Best rubber hoses (or anything else?) to protect mooring lines

[MapisM]

I use garden hoses to protect my mooring lines where they are more exposed to wear, but every couple of seasons of sun exposure their external surface gets sticky, attracting all sort of dirt - see pic below.
Before buying some replacements, I was wondering if anyone is aware of some specific type of hoses that can last longer. Or if there are better ideas for this application.
I don't fancy the leather jackets often used in big boats, because I feel that they would last even less than the rubber hose, particularly when scratched with chains and/or sharp corners bollards, as in the pic...

 

[longjohnsilver]

Many here use old fire brigade hose, but that probably doesn't help you in the Med.

 

[Pinnacle]

Why not use short lengths of chain which are shackled to a hard eye spliced into the end of the mooring warp? We used this method very successfully for 5 years. No noticable wear on either chain or warp.

 

[BartW]

Why not use short lengths of chain which are shackled to a hard eye spliced into the end of the mooring warp? We used this method very successfully for 5 years. No noticable wear on either chain or warp.

good proposal, thats what we do in our home berth, but I'm insterested in MapisM's question for when we visit other Marina's (we don't taken the chains with us)
our nice 2yo Liros ropes have quite some damage from rough boulders

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

It looks like that cat has been cocking its leg over your bollard on a regular basis, Mapism

I must be doing it wrong because I never see any appreciable wear on my stern ropes and I've never used anything to protect them! IMHO if you always use crossed lines at the stern as well as the normal stern lines and make sure they are properly tensioned, there is less strain on the normal stern lines and less need to protect them. Of course in our home berth we also have spring compensators on our normal stern lines

 

[MapisM]

It looks like that cat has been cocking its leg over your bollard on a regular basis, Mapism

LOL, I'm afraid that your bollards nearby are pretty much in the same conditions, TBH...
Another reason why I don't think the French cat is to blame is that all rubber hoses seem to get sticky after long exposures in the sun, no matter what.
If you look at the smaller hose in my pic above, which is the one that feeds the onboard fresh water circuit directly, it isn't in much better shape than the larger hoses around the spring lines.
Otoh, the grey cable, which is for AC power connection to the dock, is in much better conditions in spite of the fact that it's as old as the boat - i.e. a dozen of years older than the hoses (!). That's another reason why I was thinking/hoping that there should be some hoses made with more longlasting material around.

But yeah, I agree that even without any protection, the lines wear isn't awfully fast: my previous set of stern lines, that I changed because they were worn out (hence the idea to use the hoses) lasted almost a decade, IIRC... In fact, I'm tempted to just get rid of the hoses and call it a day.

Re. chains, I do use them for the main stern lines (as also visible in the pic). But I'd rather not have them also on the springs, for weight/handling reasons.

Thanks all for the suggestions anyway, I guess I'll either replace the hoses with whatever I find at the gardening shop, or just get rid of them.
First world problems, anyway...

...though I'm now more concerned about a completely different, caulking-related issue.
Will post a separate thread in a while - stay tuned, all of you folks with teak decks!

 

[Piers]

We use Chafe-Pro - brilliant.

http://www.chafepro.com/