Washing Boat Lines

Washing my boat lines,

A friend called to ask if we were going to sailing this weekend and if I was doing anything important. I said yes to both. He then asks what important thing I was doing. I answered “Boat stuff”. So he ask “What boat stuff”?

I told him I was washing my boat lines, and hanging them out to dry. 😎

I started hand washing each line in a bucket of soapy waster and hand rinsing them.

I pulled our schooner out to do some bottom work on it, and before I put the boat back in I thought it was a good time to wash all the boat lines. It turned out to be more work than I thought it would be.

Washing the lines makes them look nicer, they run through blocks better and it gives you a opportunity to check for chafe damage. I started out by washing a line in a bucket of soapy warm water, rinsing it a few times, then a rinse in fabric softener (to make them cuddly soft and not stiff) and then hanging them to dry.

I had forgotten how many lines that schooner has. 8-(   One line at a time was going to take a week or two.

Bright idea…we have a machine that washes things, called a washing machine. Have you ever had a sheet wrap around the drum of a washing machine? I have, and I could see LONG ROPES doing that. BUT I do have mesh bags! I put the ropes in the bags, bags in the washer and was careful not to over load the machine. When the machine went in to spin cycle I was there to re balance the load so the washer would not jump around the room.

Five loads later I had clean lines drying on the line. What is even better is the washer still works. 😎 I was quite impressed how much dirt came out of the lines and how much softer the lines were.