3/4 nylon

[bigbill]

i need to replace the dock lines that stay on my private dock. i used the last 300 ft of the roll that i had for my anchor so i googled 3/4 nylon and a bunch came up on e bay. 200 ft for about 70 bucks. i know this is china man stuff but it has the same working and breaking load as every other brand out there. anybody here use this? my lines stay on the dock year round so i have to replace them every 4-5 years. y'all think it is worth trying this stuff or bite the bullet and buy another roll of the good stuff. BTW my dock is on a bayou with no current, little wind and no wave action except the occasional passing boat

[Avenger]

The only experience I can offer you is that I've broken a number of premium dock lines, but I'm also more exposed to the weather. If you're in a safer place it's probably worth a try. At least if you pop one your boat isn't going to try to spin around in the canal and tear the transom corner off. Maybe you can do some destructive testing on some samples with a trailer winch.

[rsmith]

Krush picked me up a 600’ spool of 3/4 3 strand a couple years ago. He had a contact with a wholesaler in Baltimore. I splice my own lines and use thimbles and eyebolts through the pilings ive found if you choke the poles the line wears at the choke point. First thing I noticed it was much stiffer than what I’m used to. It was hard to splice I had to use a fid to open the strands. The other thing I noticed it was not 3/4 reel said 3/4 but maybe it was metric. Krush got a spool of 5/8 and noticed the same thing. It’s held through several good blows here but I always have double lines. I change out the lines yearly. I’d never use braided except when I’m traveling. I had several Sampson 3/4 braided snap in heavy gusts during Frances in 04 no chafing they parted in the middle between the boat and pole the ends were actually melted like a torch was put to it. No problem with the 3 strand except chafing at the cleats and hawse holes

[rsmith]

Krush picked me up a 600’ spool of 3/4 3 strand a couple years ago. He had a contact with a wholesaler in Baltimore. I splice my own lines and use thimbles and eyebolts through the pilings ive found if you choke the poles the line wears at the choke point. First thing I noticed it was much stiffer than what I’m used to. It was hard to splice I had to use a fid to open the strands. The other thing I noticed it was not 3/4 reel said 3/4 but maybe it was metric. Krush got a spool of 5/8 and noticed the same thing. It’s held through several good blows here but I always have double lines. I change out the lines yearly. I’d never use braided except when I’m traveling. I had several Sampson 3/4 braided snap in heavy gusts during Frances in 04 no chafing they parted in the middle between the boat and pole the ends were actually melted like a torch was put to it. No problem with the 3 strand except chafing at the cleats and hawse holes

[bigbill]

a follow up on this, i ordered 3/4 nylon, when it came it was about 11/16 nylon, looked and felt good so i made up my dock lines, after a couple of days of the boat pulling on them they are about 5/8. lesson learned about china rope.. maybe get 1 inch next time and will have 3/4 by the time all is said and done

[rsmith]

I don’t think mine shrunk down that far but I’ve seen the same thing. The other thing is after a couple months in the sun and under strain they get hard as rocks.

[bigbill]

so this rope is crap. i noticed the other day that there was a white dust like substance on my hand after pulling the boat in. fast forward about a week and i went to the boat today and one line was about to break, only 1 strand of the three left, and another had 2 strands of the three left. time to buy the real 3/4 inch american made stuff and make all new dock lines

[yachtsmanwilly]

CRAP!!! 10 molecules of garbage out of 3 trillion with chinarope and you makee failure. No happy. Probably dropped a grain of rice in the mixer. Ask your brother where they source their deck stuff from. Our tug hawsers are "marginal" for now. We have some that are kevlar wrapped around a kevlar wire core and the are killer lines.Probably rated at a 2" capacity and is actually 1-1/2 give or take. Again though, ya hafta make sure its not chinakev! ws

[Avenger]

Sadly, at least now we know what not to do.

Sorry for your bad experience. But thank you for being the guinea pig and sharing the results with us.

[yachtsmanwilly]

Just to getcha started! pelicanrope.com/rope-by-fiber/kevlar/