Scantlings

My name is Rick

And I'm a Rope Hoarder





you just never know...I might need that!

You should see my basement, my dock box, and the back of my truckette. My stuff isn't even that good. How can you throw away rope?

I really wish you had not started this thread, now I might have to come out and admit I am a line hoarder of the worse kind. I have a garage full of line.

You just never know when you might need some line.....(all of the white bags are full of line....)

I took all of the lines off of our boat these past two weekends, washed them and they are now hanging in my basement waiting to be stowed for the winter. It is really surprising how much line can accumulate for a 30 footer in just a few years of ownership. It's also amazing how much line constitutes running rigging on a racer/cruiser.

I also don't like to throw away line. I have small off cuts that I am hanging on to for some reason. I also seem to have grown a fender collection.

Oh and Kim, those heat pal things are great!

I am not a hoarder- all my line is in tubs, neatly labeled (new, fresh and old) with the spectra in its own tub, and it is all on a pallet with casters so I can move it around and it doesn't clutter.

As to why I have about 8 tubs on the pallet, you never know when you might need some old line.

I have found that 130' 9/16 stayset halyards and 80' sheets are great for felling trees and moving large logs around and old mooring lines can live in the shed and make great storm lines when a misguided Florida hurricane tries to enter the Chesapeake. I have a couple of short pieces as lifting straps to stack the power skiff trailer on top of the bowrider trailer so that my drive looks less like a trailer junkyard during the season. The smaller control lines are the hard ones. 20' or so long, 1/4 to 3/8 low stretch and way too good to throw away. They are stacked with old blocks, shackles and assorted other boat junk because I might need them - someday.

Reminds me I need to find the deicer and put it in theslip before it gets much colder. I know I saw it somewhere this summer.

Slick470 wrote:Oh and Kim, those heat pal things are great!

YES! Simple and foolproof and nice and quiet. Multiple uses.

okay..okay. 'Lines'. But in my world, they've been demoted to ropes. And you should have seen how hard it was for me to throw some of the others away. I actually retrieved a couple from the bin after I threw them away.

I'm fairly ruthless with old lines - I wash them loose, not in a pillowcase and examine them as I untangle them - If they aren't tip top and clean (whites LOOKS white) I "donate" them which involves leaving them coiled beside the yard trash can.

The worst hoarder I ever saw actually had a bag labelled "Rope - too short to be of any use".

SloopJonB wrote:I'm fairly ruthless with old lines - I wash them loose, not in a pillowcase and examine them as I untangle them - If they aren't tip top and clean (whites LOOKS white) I "donate" them which involves leaving them coiled beside the yard trash can.

The worst hoarder I ever saw actually had a bag labelled "Rope - too short to be of any use".

Impossible, lines are NEVER too short to keep.......I have a box labelled "short line"....but I could not bring myself to photo it......

You just never know when you may urgently need to make some baggywrinkle.

kimbottles wrote:

SloopJonB wrote:I'm fairly ruthless with old lines - I wash them loose, not in a pillowcase and examine them as I untangle them - If they aren't tip top and clean (whites LOOKS white) I "donate" them which involves leaving them coiled beside the yard trash can.

The worst hoarder I ever saw actually had a bag labelled "Rope - too short to be of any use".

Impossible, lines are NEVER too short to keep.......I have a box labelled "short line"....but I could not bring myself to photo it......

It WASN'T too short to keep - he had it bagged labeled & stored.

It was simply too short to be of any use.

Small stuff has to be at least 2' long for me to keep.

2' is perfect for attaching to the cable on the upright row machine at the gym to simulate a mainsheet.

Orestes Munn wrote:2' is perfect for attaching to the cable on the upright row machine at the gym to simulate a mainsheet.

GEEK!

(That's a good idea)

My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

Jamie wrote:My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

I think this thread is going to become "you know you are a sailor when . . . . . . . " with Jamie as the first entry.

Come to think of it, I have some red and green lines that would make nice garlands- Thanks. I'm off to the proper bin.

HELL NO! I'm no line hoarder. All that line in my locker is perfectly good, absolutely, just perfect, completely and totally perfect. I'll eventually find out what it's perfect for, but in the mean time I'm keeping it because it's just.... well..... perfect.

Tucky wrote:

Jamie wrote:My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

I think this thread is going to become "you know you are a sailor when . . . . . . . " with Jamie as the first entry.

Come to think of it, I have some red and green lines that would make nice garlands- Thanks. I'm off to the proper bin.

How are port and stbd assigned on a tree? ...I mean, when it's not under way.

Are you looking at the bow or stern?

Does anyone else see the humor in a series of posts about rope being called a "thread?"

Andy B

Orestes Munn wrote:

Tucky wrote:

Jamie wrote:My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

I think this thread is going to become "you know you are a sailor when . . . . . . . " with Jamie as the first entry.

Come to think of it, I have some red and green lines that would make nice garlands- Thanks. I'm off to the proper bin.

How are port and stbd assigned on a tree? ...I mean, when it's not under way.

Dunno. But we have the best guest response of any tree on the block.

I have 2 rope-intensive sports, but I'm pretty good about cutting up climbing ropes once I sense that they are losing elasticity. What I really hoard are spectra climbing slings, they're super useful on the boat as well.

I live in a rock house, we hang Christmas wreaths and decorations with climbing chocks, wired nuts, and cams. Keeps the wife from wanting to bang pitons (or masonry nails) into the house. Pin scars could screw the resale value.

Fortunately, any boat related rope hoarding is quarantined to the boatyard or my Mom's house in RI, and she has rooms she hasn't been used in decades, so I get the sense that she really doesn't give a crap how much rope I store there, so long as I bring her grandchildren around once in a while.

and then there is my anchor problem......there I said it! Hi I am Kim and I collect anchors.........

Unless one or two of those Herreshoffs is a bronze folder, you don't have a problem.

Perhaps I need to feed your addiction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Herreshoff-Anch ... 63&vxp=mtr

Amateurs, all of you.

Rob McAlpine wrote:Unless one or two of those Herreshoffs is a bronze folder, you don't have a problem.

Perhaps I need to feed your addiction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Herreshoff-Anch ... 63&vxp=mtr

The anchor in that posting is a three piece Paul Luke storm anchor. I have one just like it but at 115 pounds. So if I were closer (pick up only) I would go check that one out, but I have never paid anything close to that for an anchor.

LarryHoward wrote:Are you looking at the bow or stern?

Cue the US Navy-

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajq8eag4Mvc[/youtube]

Jamie wrote:My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

Now THAT is hard core!

SloopJonB wrote:

Jamie wrote:My christmas tree ornaments are held on by 1.5mm dyneema left over opti sail gaskets.

Now THAT is hard core!

Ack! He said "core".