as a generic item, its rope
Well, a little research and I learned something. According to
http://www.chron.com/content/interac...ry/l.html#line,
"On a boat, most ropes are called lines" but "Traditionally, a line must be
over 1 inch in size to be called a rope." We used 5" nylon for a 4 point
mooring, but I never once heard it referred to as "rope."
Isn't anything, line or rope, over 4-inches a "hawser"?
-keith