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Line / Rope, what is best?


GalaTheCat

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Hi to you all,

 

I am looking for advice on what lines are the best for standard mooring etc. I spent a fortune on manilla ones a couple of years ago but I can't rely on them any more as they have already snapped a couple of times due to the heavy winds combined with wetness (I believe?). Plus they are quite heavy. Can anybody share their experience with these? I would like to replace them and I am hoping to get some more reliable, longer lasting and more easily handleable ones. Any advice?

 

Thank you,

GalaTheCat

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I'd go for any of the synthetic ones of around 16mm diameter.

 

Polypropylene is strong, light weight but can be very rough on the hands no-stretch - cheap

 

Nylon, strong, soft and pliable, gives a little bit of 'stretch', fairly expensive

 

Braided - very expensive, nice to handle, soft and strong

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Hi and welcome.

 

A question.

Do you moor in a marina?

 

I ask this because if you do not use the boat in winter months and use the same ropes to moor as well as travel, if the ropes are wet and then freeze this can damage the ropes.

We moor our boat in a marina and during winter I store, what I will call the working ropes, inside the boat and dry. I usually take then home in Autumn, wash them on a cool wash inside an old pillow case, then make sure they are throughly dry.

 

I use lengths of "retired" rope to moor the boat to the pontoon.

Edited by Ray T
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Hi and welcome.

 

A question.

Do you moor in a marina?

 

I ask this because if you do not use the boat in winter months and use the same ropes to moor as well as travel, if the ropes are wet and then freeze this can damage the ropes.

We moor our boat in a marina and during winter I store, what I will call the working ropes, inside the boat and dry. I usually take then home in Autumn, wash then on a cool wash inside an old pillow case, then make sure they are throughly dry.

 

I use lengths of "retired" rope to moor the boat to the pontoon.

Over the years I have been through some very severe cold weather but have never found any signs of frost damage, however we do have "Dock Lines" which we leave behind when we cruise. When we return we simply hook up the dock lines,slip them over T Stud/Dolly and voila the boat is moored in exactly the right place.

Phil

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I'd go for any of the synthetic ones of around 16mm diameter.

 

Polypropylene is strong, light weight but can be very rough on the hands no-stretch - cheap

 

Nylon, strong, soft and pliable, gives a little bit of 'stretch', fairly expensive

 

Braided - very expensive, nice to handle, soft and strong

 

Very useful, thank you

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We use braided ropes. A bit more expensive but they wear well and seem to stand up well to the weather.

 

We just have the one set if ropes and they stay out in all weathers and survived a Force 8 easterly in Wells Harbour! Lying in bed listening to then creak as the boat pitched and rolled we feared they would snap but they held well with no sign of damage.

 

If you are snapping ropes it must be poor quality!

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Hi and welcome.

 

A question.

Do you moor in a marina?

 

I ask this because if you do not use the boat in winter months and use the same ropes to moor as well as travel, if the ropes are wet and then freeze this can damage the ropes.

We moor our boat in a marina and during winter I store, what I will call the working ropes, inside the boat and dry. I usually take then home in Autumn, wash then on a cool wash inside an old pillow case, then make sure they are throughly dry.

 

I use lengths of "retired" rope to moor the boat to the pontoon.

 

Thank you.

 

I don't moor in a marina, no. I didn't realise some people wash ropes :-) It sounds like a good thing to do, however since I am moving all year round I believe my ropes are working ropes throughout the year.

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For our "working" lines we use synthetic hemp from Tradline http://www.tradline.co/default.html. We do also have some braided lines, which although softer on the hands, do tend to absorb moisture.

Ditto.

Whatever you buy make sure they float - less likely to get tangled round the blade!

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For our "working" lines we use synthetic hemp from Tradline http://www.tradline.co/default.html. We do also have some braided lines, which although softer on the hands, do tend to absorb moisture.

We also use the synthetic hemp ropes from Tradline, they seem to be good value and are also available through their ebay shop

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Agreed, we had synthetic hemp (12mm) came with the boat, they lasted four years, well I lasted four years before I got so fed up with them being to small for comfort of my hands.

 

Bought new ones (14mm) so much more comfortable when pulling on them, old ones used to redo stern long button fender.

 

 

ps. don't look to closely as you will see the mistakes, it was a first attempt. biggrin.png

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My boat came with new 18 mm blue polyprop ropes 1 x bow 30 ft 1 x stern 30 ft 2 x centre 30 ft I only use the stern these days but it is eight years old and still giving good service. My others have all be replaced with synthetic chinese ropes. They all float and the chinese ones dry very quickly.

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Synthetic hemp every time. Doesn't rot or shrink, floats, last ages in constant use in my experience. 14mm the minimum for comfortable handling, stronger than necessary for a narrowboat but worth the extra cost in my view.

I've only replaced ropes due to theft or vandalism in nearly 8 years. One stolen, one cut through!

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Nylon stretches and absorbs shock loads well but doesn't float and expands/shrinks as it gets wet/dries.

 

Polypropylene/Polysteel floats and doesn't stretch but not very forgiving if you tie up too tight or stop the boat too suddenly on a bollard.

 

So could be best to use nylon for bow line, centre rope and shorter stern lines, then use poly stuff for springs and very long bow lines, or longer stern lines as less likely to get into prop.

 

I don't know what my mooring ropes are but they are a curse because they change length considerably according to whether they are wet or dry. I'm moored tight, the weather changes, and suddenly my ropes are very slack.

 

Almost certainly nylon, the best depends on your situation, poly ropes won't suffer this but if you get sudden level changes nylon will buy a bit more time. For big level changes it all depends but proper spring ropes and long bow and stern ropes could be best.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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We use 12mm hempex (in natural colours, to be traditional!) for bow and stern lines, and a 20mm old natural rope centre rope if we're strapping to a stop on bollards, or a 14mm hempex if not.

 

I find 12mm easier to tie onto the T studs. It is reasonably strong although we managed to snap one yesterday morning when rescuing another boat and it got subjected to a shock load.

 

Edit to add: also cross straps for towing in 14mm polypropylene, long 18mm Manila (I think) for towing, and lots of blue string of various thicknesses for tying up other people's boats when they come loose!

Edited by FadeToScarlet
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