Ropes for dopes

Bob Homme Richard? Auto correct strikes again.

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.

HopCar said:

Bob Homme Richard? Auto correct strikes again.

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

"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

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

Moby Nick said:

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

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That’s what I always say about FUEL

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.

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 ...

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

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.

Thanks for that review! I was looking at sea choice and they seemed to be pretty high quality based on reviews and their “official looking” specs.

Comodave said:

In my opinion New England Rope is the best with Sampson second. The rest is worth what you pay for it. It won’t last as long so in the end which is the better value?

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You said it was your opinion, how do you know that? Do you have any facts and/or experience. I have found that many products, domestic or foreign, run the range from junk to excellent and that's my opinion based on sixty years of facts and experience on the water.

Sea Word said:

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!

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Many ferries are named after males. Important men in the government that controls the ferries.

You don't want to use the low to no stretch line like Spectra for anchor or mooring line. We use nylon because of its elasticity.

psneeld said:

Yet when it counts...say hurricane prep....break out the good stuff

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Yes, the real Burbon.

ProMaritime said:

You said it was your opinion, how do you know that? Do you have any facts and/or experience. I have found that many products, domestic or foreign, run the range from junk to excellent and that's my opinion based on sixty years of facts and experience on the water.

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Besides my personal opinion of using rope for 50+ years, there used to be a magazine called Power Boat Reports that was similar to Consumer Reports in that they did not take advertisements and did independent testing of boating products. They did a test on rope and came to the conclusion that NER was the best. Their tests included one where they took a sawsall and used it to run line back and forth over a hacksaw blade a specific number of times. Then they measured the % of loss of line and NER came out the best for abrasion resistance. NER apparently put some coating on the line to help with abrasion resistance. So yes I do indeed have some facts to back up my opinion.

Yep, I installed hacksaw blades in all my hawse holes.

Nomad Willy said:

FYI,
Once rope is purchased and put on a boat and assigned or put to a job like being a mooring line it becomes a line. Mooring lines, anchor lines ect. Not mooring ropes or anchor ropes.
Stowed on a boat rope is just rope.

But I don’t know if it’s proper to call rope in the store line. I’d guess not but ?

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Maybe that's why they're not New England Lines

ProMaritime said:

You said it was your opinion, how do you know that? Do you have any facts and/or experience. I have found that many products, domestic or foreign, run the range from junk to excellent and that's my opinion based on sixty years of facts and experience on the water.

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I sold cordage for about fifty years. I was a distributor for Samson and also sold other brands. Both Samson and New England treat their ropes post production to stabilize the fibers and increase resistance to wear. There may be other rope companies out there that do this but I don’t know of any.

I know that some less expensive ropes weigh less per foot than Samson or NE Ropes. They feel very soft compared to Samson and NE Ropes as well. This tells me there is less nylon in them. Their strength will fall into the lower range of what is expected from a particular size of rope. Sam and NE will be at the upper end of the range.

All rope/line is coded with three colour strands inside of the strands.
This is for I. D. you should be able to see the strains on the outside.
if the rope is old and worn cut a pics off and you will see them.
Chief

Sea Word said:

Thanks for that review! I was looking at sea choice and they seemed to be pretty high quality based on reviews and their “official looking” specs.

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Sea Choice is a house brand sold by Land N Sea Distributors. They don’t make anything. They just buy in bulk and re-package. It is mostly sourced overseas with price being the most important factor.

Line is not only about specs and price...like a lot of things....


It's about how it is used, for what job, what has it been through....etc.....


1 year working in the towing and salvage business taught me more about lines than I ever picked up from sorta independent/scientific testing or my 55 years of recreational boating.


Let's say under certain conditions, cheap line chafes through in 4 hrs. And the good stuff chafes through in 8 hrs....but the storm lasts 12 hrs. Ya see where I am going????

Lots of maybes, but in reality I learned that rarely is best always the best deal, unless you are willing to make everything surrounding the product perfect too. Much of the time "good enough" IS good enough.


Heck, many boaters I know can't tie a knot properly or to a clear properly....yet they may argue about what line is better?

Testing nylon rope

Practical Sailor magazine has extensively tested nylon rope. The best was New England !

If your Dock queen Any rope will do. But if your a traveler only the best lines will do.

Captain Glenn said:

If your Dock queen Any rope will do. But if your a traveler only the best lines will do.

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Actually, I think quite the opposite. I use my junk lines while travelling as they wear faster with the crappy tie up places you sometimes wind up with. I rather trash an old line than a brand new, high quality line.



I have new, better lines aboard while cruising for emergencies, storms, andlng term docking if needed.


My home dock was WAY more exposed to wind and wave than the vast majority of marinas Ifind on the road. So that in itself shows that Ines in general should be selected for their intended use, not what's printed on the package.

I quit using 3 strand nylon years ago. I now use only 8 strand (brait) type nylon. I have started to use dyneema 12 in places where I don't want stretch.

TDunn,
I’m evolving toward that practice.
Will Brait take as much chaffing as 3 strand on coarse surfaces?

ORIF wrote;
“Maybe that's why they're not New England Lines”
NE makes rope for many uses. And they label it rope before it is put to use on a boat.

This has turned into a very interesting thread, thanks.

psneeld You may have a point. But I use high quality rope both Samson or New England for dock lines and not the Walmart special. As they wear I will use them else where. Just peace of mind at strange docks.

If you shope around you can always get 5/8 New England Ropes for under $1/foot. Often under $.60/foot. When comparing prices, make sure you are not comparing the Defender prices.