Rope recommendations

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Johnny5

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I'm slowly coming to the end of my steel boat refit and between other things I'm looking around for some rope my local marine shop had some and he offered me a deal but 50m of 12mm navy blue rope came out at £150 so I was shopping around and found some on eBay that looks the same
And is £50 for 50m but I haven't a clue what to look for so advice would be appreciated
The eBay rope is 3 strand softrope
thanks in advance
 
Johnny5 said:
I'm slowly coming to the end of my steel boat refit and between other things I'm looking around for some rope my local marine shop had some and he offered me a deal but 50m of 12mm navy blue rope came out at £150 so I was shopping around and found some on eBay that looks the same
And is £50 for 50m but I haven't a clue what to look for so advice would be appreciated
The eBay rope is 3 strand softrope
thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Try Ropeloft or OutdoorXscape - various products and services.

Seems you might benefit from their services, useful advice and generally competitive pricing.
 
As said, the use to which the rope is to be put is fundamental. The best mooring rope makes a really rubbish halyard, for instance, and vice versa.

This page on Jimmy Green's site gives links to the various aspects of rope choices: https://www.jimmygreen.co.uk/p/technical/yacht-ropes-and-rigging-technical-articles-

I'm not recommending JG one way or the other, but their information can be relied upon. There are many other on-line sources of similar information.
 
So should I be looking for polypropylene, polyester, or nylon rope ?
I take it polypropylene is the hard almost plastic type that builders use ? Not what I'm looking for
I'm looking for navy blue in colour and by what I can see from the links provided polyester look like the more common type available?
 
Johnny5 said:
So should I be looking for polypropylene, polyester, or nylon rope ?
I take it polypropylene is the hard almost plastic type that builders use ? Not what I'm looking for
I'm looking for navy blue in colour and by what I can see from the links provided polyester look like the more common type available?
Click to expand...

Polyester is indeed the most used on boats. But, again, to what purpose will the rope be put?
 
First you should learn a bit more about rope. I've googled you a handy article (there are many others, but it summarises the important bits nicely). Then you can decide which rope you need for your purpose.

There is a variety of rope sellers on eBay, ranging from reputable to not so much. Bargains can be found, especially with fixed length rope ends. Never buy rope that doesn't mention a load rating, and if you have reason to doubt the quality, pull out a bit of core and give it a good look. You can also put it between a cleat and a winch and see if it'll come apart under a bit of load or not. Dyneema you can test with a lighter - it behaves more like popcorn, where most other plastics just melt and glaze over.

If you can't be arsed with all of this and don't want to risk it, stick to reputable sellers who can also advise you based on your requirements. I've had very good experiences with http://outdoorxscape.co.uk/
 
Boat jumbles are often good places top pick up bargains if you know what you want. There are some good websites such as Rops4boats too. I bought some very cheap rope at Claus Olson a few years ago but it was very poor stuff so beware
We recently changed out jib halyard for a dyneema one which is a lot better than the old polyester but at a price...
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice I'm looking to make up my own mooring / docking lines and after some reading on the links suggested I have now made up my mind on some polyester rope as that looks like the best option and I'm most lightly going to place an order with /outdoorxscape.co.uk as the price looks very competitive I was thinking of trying to get a 50m coil thinking I may save some money but I may just as well get what I need ?
That now brings me to my next question I have a 7m steel cabin cruser what would be a good amount of rope to get
I did intend to leave a couple of permanent lines on my home mooring but not essential
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction ��
 
Laid polyester also makes a good mooring line, but doesn't go hard like nylon.

Years ago, someone on here suggested that the right length for a bow line is just too short to reach the prop when it's on the bow cleat. That stuck me as being very sensible, so I've followed the advice ever since.

You'll want one bow line, one stern line - these should be the same length for simplicity, and a couple of springs. Mine are about 1 1/2 time the length of my boat. You then want a couple more bits as long as you can conveniently carry so you can get lines ashore when rafted up.

An eye big enough to go over any cleat you're likely to come across spliced in one end is useful; I put eyes in both ends, but there is a small risk that the eye will catch on something when you're slipping a line from on board. If you do use laid rope, get yourself a fid and learn to splice it yourself - it's a useful skill and very satisfying to do
 
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