How do you decide when to throw a rope away

[jamesjermain]

Good Grief Dylan! If that's your old rope bag your new rope bag must look like a chandler's shop that has just reopened after restocking!

I have a box of small stuff - up to 6mm - mostly old and slightly green. I have a locker of old halyards, sheets etc, most of which have worn patches near the ends but have five metres or more of sound middle and which make useful spare mooring lines, preventers, frappers, wrappers and stoppers. Then I have a garage full of big old stuff - mooring strops mainly - 22mm three-strand with eyes and thimbles. Then there's 60m of 12mm rope, 60m of 10mm chain and three coils of stainless steel wire of various guages, all of which might come in handy if I buy a 12m ferro ketch!

 

[jamesjermain]

" How do you decide when to throw a rope away"

When it's too short to tie a knot in.

When the short splices start to overlap.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Dylans 'old ropes' looks like my 'good' ropes! I must confess I'm a rope collecter and have loads of ropes on board(good stuff) and in my shed(not quite so good). When they get really raggedy they get demoted for garden use but my wife doesn't like the white or coloured ropes(especially blue polypropylene or orange!) I just leave them outside and they soon get discoloured.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Dylans 'old ropes' looks like my 'good' ropes! I must confess I'm a rope collecter and have loads of ropes on board(good stuff) and in my shed(not quite so good). When they get really raggedy they get demoted for garden use but my wife doesn't like the white or coloured ropes(especially blue polypropylene or orange!) I just leave them outside and they soon get discoloured.

These wife's... they like a bit of bondage then complain about the colour of the ropes you use.. try a blindfold and then she will never know

 

[mcframe]

These wife's... they like a bit of bondage then complain about the colour of the ropes you use.. try a blindfold and then she will never know

ISTR somewhere on the internet, many years ago, someone wondering whether it was obsessive to colour-code bondage ropes by length...

... according to IEC 60062...

For the record, my bow & stern lines are the red ones, my springs dark blue, and shorelines light blue ;-)

 

[Greenwichman]

Sigh. There are difficult things about this sailing skylark. Then there are the really difficult.

The confidential answer to Dylan is 'no, I NEVER throw away rope. Ever.' (Though I don't use elastic bands, Dylan, I tie it up with itself!).

The straight answer (happy to be overheard by SWMBO) is 'yes, of course I throw away rope.'

The challenge is what to do with the rope you SAY you've thrown away, but which still inhabits the garage?

 

[dylanwinter]

most wonderful thread

I must say that your confessions have made me feel so much better about my reserve bag of ropes

I suddenly feel like a normal person

thank you very much gents

Dlan

 

[ukmctc]

there was a recent posting on here about replacing halyards and should the bloke discard the old ones before the new ones arrived

I was amazed on several levels by the question

.......................................

I have two rope bags on board

A bag full of good ones

and a bag of bad ones

This is my bad rope bag

I am not proud of it

http://youtu.be/s_ur66aJetc

Dylan

Once you have purchased and have your new rope on board, then the old rope is given away to anyone who wants it.

 

[Searush]

Hanking a rope

Dylan,

For short lengths of cordage or smaller ropes I was taught in Sea Scouts to "Hank them" as follows;

Coil naturally so that when the coils are pulled tight they can be tied in a simple loose half hitch. This will not come adrift, will not tangle, has no need for elastic bands that can perish & will always be handy to pull out of your scran bag ready to use. The technique also works well with short lanyards, simply fold them in 3 or 4 before knotting. Sorry I have no video, but it is just so simple I don't think it needs one.


For longer lengths, here is another technique. It produces a more traditional hank, but requires more effort & will not work if the rope end is only a few feet long - and we all now how important such oddments are for securing loads, replacing painters etc.

 

[Applescruffs]

A Mucking Fuddle of ropes 'n' stuff

I too have a bag of ropes, or bits of thereof, that increases exponentially year-on-year for the number of years that I have been sailing. Looking very similar to the exhibit proudly displayed by the goodly Mr Winter I really do have to ask WHY??

I must of , at one time, considered that certain ropes and bits of string were no longer up to the job...so at great expense they were replaced...and the bits of rope that I once thought incapable of doing the job were sub sequentially retained.....presumably 'in the wings' to do the job that only one week previously I had thought that they were incapable of doing !

I suppose the question is this.....

Has anyone ...ever.... consciously... thrown away any rope ...cordage...string...or anything....?

As an example .....I currently have 3 fenders the size of pillows that I found in the locker of my Mirror Offshore...(stop tittering at the back !).....when I bought it.... have I still got 'em?......'course I have ....will I ever use 'em...no...not a chance!

So just what is the mind-set of the small boat sailor that we can't throw anything away?

 

[Kukri]

My terylene staysail halyard was quite new when I bought the boat. That was 27 years ago. The throat halyard was quite old even then...

They do get washed though.

Polyprop is not worth having aboard.

You used to buy manila by weight and it would do two seasons if you end for ended it.