Advice on Mooring Lines - Looking for Material Description, Style Name to Order

RunAgroundHard

RunAgroundHard

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I note that there is soft line, braid line, double braid line, dock line in many material types. What I am looking for is the soft style with a braided cover, that never gets stiff, is soft on the hand when dry or wet, always easy to handle when coiling or knotting, does not go stiff after a season (like 3 stand nylon), doesn't degrade in UV and can take an occasional beating against stone piers. Hi stretch is not that important, but not no stretch.

It's probably an easy question but I can't decide from the pictures on Jimmy Green's web pages, so hoping the forum can advise with a material and style so I can order with confidence.

Thanks.
 
In the 22 years that I have had my docklines I have always visited marinas rather than use the hook.
They have been used countless times.
This leads me to ask why the claim that nylon 3 strand might get stiff over tim. The construction itself soon stops this,
I would prefer these every time. I have used braided lines but find them quick to tangle, hard to coil when preparing to throw & not so easy to splice into one looped end- Although I have done a few for our mooring holders
3 strand is so much quicker to coil & throw which is massive plus. They are much more wear resistent than braided lines
 
Daydream believer said:
In the 22 years that I have had my docklines I have always visited marinas rather than use the hook.
They have been used countless times.
This leads me to ask why the claim that nylon 3 strand might get stiff over tim. The construction itself soon stops this,
I would prefer these every time. I have used braided lines but find them quick to tangle, hard to coil when preparing to throw & not so easy to splice into one looped end- Although I have done a few for our mooring holders
3 strand is so much quicker to coil & throw which is massive plus
Click to expand...

My 16mm x 3 strand nylon mooring lines are so stiff I can hold the line almost 2m vertical before it falls over. Tying a bowline results in a knot that can't be made up tight by hand, only when it's blowing a gale and the boat tensions the knot. Coiling is a pain, easy enough to coil, but when it comes to cinching up and hanging, it is very difficult to choke the coil with the end wraps. As for time, this happened after about 6 months use. The line was like you experience when on the drum. It is also the second nylon 3 strand line that has went that way, and the original set that came with the boat when I bought her were like that but not as bad as my current set.

Thanks, but I am looking for something other than 3 x strand nylon. My experience is the polar opposite to yours.
 
Like DD above, I use 3-strand ropes for our “permanent” (now winter) mooring lines. I prefer 3 strand for ease of splicing loops, plus have a degree of shock absorbing give (with rubber snubber added to the SW corner for severe storms).
These were sourced via Largs Chandlers and believe polyester not nylon - so probably similar to these LIROS 3 Strand Polyester Mooring Warps | Jimmy Green Marine
None of these have gone unduely stiff, even at a decade old. Don’t tend to use beyond that simply as these will have sustained three or four F10 or so severe storms in a decade so like to keep renewed.
 
RunAgroundHard said:
My 16mm x 3 strand nylon mooring lines are so stiff I can hold the line almost 2m vertical before it falls over. Tying a bowline results in a knot that can't be made up tight by hand, only when it's blowing a gale and the boat tensions the knot. Coiling is a pain, easy enough to coil, but when it comes to cinching up and hanging, it is very difficult to choke the coil with the end wraps. As for time, this happened after about 6 months use. The line was like you experience when on the drum. It is also the second nylon 3 strand line that has went that way, and the original set that came with the boat when I bought her were like that but not as bad as my current set.

Thanks, but I am looking for something other than 3 x strand nylon. My experience is the polar opposite to yours.
Click to expand...
You could try washing them.
 
How about 8-strand nylon? I was looking for the same sort of qualities in a mooring rope that the OP is looking for. I bought some of this stuff at the beginning of the season so not long enough for a long-term durability test I'm afraid, but, so far at least, it seems to be doing well - I haven't spotted a down-side yet. It doesn't have a braided cover but I didn't consider that essential. To me, it feels much softer than most other ropes (including braided rope, even when washed), is very easy to handle and relatively elastic - in my opinion, all good qualities in a mooring line. I got mine from Rope Services UK.
 
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I use 3 strand nylon. It lasts about 4 years in the Med before it gets too stiff from UV damage. I bought a 200m reel of the stuff for less than a single made up dock line from the chandlers so I have no qualms about retiring stuff when its gets stiff.
 
RunAgroundHard said:
I note that there is soft line, braid line, double braid line, dock line in many material types. What I am looking for is the soft style with a braided cover, that never gets stiff, is soft on the hand when dry or wet, always easy to handle when coiling or knotting, does not go stiff after a season (like 3 stand nylon), doesn't degrade in UV and can take an occasional beating against stone piers. Hi stretch is not that important, but not no stretch.

It's probably an easy question but I can't decide from the pictures on Jimmy Green's web pages, so hoping the forum can advise with a material and style so I can order with confidence.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I would guess that such is the stuff of dreams.
 
On the Jimmy Green site, the description for the Liros multiplait mooring rope claims 15% stretch, and “> 15% stretch” for the 3-strand. How much greater I wonder? 3 strand just looks like it would naturally stretch more. 🤔
 
Our breast-lines are 3-strand (blue) polyester, plus separate slightly longer springs of 3-strand (white) nylon, all get machine-washed annually, all now over a decade old. The polyester lines still soft, the nylon springs are very slightly stiffer but nothing that can't be easily coiled to standard size.
 
Polyprop doesn't have a great reputation, probably because of the dreadful blue stuff, but my mooring's pennants are Polysteel, a floating, UV resistant polyprop. As mooring pennants, it looks as though it could outlast chain, as you haven't got the rubbing between the links. If I need to replace my existing mooring lines, I'd happily replace them with Polysteel if I could find a colour that Madame wouldn't veto, as what I've got is a pale green, with a red thread.

I definitely think that floating docklines are a good idea, as they're less likely to want to cuddle my prop when things get a bit fraught
 
Refueler said:
Its not the construction of the rope that determines if it stiffens after use .. its the materials used to create the rope.

I prefer to stay clear of nylon .. looking for polyprop.
Click to expand...
True but my slightly adjacent question was around stretch (and therefore shock absorption). I suspect the 3 strand in a given material is considerably stretchier, and that’s what the “>” symbol in the description is obscuring.
 
We had 3 strand nylon for a few seasons but, as per other posters, it went rock hard and impossible to work. Since changing to 3 strand polyester we've had no problems at all after several years.
 
Whatever you use for permanent lines, consider using bowlines for the loops rather than splices. That way if any chafe starts to appear you can shorten or lengthen the line at the pontoon end to move the chafe point before the line takes any real damage. You can do that with an eye splice but it's more of a faff.

With fixed lines the chafe points are always in about the same place on the boat, so it's good to be able to adjust the points on the lines where chafe is beginning to appear.

Of course you can achieve the same purpose by serving the lines at the likely chafe points but that's more work, or by using a hosepipe sacrificial sleeve that to my eye doesn't look as neat.
 
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