Old rope

[bumblefish]

The running rigging on my Elizabethan has been replaced, so the old stuff goes into the locker, along with the previous lot and probably the lot before that! And the old mooring warps etc. How do you know when it is time to move on and discard some?

 

[Robin]

You don't notice until the lockers are full! We had a pontoon sale (well giveaway actually) of a huge pile of warps, old halyards and sheets, some inherited with the boat, some from replacements since and some liberated from our previous boat. Our biggest customer was a friend with a Bowman 42, now you'd think he could afford new stuff wouldn't you! Hoarders the lot of us.

 

[savageseadog]

Re: Money for Old rope

Sell it?

 

[bumblefish]

Re: Money for Old rope

not sure much of it is of a quality that I would spend money on!

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Re: Money for Old rope

Ebay.com

"Rare, Old, Rope, Varying Lengths. British Sailing Boat"

and make sure its the US site. Money for old rope will become yours

 

[colvic987]

when the boat drifts away with the tide, because you used the old rope as mooring warps, and when you got back your boat was gone...

old stuff might get used as sail ties but not for mooring up...

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Surely handy for many other purposes such as streaming out the back in a hoolie, tying buoys to lost anchors, lashing tenders to foredecks, etc etc

 

[bumblefish]

That is part of the problem, I decided to use all new morring warps, so what do I do with the olds ones. There are only so many swings I can make in the garden and space is limited on a 30'!

 

[gandy]

Depends on the old rope and why it was replaced. I replaced the spinnaker halyard because (a) the cover was chafed through in a few places top and bottom, and (b) 12mm matt is too large to run freely in the sheaves. The middle section appears perfect, so I have around 16 metres available for re-use.

Does anyone have any indication that modern ropes fail from old age, rather than through visible wear or damage?

Tony S

 

[LORDNELSON]

Sea Scouts usually accept mine, the old stuff for splicing practice and newer for their boata

 

[GMac]

Yes, ropes will fail from age even the new fibres.

The hard question is "when is a bit of rope old"? So many variables though it is hard to say when 'old' is. Most would look sad long before the fibre breakdown becomes a serious issue I would expect.

That comment was made as a rope salesman who has seen most ropes damaged to the point of needing replacement long before fibre age is a big issue.

Sea Scouts, land scouts, girl guides all like tieing things up (gezz.. hope that does not sound to dodgy ) so I'm sure they would all like any donations.