Forums, Everything Else, Beware UV damage to floating rope

Richard Ritchie at 15/04/2015 22:43:56
You are advised to check any buoyant ropes attached to rescue slings or life rings.
The yellow rope attached to mine degraded to dust in less than 2 seasons, at the sunlight exposed part where it was tied to the pushpit.
This was far from obvious, so is potentially dangerous.
Baltic were very helpful, but have alerted me to a line in their instructions advising that the end of the rope is cut off each season and a new part attached, to avoid this problem. (I had not been aware of this)
My experience shows this to be an essential piece of maintenance. This floating rope degrades fast in sunlight.

waratah912 at 16/04/2015 07:16:40
Some manufacturers avoid this problem by sleeving the exposed part in tubular webbing

George Isted at 16/04/2015 15:58:53
The same issue applies if you use a thin rope lashing on the guard wires/lifelines. ISAF Racing rules require you to replace these AT LEAST once a year due to UV degradation.

moongirl at 17/04/2015 20:17:23
Good reminder re guardrail lashings. I will replace them on Muscadet when I next go racing.
Incidentally lashings seem to be the choice rather than shackles or those bits with pins & circlips – interesting that when we were caught in 85knots off Le Havre during a Cowes to Deauville Race the clips let go! However the fact that the wires went slack saved my life when I fell overboard (I was able to catch a loop hanging down)