new rope

[volica]

hello and welcome.
I have just received my own rope, brand new 200' PMI Classic Pit. And now what?
Should I impregnate it, or something?

[Scott McCrea]

Welcome and congrats on the new rope. Check out this thread about pre-shrinking your new rope:
http://www.caves.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=617

[JoeyS]

Should I impregnate it, or something?

Hahah!! sorry, that was just an easy target...

[volica]

I follow your way of thinking :)
Need some cord, too.
However :
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/impregnate

[NZcaver]

hello and welcome.
I have just received my own rope, brand new 200' PMI Classic Pit. And now what?
Should I impregnate it, or something?

Yes! With mud, obviously.

Have fun...

[killian]

No volica i am not a believer in doing things to the rope. using it works the best. if it was a go thing to do it would come from the factory this way.. it is all just crap.. use it love it throw it away when it looks like hell that's my rule of thumb.

[potholer]

Well, there is an argument that the sheath doesn't actually grip the core properly before a rope is shrunk.

Even leaving that aside, ropes will shrink when they first get wet. If actually doing technical (European-style) rigging, it is possible for brand-new rope to be rigged, and then shrink in-situ to the point where it goes so taut between rebelays that it can't be abseiled on. I understand that has actually happened.

Additionally, some rope has a great deal of detergent/lubricant in, and gets seriously slippy when wet, unless soaked before use until clean.

As to why rope isn't rinsed/soaked/shrunk before sale, I'm not sure what the reasons are.
Maybe the presence of the detergents, or the fact that the nylon hasn't done its initial absorption of water extends the shelf-life of rope on the reel.
Maybe it's just something that costs money that manufacturers can get away with not doing. I'm not sure what a mechanised, continuous rope soaking-and-drying machine would look like, but I'd guess it might be quite a size, and quite expensive.

[Ralph E. Powers]

Well, there is an argument that the sheath doesn't actually grip the core properly before a rope is shrunk.

Even leaving that aside, ropes will shrink when they first get wet. If actually doing technical (European-style) rigging, it is possible for brand-new rope to be rigged, and then shrink in-situ to the point where it goes so taut between rebelays that it can't be abseiled on. I understand that has actually happened.

Additionally, some rope has a great deal of detergent/lubricant in, and gets seriously slippy when wet, unless soaked before use until clean.

As to why rope isn't rinsed/soaked/shrunk before sale, I'm not sure what the reasons are.
Maybe the presence of the detergents, or the fact that the nylon hasn't done its initial absorption of water extends the shelf-life of rope on the reel.
Maybe it's just something that costs money that manufacturers can get away with not doing. I'm not sure what a mechanised, continuous rope soaking-and-drying machine would look like, but I'd guess it might be quite a size, and quite expensive.

I'm sure that might be the case with manufacturers like PMI, Blue-Water, New England and so forth that it's an additional cost (to them) that would reflect back on to us the consumers when it's hard enough to keep costs down in the first place. Especially since we'd be able to pre-wash our ropes basically for free in our bath-tubs (among other places).
I don't wonder if there's not a PMI employee lurking somewhere on this board that may give us a better answer ... after all they're makers of "caving rope made by cavers" ... aren't they?