EBay nylon 3 strand.

[Simi 60]

Just had a mate tip me off to nylon 3 strand on eBay.
Obviously Chinese but if made to a standard it should be fine right?
Incredibly pricing
I was planing on forking out near $500 for a coil in the next week or two

1/2 inch 300ft for $49
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Super-St...edirect=mobile

Or what we need 19mm x 200ft for $78
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/19mm-Dia...edirect=mobile

Anyone tried some yet?

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Obviously Chinese but if made to a standard it should be fine right?

The ebay advert suggests the manufacturer has ISO/TS 16949 certification.

That's nice, but it tells you nothing about the rope (whether it has been tested and certified with a known working strength/breaking strength).

What it does tell you that the firm that made the rope has documented its management system. And then that has been certified by one of about a dozen certifying bodies, most of which are profit making businesses.

But if the manufacturer has been certified under ISO/TS 16949, they should be able to provide you with what you need: a statement of its composition and its working strength.

There are other considerations: quality rope manufacturers add coatings that reduce chafe, reduce absorption of chemicals, and so on.

If you're happy with generic nylon, then you might be a beneficiary of the US-PRC Trade War! And it might even be better than generic nylon.

[cal40john]

I don't see specs. Sometimes when I go into Home Depot I see cheap nylon or polyester rope on the shelves that state the working load. The number is either rated a very conservatively low % of breaking or is much weaker than same diameter from Samson or New England.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by cal40john

I don't see specs. Sometimes when I go into Home Depot I see cheap nylon or polyester rope on the shelves that state the working load. The number is either rated a very conservatively low % of breaking or is much weaker than same diameter from Samson or New England.

For the 19mm it states
The breaking strain of this rope is 12592LB
which is near enough what other brands eg: Donaghys, claim

The 1/2 says The breaking strain of this rope is 5850LB

[Bruce K]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Just had a mate tip me off to nylon 3 strand on eBay.
Obviously Chinese but if made to a standard it should be fine right?
Incredibly pricing
I was planing on forking out near $500 for a coil in the next week or two

1/2 inch 300ft for $49
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Super-St...edirect=mobile

Or what we need 19mm x 200ft for $78
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/19mm-Dia...edirect=mobile

Anyone tried some yet?

Have a look at splicing and cutting services in Sydney, I bought some nylon 8 plait from them that was unbeliveably cheap, they are major commercial suppliers and also importers, they don't have a huge range of stuff. Don't seem to stock 19mm but 16mm 3 strand $A295 for 100m coil 16mm 8 plait $395 for 100m. I have no connection ather than a very satisfied customer

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

For the 19mm it states
The breaking strain of this rope is 12592LB
which is near enough what other brands eg: Donaghys, claim

The 1/2 says The breaking strain of this rope is 5850LB

Fair enough.

The old standard for marine use rope was New England Ropes. Now I think owned by a European company named after the people who lived on Devil Mountain (or so it seems).

Anyway, for comparison's sake, note that NER 3/4" 18 mm three-strand nylon would be coated with a proprietary chemical that would reduce water absorption (nylon loses strength as it gets wet) and fibre-to-fibre chafe.

And it would have a linear mass of 13.7 pounds/foot (that tells you how much nylon fibre is in the rope; it's right easy to make a less tightly laid rope that has more air and less nylon for each foot of rope) and a tensile strength of 17,100 pounds.force. And it is made in a litigation-prone jurisdiction, meaning that the company is confident that its new rope will beat that standard.

That of course is premium laid nylon rope. The stuff from ebay will do a job and for most all applications you've positive cost-benefit position over NER nylon.

[Don C L]

Sounds too good to be true. There are things to consider: what lay is it? soft. medium, hard? Does it have UV protection and is there any coating to help prevent internal chafe and heat build up? Since I generally find I get what I pay for, I wouldn't try to go too cheap on anchor rode. For dock lines? Maybe. Well, probably not there either.

[Fore and Aft]

Simi 60 why not give it a try at that price and tell us if it is any good and how long it lasts? What are shipping costs like?
Cheers

[Simi 60]

For us, the purchase is a nice to have if needed purchase.
In 3 years full time cruising the only 19mm nylon we have used is our snubber.

We have various lengths of old mooring ropes on board but very rarely use them and a large pile of unused 20mm silver rope in an anchor locker.

Its probably an if I needed to go past 100m of chain I have some decent rope.
If I needed to offer a tow, same
If I needed to do a stern to tie up to a palm tree I have something.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Simi 60 why not give it a try at that price and tell us if it is any good and how long it lasts? What are shipping costs like?
Cheers

Free..

Add: yeah, bugger it, buy one see what it feels like

[Jim Cate]

And it would have a linear mass of 13.7 pounds/foot

wow! That's damn heavy rope! Chain would be lighter!

Jim

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

wow! That's damn heavy rope! Chain would be lighter!

Ja. Well caught. Mea culpa. Ought be 13.7 pounds/100 feet.

[Chuck Hawley]

Dear Friends,

During the 30+ years I worked for West Marine, I had the opportunity to sell, describe, buy, and source rope. The Gold Standard was always New England Ropes (NER) 3-strand nylon, either in Super Blue (the old days, it was eventually discontinued), gold, or white. I should point out that Yale 3-strand was virtually identical, and had the same roundness (sight along the axis of the rope to see how lumpy it is), even tension on the yarns and strands, and firmness (which is vital for abrasion resistance and handling).

I took on the job of trying to find similar quality to NER nylon for some private-label docklines, and I visited around 10 US and Asian factories. I was looking for the basic line construction, but also the factory's ability to splice consistently, and to maintain the consistency of the product over time.

For the sake of brevity let me summarize by saying that making firm, consistent rope that is appropriate for anchor, towing, and docking is really difficult and only one or two factories were able to meet my standards. Much of the rope was three-stage construction, without plied yarns, so it snagged on the slightest sliver on a dock. Many samples broke at 10-30% less than NER. None of them had the abrasion resistance of NER.

Don't get me going about the splices. It was obvious that the personnel who did the splicing were solely interested in the # per hour, and had no concern for the functionality of the resulting splice.

I would be very careful about buying "cheap" rope from anyone.

Cheers,

Chuck

[Adelie]

Another consideration is whether you are actually getting 100% nylon.

On the commercial side adulterated nylon is a serious safety concern when towing. Because nylon stretches more than anything else the rope as a whole is weaker even if the adulterating fibers are just as strong as nylon.
They periodically find ropes with 10-100% wrong fiber.

The easy test for nylon is to take a sample piece and fray the end. Dip the frayed end in a pot of boiling water and black dye. After a minute or so remove and rinse.

Nylon will absorb water and dye, almost all other fibers will not. Black tinged fibers are nylon, those that remain white are some other synthetic. This doesn’t work if the fake fibers are cotton, flax or something else natural.

There are burn tests you can do to determine what exactly the other fibers are.

[Ken Z]

I was in a pinch one time and bought , from a marine supply store some dock lines, 3strand nylon medium. Within 6 months it became very soft and showed some unexpected wear, and lumpy altho not bad. A few months later they broke with way less stress than rated. I was told it was made in china. I have anchor line that is old a little stiff, but I trust it. I only buy premium line . At $50 per 500’ I would have a hard time to call it premium, esp. for anchor line.