Ropes for dopes

[Nomad Willy]

Al,
Of course you're right. It dosn't matter.
But of course correctness is golden.

[HopCar]

The stuff on the big spools in my store was rope. It said so on the spool.
The stuff in boxes and bags that had been spliced was line, dock or anchor. Again it said so on the package.

[Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Mischief Managed

Not if it's a rode, sheet, or a halyard...

[Sea Word]

Lol very interesting. I like the history and traditions of boat lore. I’ll pick and chose the ones I feel are important, and line vs rope, might not be one of them. But one thing that bugs me is when a boat has a male name. That’s one that I won’t abide by!

OT: One of my other hobbies is paragliding, and a paraglider has many very specific and important lines. Well, all of them are important, but the mfg buys the material in bulk on spools. But it’s still called line? It’s tiny rope but to call it rope seems odd to me.

[Nomad Willy]

Sea Word,
Others have called my boat’s name not acceptable.
She became Willy because of evolution .. like everything else.
We were shopping for boats and almost constantly talking about them. Obviously started talking about “Willy” re the Willard in the lineup. After we bought the Willard we talked about giving “her” a proper name for some time but in the end we learned the name Willy had stuck.
There was an article in PMM about a 30’ Willard crossing over to the Bahamas and you’ll never guess her name. Willie .. we named our Willy before learning about “Willie”. Maybe they felt Willie was a girls name.
I’ve seen other male named boats but I agree w you it’s not proper.

[Sea Word]

Yes, and it’s perfectly fine if it happens organically I’d argue. Or if it’s somehow ambiguous. But my good friend here where I live owns and lives on a 100 yr old ocean tug boat, a black and gray steel monstrosity that is 140’ long and it’s named BOB. that’s short for Big Ole Boat. Now, I get the sentiment, but I just can’t stand that it’s named BOB! But, she’s not my craft.
Now here’s another superstition that I do respect, and that’s renaming boats. I tried to do it ONCE. The boat I purchased was named “tip money” and while that was and is a terrible name, the choice to rename it ultimately resulted in the engine overheating and dramatically blowing up while underway. So, luckily my new boat has already been named SARAH TOO. And while I would have probably named it something else, Sarah too is fine by me and that’s what she will remain!

[AlaskaProf]

<...no male boat names?>

Really?! Eisenhower is named for Mamie? How about Bob Homme Richard?

[psneeld]

Exactly...........

[ctjstr]

rope or line? depends on who I'm talking to. Saying "line" to some folks that have been on my boat would be like speaking french to them. So to those folks, its "hand me that rope".

as for quality of line/rope. I'm just not that concerned with it. I use plenty of line for securing the boat and if a line gets funky looking it goes away. I'm just not that picky on which brand I start with.

[AlaskaProf]

Originally Posted by psneeld

Exactly...........

Graf Spee...

[HopCar]

Bob Homme Richard? Auto correct strikes again.

[Sea Word]

Well I was looking at needing 100’ of 1” chain to do this as suggested, but that’s like 900lbs of chain and $1500! So, if that’s really the required setup okay but somehow I feel that it might be overkill. Again, we are in a pretty mild environment here compared to many places.

[AlaskaProf]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Bob Homme Richard? Auto correct strikes again.

Har! My own fault, if I had spelled "Bonne " correctly...

[FF]

"Well I was looking at needing 100’ of 1” chain to do this as suggested, but that’s like 900lbs of chain and $1500"

1 inch chain is fine for a mooring , even heavier if you can figure out how to set the anchor.

A boat might need to be 100ft long to use 1 inch for anchoring

[Moby Nick]

The lines I count on are all NER. Considering all of our boat-related expenses, NER doesn't even show on our radar.

[Sea Word]

Originally Posted by Moby Nick

The lines I count on are all NER. Considering all of our boat-related expenses, NER doesn't even show on our radar.

That’s what I always say about FUEL

[psneeld]

yet....Ben Franklin...a pretty smart guy said.... "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."


My philosophy is...if you put something through hard use that may never see the end of its life through the usual means.... top drawer can be a waste of money. Yet when it counts...say hurricane prep....break out the good stuff as cruising boats have room and arguably the need for both.

[Nomad Willy]

Thanks all for the male name support.
And I might add there’s several people names like Chris (my wife) .. Kelly, Robin, Terry, Tony, ect ect ...

[bayview]

Soft lay cheap rope will often form hockles when strain is relaxed.

[dhays]

I purchased a 600' spool of cheap ebay 5/8" nylon three strand to make up my permanent dock lines. It was branded as "Seachoice". It has worked really well.



I don't think it is as good as New England or Sampson, but it is plenty "good enough" for my permanent dock lines. My permanent dock lines spliced with an 18" loop to go around the boats cleats. Each loop is covered with nylon tube webbing for chafe protection. On the dock side each line has a splice eye with a nylon thimble. That is attached to the dock cleats with a soft shackle which has nylon tubing over it for chafe protection.



I still have most of the 600' spool serving as an end table in my family room at home. Even with 6 permanent lines that I made up, as well as only partially successful docking spring designed to make it easier to come into my slip single handed, I have plenty of rope left over.



FWIW, I also bought a 200' 1/2" 3-strand pre-made anchor line off of ebay. It was cheaper to buy that than 200' feet of rope. It is much poorer quality than the Seachoice 3-strand I bought. I used it to make up and anchor bridle consisting of 2 x 25' lengths with spliced loops on one end and eyes on the other. While the line is really cheap it has lasted through several seasons of use. When it starts to chafe, I'll just make up another set with the left over line from that initial purchase.


In my case, I much prefer to make up my own lines. On my 5/8" rope, it cost me about 1/3 of what New England rope would have cost. So far it is performing well. Even if it lasts only 1/2 as long, I still come out ahead on the cost and I get exactly what works for my purposes.


FWIW, I bought some cheap 5/8" double braid to use for my traveling dock lines. 100' gave me 3 lines of appropriate lengths with the size of splice loop that I prefer. Again, not New England rope quality but plenty good enough for a dock line.


Back when I was sailing, I would use quality rope for my working lines. The forces and amount of chafe was greater in that application and there was a lot more of it. It paid to spend the significant amount of money up front and have it perform well for a decade of hard use.