Mooring lines...nylon or polyester?

[bluedragon]

OK guys and girls...let's see what our collective thoughts are on this one?

I'd like to the get most elastic mooring lines I can to absorb some of the snatch loads at the pontoon when people don't obey the speed limits and make a big wash. So...nylon (polyamide) should be the answer...BUT...speaking with a ropes manufacturer today I learned that polyester is the preferred material as nylon degrades too quickly (sunlight) and loses up to 50% of its strength in two years!! However, with short lines I really like the stretch of nylon, and will try it anyway. Does anyone have experience of nylon warp failing prematurely when used for shore lines??

PS - I know I can use rubber snubbers, but it's an added cost and complication if I can avoid it.

 

[gianenrico]

Try a cpuple of meters of huge chain betwen pontoon and warp to your boat: as it weights a lot, You will never haul it tight and it will act as a shock absorber (of course You leave the tinghie attached to the pontoon when You sail out).
Cheers,
Gianenrico

 

[gianenrico]

Try a couple of meters of huge chain betwen pontoon and warp to your boat: as it weights a lot, You will never haul it tight and it will act as a shock absorber (of course You leave the tinghie attached to the pontoon when You sail out); if prams develope around the chain, more weight assured
Cheers,
Gianenrico

 

[philip_stevens]

An alternative to nylon is to get polyester lines and a couple, or more, of rubber snubbers to absorb snatch.

 

[pwfl]

Nylon - definitely. Oversized, 3 strand nylon.

I read a few years ago about some experiences of polyester ropes failing, backed up by tests, where it was found that repeated snatching led to heat buildup deep within the rope, which can eventually cause failure.

I have had supposedly good quality, ie expensive, (F*rsh*da) rubber mooring compensators, significantly oversize ones at that, fail with excessive snatching.

I think my lines are 3/4" (for a 28' boat) & there is so much give in them, easily as much as I used to get with mooring compensators.

I have not been troubled by excessive snatching since I gave up on mooring compensators & switched to nylon warps.

I personally have 100% confidence in them & believe it is the only way to go.

Obviously, it takes much less to wear through a 3-strand rope than a braided rope, so you need to monitor & protect against wear.

Whatever you do, avoid those horrible steel spring things - they make a horrendous noise, for everyone in the vicinity

 

[tomg]

I changed from Nylon to Polyester because the Nylon became unmanageably hard and stiff. The Polyester has remained fairly soft and flexible but I took the precaution of up-sizing a notch or two. Its probably not quite as flexible as Nylon and, despite your misgivings, I think the rubber snubbers are worthwhile where there is a lot of boat movement.

 

[Ships_Cat]

Your rope manufacturer is right in my view. Polyester is also better for chafe resistance and I also seriously doubt that the short length of nylon lines allows any elastic advantage over polyester unless they are drastically undersized for the boat.

If a floating line is desired (say in the case of pile moorings or marina berths having a pile to pull your stern out to so that you don't have to lie against fenders) then the UV stabilised polyethylene bipolymers such as Samson UltraBlue are good.

I have always used polyester mooring lines and never had a problem with them in any way at all.

John

 

[William_H]

It seems to me that mooring lines are always thicker than necessary to make them easy to handle and to last a long time while giving a confidence factor. The problem is thick equals less spring. You might try using shorter lines of lighter nylon to take the intial load while using your polyester for standby backup.
Here we tend to use polypropelene which is very stretchy and cheap. it does fail with UV degradation but will still last a long time.
regards olewill

 

[Robin]

Do you ever see UV in Cardiff Bay /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

We use heavy 3 strand nylon, good quality soft stuff and have rubber snubbers in addition on the bow lines. Chafe and snatch are to my mind the problems to avoid, so we have plastic tubes where chafe is likely, and the nylon/snubbers to prevent the snatch. Our current nylon warps are still soft after 4 years and show no appreciable chafe, but we use 18mm dia on our 41 ft boat, too many I see have skinny bits of string holding their 2nd biggest investment in situ. UV has not been a problem here in very sunny Poole!

 

[angelsson]

Hi,
I use 18mm nylon and compression springs, boat 38' approx 8 tons, if you buy the right ones which have nylon bushes through which they move rather than the metal to metal ones, they are silent and very efficient in reducing any shock to the cleats. I agree with the previous post that some are noisy(not mine) and have used WD40 in the middle of the night to silence a neighbours metal to metal springs squeeking. I am based in the Med, lots of UV but the nylon showing no sign of deteriation.
Hope you find a solution to suit you.
Mike

 

[bluedragon]

Thank to everybody. I've got some nylon warp and plastic tube to reduce chafe...so I'll give it a try and keep an eye on things. With regards to stretch, I could feel the difference in chandlers between 3-strand Polyester and Nylon over a metre of so of length, so I'll try it first without any additional snubbers.

 

[ArgoNot]

I'm going through the same thought process at the moment and from what I read polyester has better strength retension and abrasion resistance.
As to snubbers, Brion Toss's rigging book recommends that if you have 3 strand mooring lines you can work a length of ordinary bungee shock cord into the middle of the lay and that that will provide all the shock absorbtion you will need. You'd have to pick the appropriate place in the warp to make sure it was between the boat and the dock for it to work, but I like that idea.

 

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]
I've got some nylon warp and plastic tube to reduce chafe...

[/ QUOTE ]

Please don't use plastic tube. I've posted this many times now but here goes again.
The plastic tube hardens with UV and cracks where it passes over the bow roller or fairlead. The sharp ends cut the strop. Boat goes walkabout.

It happened to the new mooring strops on a 33 Moody next to me in 12 months!

 

[Robin]

[ QUOTE ]
Please don't use plastic tube. I've posted this many times now but here goes again.
The plastic tube hardens with UV and cracks where it passes over the bow roller or fairlead. The sharp ends cut the strop. Boat goes walkabout.

It happened to the new mooring strops on a 33 Moody next to me in 12 months!

[/ QUOTE ]

Whilst understanding the sentiment IMO it is essential to reduce chafe which pretty well means using a plastic tube as anything like leather or fabric will not last 10 minutes. We use plastic tubes on our berth lines and whilst these are looking a tad tatty now after 4 years continually in use, they are not brittle and still soft enough to bend through 90 degs as they pass through the fairleads. So perhaps it is wise to heed your warning and check the tubes periodically. Personally on moorings I'm not a fan of using warp or at least not until it has passed over the bow roller and then only to prevent chain from staining the foredeck. IMO on a mooring it has to be chain and one size up at least from the normal anchor chain, but then I always had moorings in an exposed part of Poole, I never had one go walkabout though and that includes during the 1987 hurricane.

Robin

 

[Ships_Cat]

I have used clear non toxic tube (PVC) for many years and never had a problem with it hardening to the extent that it would damage lines. In fact the opposite, until it has hardened up a little it tends to be too soft.

We live in NZ with comparatively high UV levels and I find the tube lasts around 6 or 7 years and eventually fails through chafe on our quite brutal fairleads not from hardening.

John