best way to clean ropes?

[Darrin Turnbull]

there has been some research into the effect of detergent, dirt and conditioner on ropes both published and in house by manufac's, All bar one (an in house one) that i have read conclude that detergents should not be used to wash ropes even if they found little strength/ performance loss as it is easily avoided and detergents chemical content vary and change all the time. Conditioner can have a beneficial effect but not if you use too much so maybe best avoided, washing was found in most cases to maintain the strength & performance of ropes providing mild synthetic cleaning products were used (such as nikwax)

 

dirt can decrease the strength of a rope especially dynamic strength, it also leads to increased wear rates, especially when using friction hitches the way we do in arb

 

marc what research is this? i assumed you meant the 364/2001 which investigated bird droppings & rust contamination but, unless my memory betrays me, it did not research dirt on ropes?

 

some people go through ropes real quick, either by damaging them with saws etc or through wear; my clients that wear ropes quickly often use no cambium/friction savers, work in the rain and don't wash their ropes, the correlation is stark in my opinion. I've taken some drty failed sections of the most popular 16s ropes without defects other than fraying caused by abrasion, these ropes were all in service for less than 2 years and when drop tested all had suffered significant dynamic strength loss, that said id kept these extreeme examples of rapid wear to one side because they were the fastest 2% that i examine.

 

Thank you for your knowledgeable answers.I can wash my ropes with more Confidence now.