I'm swapping out all my docklines. New lines will be white 3-strand nylon, which I scored at no charge. Each of our current lines happens to be a different color, which makes it easy for the admiral to identify and grab the key line coming back in. Any ideas on how to add color to white lines? Will they accept dye? Other ideas?
How to color white lines
- Thread starter SFS
- Start date
I got some 3/4 braided nylon lines at a very favorable price. Easy on the hand. Over sized even for my 16K displacement boat.
Spliced the ends and smiled as I tied the boat with new pretty white dock lines. Came back 2 weeks later and they had turned chartreuse green. Contacted the manufacture, who blamed the environment. I washed them and they became more white.
So leaving them in the weather just might do it for you.
Not sure if you can dye them, but you could take some colored line and weave color coding tracers in the line for the Admiral. The manufacturer colored line would likely hold the color far longer than any dye job.
Spliced the ends and smiled as I tied the boat with new pretty white dock lines. Came back 2 weeks later and they had turned chartreuse green. Contacted the manufacture, who blamed the environment. I washed them and they became more white.
So leaving them in the weather just might do it for you.
Not sure if you can dye them, but you could take some colored line and weave color coding tracers in the line for the Admiral. The manufacturer colored line would likely hold the color far longer than any dye job.
Your local Wal-Mart may have this fabric dye kit. Its worth a try.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tumble-Dye-Craft-And-Fabric-Spray-2-oz-Mixed-Colors-8-pkg/24419061
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tumble-Dye-Craft-And-Fabric-Spray-2-oz-Mixed-Colors-8-pkg/24419061
Nylon is very hydroscopic, so I would expect it to absorb die very well. You may want to bake the nylon first to get all the moister out, so it will absorb the die. You have to use an electric oven as a gas produces moister when it burns. Nylon melts at 400 degrees, so don't get it too hot.
Thought about buying new (colored) lines, especially today at WM, to avoid the splicing, additional hassle, etc. Then I thought well, free is free, and the money I save can be used for something else. Plus I need to learn to eye splice three strand anyway. So this is an excuse to sit on the boat, with a beer, while today it blows 18+.
Dave: I think if I stretch it out in the sun here, it will dry out, especially with the wind. 82 degrees today.
@jssailem: 3/4 is enormous line. Your cleats accommodate that?
Dave: I think if I stretch it out in the sun here, it will dry out, especially with the wind. 82 degrees today.
@jssailem: 3/4 is enormous line. Your cleats accommodate that?
And I got all excited about a fresh response.
Update: The walmart die has to be heat set before permanency is establish. Still looking for ideas!
Update: The walmart die has to be heat set before permanency is establish. Still looking for ideas!
Buy colored ones?
Beyond the mentioned reasons why the line is unlikely to accept dye, mission-critical line is one of the things I wouldn't be doing science experiments on.
People I know have used RIT fabric dye to color the nylon fabric of a skin on frame kayak skin. I looked over on RIT's site, and found these tips: https://www.ritstudio.com/techniques/tips-for-successful-dyeing/ They do note that nylon is a dyeable textile, and that the dye temp should be 140º. Vinegar is needed to help set the dye. After the final rinsing, it says they can be line dried, so your heat set would happen during the dye immersion in steady 140º water.
Seems like a lot of work, but you could custom dye your nylon dock lines if you wanted, with easy to obtain dye.
Seems like a lot of work, but you could custom dye your nylon dock lines if you wanted, with easy to obtain dye.
Yeah, I'm starting to think tracers or tape would be better, or that flexible vinyl stuff they sell at WM as liquid whipping, painted on every two feet as a stripe or something. But that is just one color.
Keep 'em coming all.
Keep 'em coming all.
I got to agree with this. If its free its for me but I'm in a bouncy slip and good dock lines are a necessity. My first year I tried the pretty blue double braid nylon WM dock lines. During a storm I doubled up with 3 strand nylon lines. One was a little shorter than the DB line. I watched how the 3 strand would stretch a good bit before the slack of the DB was out and the boat jerked to a stop. No stretch in that DB line.
The next season I bought a length of 3 strand nylon line and made my own dock lines. My spring line and stern line hang on the same hook of the stern port piling. I used colored whipping line to mark the spring line as that is always the first line I grab coming in.
So how about using different colored whipping twine for marking the dock lines?
Whoops, I see Brian beat me to it.
Just my .02 but dying a 3 strand nylon line even if it worked would end up looking like hell especially after a few months in the sun. What's wrong with the idea of using colored shrink tubing?. She can grab the correct line without the entire line color coded. You could also sew in color coded fabric to each one. There is also waterproof rubber mastic tape that would work.
If the entire premise is to make it easy to identify the correct lines when entering your slip, why not just have places where you hang the lines that makes it obvious which is which. Unless you have some sort of rat's nest, it should be easy to know which line to grab.
Siamese, that is a great concept, but we can't implement it. Boat beam is 11 feet, slip width is about 25 with one very short finger pier. It makes reaching lines tough, so hanging them neatly when leaving is also tough. They sometimes get placed well on the downwind side, but they are always just tossed over the hanging lines on the upwind side.
Why don't you pose this problem to your admiral? Let her decide which visual aid will help her most.... The most obvious is to simply splice in a few pieces of colored ribbon from the eye then back a few feet. I suggest red ribbon on the left side(port) and green on the right side(starboard) maybe black for spring etc....... if she hasn't learned forward from aft yet.... well... no comment. Eventually, you would hope she can learn the lines by name, rather than color.... so the dyed lines would be unnecessary.