Paracord

Could anyone tell me how heavy loads can a normal paracord take?
And is it suitable as a lean-to etc. construction material? How does it take prolonged exposure to sun, water or freezing?

I'm thinking about adding some lengths of it to my survival kit...

Some paracords can lift 450-550lb (depends on what kind you have) and is extremely durable. You certainly can use it for making shelters and other things. It will be very valuble. I suggest you put as much as you can it a kit because there are many uses for it.

The british army lives on paracord. I used to cram as much as i could into my bergen it has 1000000 different uses.

Para cord has a max tolerance on a dry day in sun light of 550 lbs (perfect conditions ect)

en.wikipedia.org...

A wiki link i know, but its a good guide. Shelters, traps, litters, spilnts...the lot can be made from para cord.

Great stuff, and stupidly cheap.

I bought tons of it years ago & it is used very frequently.
Camping, securing a Christmas tree to your truck, I even laced my saddle bags across my rear fender with it. It is the duct tape of rope.

I recommend buying a few hundred feet and observe how ofter you need it.

25mm wide nylon or other synthetic fibre tape - is in many instances better than paracord - it comes in 15m rolls and can replace paracord in 75% of situations - pluss do things that paracord cannot

also dyneema slings - they are expensive - but i have at least one attached to every bag i own .

the slings are rated @ 22 KN - thats a fail safe loading of > 1000 kilograms

In Finnish Army we practicaly never used tapes or paracord type strings, everything was attached with "trickwire" (Jekkulanka in Finnish military slang) a 0.7mm steel line, it was used from attaching a lantern to the tent, to it's original purpose setting up "pipe-explosive charges" (Politically correct name for the good 'ol Pipemine)
I have no bad things to say about the stuff, amazingly versatile.

[edit on 2-1-2007 by northwolf]

hey , NORTHWOLF . wire is indeed amazingly versitile , i have a roll of MIG welding wire and a paire of tese pliers :



around the house , and use them for all manner of repairs and inovation

the pliers allow the wire to be neatly twisted for a strong joint / loop

they are not vital - but far easier , neater and more secure .

also you cannot [ easily ] make a rabit snare with dynemma tape , but nor is it practical to make a belt from piano wire

i guess what i am trying to say - is that you need different materials for different tasks

the reall challenge for a survialist [ with finite volume and mass limit in his BoB ] is to parse down the list of " neat ideas " to a list that you will have to trust your life to ,

you cannot take everything -- though it never stops me attempting to

Darn right!!! I have a pair of them too.

Used them alot in the military and also in my trade of shipbuilding. They are very handy...Excellent point. Gotta shove off now..ships to build.

Thanks,
Orangetom