pressure washing climbing rope ?

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  • #26
Had a little time this morning so gave the goop a try; slathered the full length of pitchy rope with GOOP, let it set for 2 hours, drew a warm bath , threw my rope in there, worked it over with a brush real well, then into the top load washer with some Woolite.The Goop took care of the pitch as advertised ( Thanks Bernham ). The rope was still pretty dingy looking cosmetically, I think mainly because it is a white rope and rubbing on the hitch hiker aluminum body turned it black. So at this point I thought, well there's no more dirt on the rope so shouldn't hurt to give it a little pressure wash. So I put the rope in a 18 gal. tub and put a wide angle tip on my pressure washer. I pressure washed and flipped the rope around in the tub to get all the angles. This is the part that amazed me,is how much soap and Goop was still in the rope after spending 30 min washing and rinsing it off in warm water and also running it through the washing machine. So I spent about 20 min. pressure washing flipping the rope around and dumping out the tub of soapy water when it got about half full, I did this about 15 times before I was satisfied that I got most of the soap out of the rope. End result after all this; sparkling clean white rope. This will be my new rope cleaning method (Sorry Butch ).
 
I wonder what Melanie thinks of Burnham and the dog... No more WWBD? thoughts for me...
 
Try any of the non-abrasive content hand cleaner creams. Warm water and working the stuff in with your hands helps a lot. Rinsing, the same.
 
I can offer one other brand name, GoJo Creme hand cleaner. It's similar to Goop, but generally not quite as effective in my experience. But lacking Goop, I'd give the GoJo a try.
 
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  • #37
Anyone think its a bad idea to Goop a rope and leave it for 24 hours ? Spruce really made a mess out of things.
 
I don't think it's a bad idea. I would do so by soaking overnight or more in a half full laundry sink of water with Goop applied to the worst areas. Start with fairly warm water. Agitate by hand as often as you have time to. Drain and redo as often as you have time to. Rinse and hand squeegee afterwards like your life was in the balance...don't slack on this step :). Hang to dry in a moderate temperature, out of direct sun location.
 
Doesn't hurt even a tiny bit, but then you live in high humidity land. Not as critical in some other places, perhaps.
 
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  • #42
Pressure washing the rope in a bucket really helps on the rinse cycle, really gets all the soap and goop out. Really notice the difference in grip when the rope gets wet again on rainy days. Thanks again for the Goop advice.
 
I do the Goop thing overnight in a bucket and it never hurt a thing. Throw it in the washer in a mesh bag with a little laundry detergent and it comes out looking and feeling good.
 
Climbhigh said:
Anyone think its a bad idea to Goop a rope and leave it for 24 hours ? Spruce really made a mess out of things.
Click to expand...

How is your rope getting so sappy? Natural crotching or choking? How about a chafe sleeve made of tubular webbing, or a choking, adjustable ring and ring?

I like a high SRT TIP or choked TIP. Keep the rope from moving over the sap.
 
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  • #45
SouthSoundTree- said:
How is your rope getting so sappy? Natural crotching or choking? How about a chafe sleeve made of tubular webbing, or a choking, adjustable ring and ring?

I like a high SRT TIP or choked TIP. Keep the rope from moving over the sap.
Click to expand...

Spruce has sap everywere.
 
Are you dangling a rope, or carrying in a bag?

Maybe taking the tail of the rope and re-directing it on the side of your saddle with a biner on a gear loop to help it hang off from the trunk, if dangling it.
 
First noting that 95 out of 100 of the trees I worked in my 30+ years in the biz were conifers of some stripe, I usually was able to keep pitch fouling to a manageable level, meaning spot cleaning once a week or so would do.

Except when harvesting cones. Up there in the small wood, thin bark, needle clusters, and especially the cones themselves, there was just no avoiding heavy pitch throughout your rope...your harness...your helmet...your clothes...your hair...your skin...:D
 
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  • #48
"there was just no avoiding heavy pitch throughout your rope...your harness...your helmet...your clothes...your hair...your skin..."

This.
 
I'd favour different colored ropes so know who is who for idea of history and downgrade pathing; different color taped ends for about same reason (also yelling for red end of blue to eliminate miss-takes).
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Syntheteic lines would be chemicaly inert to lite petrols as Burnham lends; but i personally wouldn't test that on same rope 100x over 5yrs.(or rope would be for tiedowns and dragging at that point/not overhead work,lifting, lifeline etc.) .
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i believe in downgrading lines, to short/better ends, then lite rigging, tiedowns, dragging etc. Think of keeping worst wear off of best ropes. A 6k line will dampen shockloading more from a 500# drop, than a 10k line will;making cheaper line better in some circumstances if have clearance.
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Always have at least 1 fresh stick of line in bag, dated, use or sell within 1 yr. As a rule of thumb. Never bluff/follow your gut some, if you think you should or wish you had another line, bust that bag open(just like if u think MAYBE you need bath, mouthwash, check oil, air etc...)!! If a buddy should consider a new rope, offer to sell bag(of rope).
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Pine sap is it's own special curse. If in such an area, some gear becomes dedicated to such use, but clean some as stated. Cut pine and /move away from climbing/rigging gear in cool mornings, before sap flows as much. So mostly warmed sap leakage in warm part of day affects only tiedown/draging lines if any! Once cut, keep good lines way from cut. Pine is lighter, try less cuts also to limit bleeding sap.
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ANYTHNG that stiffens line, makes line have even less capacity on bend and in knot. ANYTHING sticky holds sand grains etc. to line more readily. Even carpet gets ate up by sand grains, averaging ~18 cutting surfaces per granule, powered by bodyweight back and forth across room = slow sandblasting. Carry scenario / imagery to those same un-crushable grains inside line under heavy usage/ being powered back and forth, cutting soft fibres held taut...
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i kept a black 5 gal busket as solar water heater/rope washer with ivory detergent, let heat in sun, swish every so often, take bucket on curvy/bumpy 1/2 hr ride in truck bed.. Rinse, dump in milk crate to drain, hose rinse to clear. Can cost too much to send wife shopping while i sneak washer! I have used goop for pine/tar etc., but try no chemical first or as first pull; and don't use goop in wifey's sacred appliances. If woman ain't happy, ain't no-o-o-o-o-body happy!
 
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