and keep filling theshank until full. Allow to stand 15minutes, then top it off. The surfacetension of the epoxy will create aslight dome on the end, covering thecut end of the shank. Allow it tocure overnight.

Step 7.The next day, remove theplumbers putty and scratch the cav-ity with an awl. Place the grapnel inyour vice, crown up, and fill thiscavity the same way you did in Step

6. It should only take a little epoxy.You can paint the grapnel a brightcolor to help you see it better underwater but I left mine galvanized. I tiethe bitter end of a " line about 50'long to a cleat, toss the grapnel inthe direction of the overboard item,then drag it to me. (Never use agrapnel where there could be sub-merged cables or electric wire.)

MakeYourOwnGrapnelThe finishedgrapnel

Theplywood

standkeeps

the flukesaligned and

holds the

shankverti-

cally so itcan

be filledwith

epoxy.