How to Splice Marine Ropes

Wrap masking tape around the end of the rope, then cut through the middle of the taped section and through the rope. The tape will serve to hold the three strands together. Remove the tape, separate the three sections of the rope and tightly wrap each tip with masking tape.

Unravel one of three strands around the two other strands eight times. This unraveled section of rope is called the "unlayed" strand. The wound rope is called the "standing" end. Wrap tape around the base of the loosened "unlayed" section to inhibit it from unraveling more than eight times.

Face the end of the rope and loop the unlayed section into a loop, with the unlayed strands on top of the standing end. Fan out the strands, pointing straight, left and right. The taped base will serve as the closing point of the eye, after which the loosened strands will be wound into the standing end.

Peel open the standing strand that correlated to the right-pointing unlayed strand and tuck the center unlayed strand under it. Pull the center (unlayed) strand all the way through, but don't pull so tight that you distort the lay of the line.

Grab the left unlayed strand and bring it through the standing strand, over the line under which the center unlayed strand was tucked. An easy way to remember this strand is by calling it the "left-above."

Tuck the now-leftward-pointing unlayed strand under the "left-above" strand. Pull each section of the rope individually to evenly tighten up the enclosure of the eye. At this point, each strand has passed through the standing end of the rope. The loop is now closed and the rewinding process can begin.

Tuck each strand under one strand, over the next strand above it and under the next strand above that. Alternate strands after each "under-over-under" pass, a total of six times. Roll the finished splice over the ground with your foot to smooth out the line. Loop the line around a mooring cleat and pull it to set the splice. Cut away the splice tips protruding from the rope to complete the splice.