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Old 03-05-2021, 11:28   #16
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

If you can work out the timing, the thing to do is to get the high quality ropes sold by West Marine or Defender during one of their excellent sales. We have gotten New England rope at 40% off at West Marine. I think all of our chain, anchors and rode were closer to 50% off at Defender at their March garage sale (although shipping anchors and chain does rather add up).
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Old 03-05-2021, 14:09   #17
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

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If you can work out the timing, the thing to do is to get the high quality ropes sold by West Marine or Defender during one of their excellent sales. We have gotten New England rope at 40% off at West Marine. I think all of our chain, anchors and rode were closer to 50% off at Defender at their March garage sale (although shipping anchors and chain does rather add up).
I really don’t like Defender charging for shipping. Rather have that built into the price as it takes another step to make it comparative. It just makes me avoid their site all together.
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Old 03-05-2021, 17:06   #18
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

Remember, if 1% of the people who buy this rope have a dock line break leading to a disaster, the rope can still have a 5 star rating. The star system is fine for something where, if you are the unlucky guy who gets a lemon, you can return it, no harm done. For mission critical applications, the frequency of low frequency events is exactly what you are concerned with.

https://xkcd.com/937/
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Old 04-05-2021, 08:30   #19
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

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Originally Posted by SeaStory View Post
If you can work out the timing, the thing to do is to get the high quality ropes sold by West Marine or Defender during one of their excellent sales. We have gotten New England rope at 40% off at West Marine. I think all of our chain, anchors and rode were closer to 50% off at Defender at their March garage sale (although shipping anchors and chain does rather add up).
Note - even the “West Marine” store-brand lines you get are made by New England Rope - with documentation inside from that company. (At least all the double braid dock line I’ve bought)

I likewise wait for the inevitable sale they have every few months. Also, an even better buy when on sale is the bucket of ropes they sell which includes 2 ea. 15’ dock line and 2 ea. 25’ double braid docklines in 1/2” or 5/8”. Prices are less than the individual items, plus you’ve got a new bucket!
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Old 04-05-2021, 09:08   #20
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

I've discovered a company called Casto Trading Co, in Stratham, GA. They appear to sell online thru eBay as "castobargains", though they also have a local store in Stratham. Great source for nylon, polyester and Dyneema/HMWPE. They sell odd lots and lengths, ship very quickly and are easy to deal with.


I've bought a number of different pieces of rope from them, and everything has been top notch. In terms of easy to splice, I like 3-strand and 12-strand. Double braid is doable, but I'm lazy



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Old 17-05-2021, 01:40   #21
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

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As a rigger, I work with rope all day, and have spliced many different brands. I can tell you that the variety in quality is as great as the variety in price. Never, ever buy rope for anything meaningful from a second-tier brand.
While the markup may seem obscene, it's still worth, IMO buying dockline material from New England Ropes (they're the best at this sort of line), and carried by every West Marine. It's not just how it looks and handles initially (though the difference in splicing new good-quality rope vs bad rope is night and day), it's how it wears and lasts long-term.
If you go online for rope, make sure it's from a decent brand: Yale, NER, Samson, Marlow. Avoid the junk like Novabraid, Lehigh, Lanex, and whatever Home Depot puts n their roll racks.
Hit the nail on the head! I have used Donaghys (ex southern ocean ropes?) out of NZ for our fleet for many years and we have some 15 yrs old mooring lines still like new. The garbage from sellers like Exalto ready made stuff is chafing in a month or 2 and shot in 2 yrs max. And we can ship Donaghys and splice ourselves to the ME and its still cheaper than exalto...but accountants know better of course.
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Old 05-06-2021, 08:26   #22
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

Lots of answers on line, what about fenders?
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Old 05-06-2021, 08:31   #23
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

redneckrob.........I have Taylor Made Super Gard Inflatable Vinyl 10.5 x 30 white #950128 fenders with personalized covers from Cape Hatteras Marine on my powerboat and sailboat.
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Old 05-06-2021, 10:34   #24
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

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Lots of answers on line, what about fenders?
I was considering buying some for the price to use at least as utility fenders but ended up finding Taylor Made storm gard 8.5” x27 fenders on defender for $20 so bought a bunch of those because they were priced better than them all. The covers for them cost more than the fenders. Now, I’d really like to see an Amazon dock wheel as I’d be willing to try that out.
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Old 05-06-2021, 11:43   #25
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

Once or twice a year (spring commissioning sale?) WM has Taylor-Made fenders on a two-for-one deal. Can't usually beat that.

I seem to have over-bought. Was going to fix some of them permanently in my slip, but went with continuous edging instead.

Or, you can just take up SUP'ing. I seem to collect several loose fenders every season. Washed up on the shore, the lee side of the basin, or floating in mid-river. Unless there's something distinctive about them that indicates where they came from, I just pile them up by the marina gate.
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Old 05-06-2021, 14:53   #26
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

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Once or twice a year (spring commissioning sale?) WM has Taylor-Made fenders on a two-for-one deal. Can't usually beat that.

I seem to have over-bought. Was going to fix some of them permanently in my slip, but went with continuous edging instead.

Or, you can just take up SUP'ing. I seem to collect several loose fenders every season. Washed up on the shore, the lee side of the basin, or floating in mid-river. Unless there's something distinctive about them that indicates where they came from, I just pile them up by the marina gate.
I can’t SUP out of principal. Granted, the type you are doing isn’t an issue for me but as a surfer, I hate seeing them out in the lineup.
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Old 05-06-2021, 15:15   #27
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

We buy 1/2" 3-strand nylon in bulk and make our own dock lines. WorstMarine has a big sale on New England Ropes once or twice a year and prices are pretty darn good. Usually we buy a reputable brand if rope from Hamilton Marine or Defender online.

3-strand stretches more for a given size/load-rating than double braid. It makes better dock lines. If you want an eye on one side just splice an eye in. 3-strand is easy to work with. We prefer not to have an eye and just seize both ends. If we need a loop it is 5 seconds to tie a bowline.

As for fenders, we have owned a boat now for over 5 years and have never once bought a fender. We find them all the time. We need to donate a few of them since we have started to collect way too many on our boat.

I like the Big-B fenders from TaylorMade.with the hole down the middle of them best, or the ones with an eye on both sides at least. It gives us more choices on how to mount them, horizontal or vertical.

But we have a motley assortment now with the ones we have found and those that came with our boat. We have lost one, and destroyed another on a bolt sticking out of a piling, plus one got stolen at a free dock by a dericlict liveaboard who probably needed it more than we did. A few more we have given away. If the guy who stole ours had asked we probably would have given one to him...
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Old 05-06-2021, 15:37   #28
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Re: West Marine vs Amazon lines/fenders - what am I missing?

This is one of those, you get what you pay for threads, we buy from Defender Industries, they have good pricing, they have a retail outlet store and do a gigantic on line business, they are good folk, I feel very lucky to be only a few miles from them, highly recommend these guys.

We on occasion shop West Marine as needed, I for one am happy that there are local chandeliers so one can go there and buy what you need right now, especially when you are elbow deep in a project and need a part now.

Fair winds,
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