Strength of old unused rope

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stranded

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We inherited with the boat about 150m of 28mm braid - don’t know if it’s poly or nylon. I assume it was carried by the original owners as a tow rope or maybe shoreline in a storm. It is white and looks totally unused - we found it buried in a sack at the bottom of a locker, so probably has not seen much if any sunshine in its (assumed) 14 year life - certainly none in the last 7. I need some 28mm+ as a backup to our 12mm chain primary mooring strop. Cost of a short length new is manageable but it seems a shame for this stuff to just be languishing in the garage. Would you trust if for my proposed purpose - fairly sheltered swinging river mooring a couple of miles up the Dart?
 
Yes. Given antichafe sleeving where it matters, I'd trust it.
Is it single or double-braid? You should gain a good idea of WLL from Marlow/English Braids' websites,
 
I have 50m of nylon 3-strand that I have had since the early '70s. It appears to be in perfect order and it occasionally gets used as a shore line. I'm not sure that I would trust my boat to an unknown quantity on a mooring unattended though.
 
I’m not sure what it is tbh - it’s wonderfully soft and flexible so more like my sheets than my halyards, but softer - but I don’t know what they are either?
 
johnalison said:
I have 50m of nylon 3-strand that I have had since the early '70s. It appears to be in perfect order and it occasionally gets used as a shore line. I'm not sure that I would trust my boat to an unknown quantity on a mooring unattended though.
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Yeah, I think that is what I am thinking - I need to not assume that because it is a backup it will not see action and ask myself if I would use it as the primary strop, and the answer to that is no - at least unless I had a good strong chain backup…
 
Sandy said:
Take it into Westward Rope and Wire , Bakers Yard, Marsh Barton, Exeter and get them to cast their expert eye over it.
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Do you think they would do that? It’s where i got my trot mooring lines made up and they were great. Unfortunately it was during mid-lockdown so I wasn’t able to browse when I picked them up as I understand from your and others’ previous posts it’s a bit of an all Aladdin’s cave in there. Good tip.
 
stranded said:
Do you think they would do that? It’s where i got my trot mooring lines made up and they were great. Unfortunately it was during mid-lockdown so I wasn’t able to browse when I picked them up as I understand from your and others’ previous posts it’s a bit of an all Aladdin’s cave in there. Good tip.
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I had a mooring strop made up by them a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the soft eye wasn’t large enough for my cleat. They were happy to take it back and I’m now waiting for the replacement to be finished. Helpful guys and very good prices.
I'd be surprised if they wouldn’t give you an honest opinion about your rope.
 
Sandy said:
Take it into Westward Rope and Wire , Bakers Yard, Marsh Barton, Exeter and get them to cast their expert eye over it.
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You have plenty of it, and to spare.

Bet you could persuade the clever folks at PBO to run a test with load cell for interest's sake. If it "works" then you'll know.

My guess is... it's fine, go for it.
 
stranded said:
Do you think they would do that? It’s where i got my trot mooring lines made up and they were great. Unfortunately it was during mid-lockdown so I wasn’t able to browse when I picked them up as I understand from your and others’ previous posts it’s a bit of an all Aladdin’s cave in there. Good tip.
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I've always found them extremely helpful. Visited a few days ago for about 5 screws I needed and got change out of 50 pence.
 
Sandy said:
I've always found them extremely helpful. Visited a few days ago for about 5 screws I needed and got change out of 50 pence.
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Took the rope into Westward today - they were, as you said they would be, extremely helpful, but a bit non-plussed - the rope appears to be braid on braid on braid on braid nylon - like a Russian doll - peel back one layer and there’s a perfectly formed smaller one inside, and so on. As they wouldn’t know where to start splicing it, I’ll use it for testing the setup then order a new anchorplait strop - no point having a back up that might not.
 
stranded said:
Took the rope into Westward today - they were, as you said they would be, extremely helpful, but a bit non-plussed - the rope appears to be braid on braid on braid on braid nylon - like a Russian doll - peel back one layer and there’s a perfectly formed smaller one inside, and so on. As they wouldn’t know where to start splicing it, I’ll use it for testing the setup then order a new anchorplait strop - no point having a back up that might not.
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Glad to hear they lived up to the recommendation. An interesting rope you have there, never seen one like that before - not that I go round inspecting every rope I lay my hands on.
 
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