Mousing Line

[Ian_Rob]

Every few years I buy a roll of mousing line that I use to replace my halyards over the winter. 14 years ago it was £8.99/roll , now it’s is £19.99.

One year, I substituted Paracord , only to have it chafe through over the winter - necessitating a trip up the mast to re-run the halyards . Any suggestions for a cheaper, reliable, re-usable alternative?

 

[dunedin]

Keep the cut to length strings used from the previous years and reuse

 

[Ian_Rob]

Well yes but the last time I did that I had a hang-up on a sheave which I did clear but only after faffing around for ages.

 

[MoodySabre]

POLYPROPYLENE ROPE braided polyrope weatherproof durable UV-stable synthetic new | eBay

 

[Daydream believer]

I bought 4 / 2 kg rolls of polypropylene 4mm line from the chandlety in Eyemouth about 15 years ago for pea nuts.
It is pretty much abrasion resistent & being sold in a fishing community it is cheap. Sold for net repairs.
I would imagine something similar would be available online.

 

[Ian_Rob]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will investigate further.

This caught my eye but perhaps a bit thin? Tayler Tools High Visibility Builders Line Orange 360m

 

[thinwater]

Every few years I buy a roll of mousing line that I use to replace my halyards over the winter. 14 years ago it was £8.99/roll , now it’s is £19.99.

One year, I substituted Paracord , only to have it chafe through over the winter - necessitating a trip up the mast to re-run the halyards . Any suggestions for a cheaper, reliable, re-usable alternative?

An old halyard with reeving splices.

Or look at the cost of the mousing line (which only lasts a few years), the tiny reduction in useful life of the halyard (not much UV over the winter in the UK, honestly), and the honest value of your time (and potencially loosing the halyard up the mast) faffing around and coiling lines, and then returning them in the spring (a few hours, all in, I imagine), and tell me ...

Is it actually worth it? Probably 20 hours of labor and 2 sets of lines over 10 years to save a year or so. Sounds like $1000 in value against at most a few hundred in value to me. Why bother? I never have in 40 years, and I've never felt like it had any effect on halyard life. Chafe in the jammers was always the thing, and trimming the end every 3-5 years solved that.

[unless you are using Tecnora or Kevlar or something else not UV-resistant]

 

[Ian_Rob]

An old halyard with reeving splices.

Or look at the cost of the mousing line, the tiny reduction in useful life of the halyard (not much UV over the winter in the UK, honestly), and the honest value of your time (and potencially loosing the halyard up the mast) and tell me ...

Is it actually worth it? Why bother? I never have in 40 years, and I've never felt like it had any effect on halyard life. Chafe in the jammers was always the thing, and trimming the end every 3-5 years solved that.

[unless you are using Tecnora or Kevlar or something else not UV-resistant]

I know your right! I am just being a cheap skate ?

 

[Praxinoscope]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will investigate further.

This caught my eye but perhaps a bit thin? Tayler Tools High Visibility Builders Line Orange 360m

One year I made the mistake of using mousing lines as thin as this builders line and one of them jumped off the sheeve and jammed, so had to go up the mast to free it, I now never use any line thinner than 4mm, but have never had any problems with paracord.

 

[Boathook]

I use a 3 or 4 mm braided line over the winter. Purchased a bag of end of reel bits at SIBS years ago. Allows me to take haliards home over the winter, wash and if required replace without a frantic rush at the beginning of the season.
I do think that the mousing lines cause less vibration over the winter.

 

[thinwater]

I know your right! I am just being a cheap skate ?

Then search for other people's old halyards, often left near the skip.

 

[Seashoreman]

POLYPROPYLENE ROPE braided polyrope weatherproof durable UV-stable synthetic new | eBay

Goodness me Mr Sabre I almost went for that, great price BUT postage is £199 . God Bless the Germans.

Edited to say I dont understand what the postage situation means. Services outside UK or something?

 

[vyv_cox]

I use 5 mm 'Greek rope', cheap but long-lasting stuff sold in Greek hardware shops. The required length is measured out but it is costed by weight. I bought six 30 metre lengths several years ago. It takes me about an hour to change the lot, and well worth it as there is plenty of winter UV in Greece. I recently returned to my boat after a three year absence to find all six in place and still in good condition. For me it is a very worthwhile practice.

 

[MoodySabre]

Goodness me Mr Sabre I almost went for that, great price BUT postage is £199 . God Bless the Germans.

Edited to say I dont understand what the postage situation means. Services outside UK or something?

Oops - didn't see that. I bought some 4mm from somewhere that has been ideal but I can't remember where

 

[Stemar]

One year, I substituted Paracord , only to have it chafe through over the winter

I'd very much want to know what the line chafed on in case the same thing is happening to the "proper" lines. My halliards are staying on the mast. On my last boat, the halliards never came off, but showed no sign of any issues after almost 20 years.

 

[Ian_Rob]

Yes, it may be that the cord I have been using would have chafed through as well. It is about 7 years ago and to be honest, I can’t remember much about it other than thinking that the year I changed to something else was the year it failed.

Since then I have been buying the 4mm x 100m reels (Liros I think?)

I like to take my halyards off over the winter to give them a wash etc….

 

[lustyd]

20p/metre doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Are you sure you're comparing reels of the same length? Marinesuperstore have 20m reels for £7.95 while Force4 have 100m reels for £19.95 both using the same image

 

[Ian_Rob]

20p/metre doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Are you sure you're comparing reels of the same length? Marinesuperstore have 20m reels for £7.95 while Force4 have 100m reels for £19.95 both using the same image

Yes, always 100m reels and always from Force4. It used to be Liros and is seemingly now Seago. Never heard of Trem but expensive in comparison.

 

[andsarkit]

I recently got a 70m reel of 6mm polypropylene from Lidl for about £6. I wouldn't go much thinner because of the risk of jumping off the sheave and getting jammed. As there are trees near our boat yard the lines will go green if left over winter so I always like to take them off. The damp Devon weather probably doesn't help much either.

 

[vyv_cox]

I recently got a 70m reel of 6mm polypropylene from Lidl for about £6. I wouldn't go much thinner because of the risk of jumping off the sheave and getting jammed. As there are trees near our boat yard the lines will go green if left over winter so I always like to take them off. The damp Devon weather probably doesn't help much either.

I used to use 6 mm polypropylene but its life was very short. After a couple of years fibres began to break off, spraying the boat with blue coloured debris.