Chris,
There are a few. RW Ropes has good prices and they are a nice, small group of people. They also distribute Davie & Co. products.
I had them send me samples of all the lines at one point. My favorite for "feel" is the Posh, but we used that (in 3/4" size) aboard one of the tallships I worked aboard for a short time and decided it chafed too easily. Posh is very aggravating to splice. It doesn't hold its form well. Perhaps dipping it in a bucket of saltwater, then letting it dry and splicing with the
salt in it would keep it together better. But I think this quality is also what keeps the abrasion resistance low. Hempex was the next best, but we never tried it on the ships.
On the ships, we wound up using
New England Ropes "Spun" three strand, or their "Multiline 2". My preference is or the "Spun" to
work with, but the "Multiline 2" has better abrasion resistance. It splices very well, too. I recently used Multiline 2 for upper
lifelines (photo attached).
Also, don't be afraid to use the pre-stretched filament dacron three-strand. They are fairly comfy on the hands after a month or two, and stretch half as much! I know they are pure white and don't look quiet authentic, but after about three weeks of use, they brown and look quite nice.
R&W: Rope for Running Rigging
Cheers,
Aaron N.
Linear Mode
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