Identifying rope material

[MikeBz]

I've got a 40+m of unused 3-strand 18mm diameter rope which I'd like to cut into a few smaller lengths and splice loops in the ends to use as mooring lines. Question is how to identify what it actually is? It's a sort of cream off-white colour, man-made (melts), softish and quite shiny/slippery (as new rope tends to be). Here are a couple of pics:

 

[rogerthebodger]

Looks like Nylon to me but stand to be corrected.

 

[Boathook]

Nylon or a white dockline that is still good. Is it stretchy?

Jimmy Green Marine is a good place for info. Very helpful website with lots of info.

 

[Aeolus]

If it floats, then it's probably polypropylene. If it doesn't then probably nylon.

 

[snowbird30ds]

Looks nylon to me, floatyness and stretchyness will tell you.
Floats=polypropylene
Stretches=nylon
Neither=polyester

 

[CJ13]

Unless you’ve got a huge boat your unlikely to get much, if any stretch from 18mm nylon!

 

[snowbird30ds]

Unless you’ve got a huge boat your unlikely to get much, if any stretch from 18mm nylon!

I only have a princess 30ds and the difference when tied up and blowy is huge between the 12mm polyester I normally use and the 16mm nylon lines I have, they take out all the snatch and banging (ooer Mrs.).
Admittedly the polyesters are double braid and the nylons are 3 strand.

 

[CJ13]

Bear in mind that the BS of 18mm nylon is approx 50% more than 16mm.

 

[Roberto]

There you go, with subtitles in English

Reconnaitre les différentes fibres > Boutique en ligne Ino-Rope

 

[justanothersailboat]

That looks astonishingly like some nylon I have used successfully for mooring buoy lines in the past. Markedly shinier and slipperier than new polyester. It barely floated though. Ordinary nylon is not great for UV but some has additives and copes well. I bet it will be fine.

 

[MikeBz]

Thanks for all the help folks. It doesn’t float, so not polypropylene - which is good news. The burn/melt test in the video makes it seem more like polyester but I’m not sure. I can’t find any polyester that colour for sale, but it does look exactly like this:



I’ll get splicing.