Braided line intended for halyards and sheets are not the same
construction as those sold as dock lines. They stretch quite a
bit albeit maybe not as much as a laid line. In any case, we use
laid line most of the time. It was not my impression that Lloyd
was referring to dock lines exclusively. I can see replacing all
dock lines annually if they get a constant wookout though.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 08 Mar 2004 14:45:34 -0800, "Lloyd Sumpter"
said:

Spring Cleaning time for Far Cove! I usually replace the lines, but
this year money's a bit tight.

Good lord, talk about conspicuous consumption. I don't think I replaced
the
dock lines on my old Islander 24 in the entire 15 years I owned her. Of
course admittedly they didn't get much of a chance to chafe, since a good
part of the time was spent on a mooring rather than at a dock.

Does bring up a question, however. I see that the marine stores seem to
sell
braided nylon lines for tying up to a dock. I've never thought that made
much sense, since my impression is that braided has considerably less
stretch than 3 strand of the same diameter, and I'd prefer to have that
stretch to take up shock and to some extent allow for extraordinary low
tides (not to mention the fact that it's a lot easier to throw an eye
splice
in 3 strand).. What do you folks think?

Dave