Weak ropes

[Tom Dunlap]

I posted this on Brion Toss's discussion forum:
http://www.briontoss.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html#post


After reading that fabric softener must be thoroughly rinsed out of rope...

"Otherwise it will cause the rope to retain moisture, to the extent that it will radically weaken the rope."---Brion Toss

I remembered that this question came up a while ago with some arbo buddies.

: Why is there a strength loss in wet nylon rope?

: Why don't other fibers weaken from being wet? I know that poly pro is hydro phobic so the water stays on the outside of the
fibers.

: Tom

Hi Tom,
Nylon's polymers react with the water, actually undergoing a chemical change which weakens them. The effect isn't usually
radical, and it is reversible, once the rope dries, but fabric softener makes things worse, as it cause the rope to retain moisture.
By the way, I understand that fabric-softener- treated towels are actually much less absorbent, though fluffier, than untreated
towels, because they retain water.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

 

[joe]

Hi, Tom;

I can't say I've ever used a nylon rope. How can this observation be applied towards the other types of rope in use?

Joe

 

[Tom Dunlap]

From what I understand, this is only a concern with nylon ropes. There are ropes, not necessarily arbo ropes, that are blended with nylon.

This is one of those ?s that have been asked for years but no one has ever gotten a satisfactory answer. I'm surprised with myself that I never thought about asking Brion.

Tom

 

[TreeDr]

What about NE true blue? Does it lose strength when wet? I know it's bad if you get a frozen spot. Basically, if you had two identical lines, a dry line and a wet one, which one would be stronger, and what the percentage of the lesser condition would be. Thanks.