Old ropes, hard as nails - what material?

[Neil]

When, I bought my current boat it came with a selection of old ropes - 3 ply, generally a bit stiff but very hard, and as consequence, bought some new braided mooring ropes, plus some softish 3ply. Some of the new ropes have come and gone (especially the braided ones), but the old ones have been re-instated and show no signs of deterioration. What would be the likely material? I'd like to buy more of the same, but new.

 

[sailorman]

nylon 3 strand goes stiff

 

[sarabande]

stiffening of nylon is usually as the result of exposure to UV radiation for a long time, or sometimes as a result of high tension, pressure round e.g. a bollard., or working (movement in a knot) .This causes heat and can wreck the inside of the rope with minimal damage being visible on the outside.


I towed a tree along with a small tractor, and used a black nylon mooring rope in an emergency. The knot fused together at the tree end, and even the trusty bowline round the tractor hitch was like solid plastic internally.

 

[ex-Gladys]

nylon 3 strand goes stiff

+1. When Gladys was acquired, she had been moored in Dover Marina for 2 years with new nylon warps. On the sea trial, they were impossible to coil, and until replaced shortly after purchase creaked and groaned horribly when in use. Mind you I put that down as much to being full of road crud as UV...

 

[Len Ingalls]

My personal experience.
I found that typical braided dock lines chafe too soon. I went to my local commercial fishing supplier & got medium lay 3 strand nylon. Way out lasts braided.
I use medium lay 3 strand comm. fishing polyprop rope for mooring pendants-it floats by itself & lasts several yrs with little UV damage or chafing.

3 strand comm. rope is available in soft,medium & hard lay. The harder the lay,the less chafing & wear between strands.

 

[Neil]

My personal experience.
I found that typical braided dock lines chafe too soon. .

This has definitely been my experience!

3 strand comm. rope is available in soft,medium & hard lay. The harder the lay,the less chafing & wear between strands.

I suspect my old ropes might have been 'hard lay' - they really are tough as old boots. This is what I might get more of, if I can find a supplier

 

[Neil]

I quick search has left me more confused. Nylon, polyester or polyethylene - the latter seems the hardest wearing? I haven't found a supplier that offers ropes in a variety of 'lays' - any pointers?

 

[DannyB]

On a slightly different topic, one of my mooring lines is a 3 ply, which I thought was nylon, but unlike the other ropes, it's noisy, when the strain comes on it squeaks and squeals all the time. Anyone hazard a guess at what it's made of ? Definitely want to avoid it in future.

 

[Len Ingalls]

I quick search has left me more confused. Nylon, polyester or polyethylene - the latter seems the hardest wearing? I haven't found a supplier that offers ropes in a variety of 'lays' - any pointers?

Nylon is best for purposes that need stretch,such as dock lines,but it sinks.
Polyester (Dacron) is more expensive,tougher,turns fuzzy on outside & it sinks.
Polyethelene is hard,tough & slipperier than greased lightning & difficult to keep a knot in-used for lobster pot warp here because of superior chafe resistance.Can't think of a good use for it on a boat because of it's slipperieness.
Polypropolene is the original "plastic" rope & is similar to nylon properties except it floats-good for mooring pendants & other floaty, stretchy uses. Make sure you only use comm. UV polyprop. Much of the common hardware store stuff is not UV & frizzles quickly.

Go to a comm. fishing rope supplier or ask your local fisherman about rope they use.

/Len

 

[Len Ingalls]

This has definitely been my experience!



I suspect my old ropes might have been 'hard lay' - they really are tough as old boots. This is what I might get more of, if I can find a supplier

I had poor results googling UK Rope, re- hard,med.,soft laid 3 strand. I post this link for additional info on various rope materials & construction.
http://www.wescovan.com/catalogs/cordage.pdf

Cheers/ Len

 

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I haven't found a supplier that offers ropes in a variety of 'lays' - any pointers?

Normally there's no variety in three-strand - it's all right-hand regular lay. Left-hand lay and lang-lay (left or right-hand) are all pretty-much things of the past.

I echo others' thoughts about your old rope. It's almost certainly nylon that has stiffened up through getting dirt and salt in between the strands over the years, and maybe with some UV degradation thrown in as well. It's probably retained most of its strength but I would think has become much more difficult to work. I used 1" nylon for my kayak's warps back in the early 60s, and I've noticed that the eye-splices have shrunk marginally, and that it's a lot stiffer now -- to the point where I can't really work it any more. (It's still quite strong enough, but of course it only ever takes comparatively light loads.)

Nylon makes a good mooring warp primarily because of it elasticity. Without going over all the pros and cons of anchoring and mooring methods, some nylon incorporated in the set-up provides a degree of shock-absorbency to the system. Whether there's much elasticity left in your old nylon sounds moot though, and if you wanted nylon for that reason I think you'd be better off buying new line.

Mike