View Full Version : Rope over kill
I found 50ft of rope on closeout at Kmart it is 1/4 136lbs test weight 6oz. what do you think overkill for hanging food bag or my backpack.
:-?
The Weasel
03-04-2008, 13:59
Sounds like hemp rope. Probably both too heavy (in its own weight) and too weak for most other uses (on tension, 136# isn't all that much). Get para cord or uncut lacing, which is lighter and stronger. Lacing can get bought at good outfitters such as EMS and (usually) REI.
TW
550 cord from Ranger Joe's (http://www.rangerjoes.com/550-paramilitary-cord-100-p-2419.html). Good price, good customer service.
Forget the rope, hanging a pack and food are overkill.
Lone Wolf
03-04-2008, 14:48
Forget the rope, hanging a pack and food are overkill.
hey we agree on something today :)
hey we agree on something today :)
It was only a matter of time! ;) (actually I agree with other stuff, but what fun is that? :D)
I use 550 cord, it’s 550 lb breakage. I don’t see the stuff you have as overkill. I know some say that you don’t need to hang food and I have read the reasons why they say that. But at the same time I have never had a bear get into food I have hanged so I will continue to do it.
Besides hanging food, rope can be used as a clothes line to hang wet clothing, tents, sleeping bags and other gear. On the day after a good rain, I will stop at lunch time and string a clothes line and hang my gear to dry. An hour in a strong sun will dry a lot of gear. I use 25 feet of 4 millimeter cord, weight 2.9 ounces. Available from EMS and REI. You can buy thiner cord but I like the way 4mm feels in my hand.
Panzer
fiddlehead
03-04-2008, 23:49
I have a friend who is a laborer for a union brick and block laying crew. Anyway, he is also a hiker and weekend camper. He gave me a roll of the string that they use for keeping their lines straight for laying bricks/block. He told me that the stuff is the strongest he's seen and never seems to rot like the old stuff.
I tied about 4' to each of my tent's tiedowns and tent stake points, and carry about 20 feet for clothesline. It probably all weighs less than 2 oz. and, well, I've had the same tiedowns on my sil-shelter now for 3 thruhikes and in some pretty big storms, and never had it break.
If you could get some of this, it would be some good lightweight line. But, i agree with Sly and LW that you don't need it for bearbagging food or tying up your pack. That's old school.
Can also be used as shoelaces, sewing thread, sutures, pack repair, kite flying, fishing line, hanging that wild rabbit you caught in a snare over the campfire, let your imagination run wild, but rope is too big and heavy IMO.
I thought we just did this thread?lol. I said I went to homedepot and went to were you go to load up heavy stuff into your truck or car and I got that rope that you use to tye down stuff to your car. 40 feet of it weighs .003 ounces. and its freee.