Photo Nevit Dilmen, CC BY-SA 3.0

Coiling and caring for rope

Coiling a rope so it comes off clean next time, sealing the ends, keeping it dry, and knowing when a rope is done.

What you need

To coil a rope, hold one end in your hand and lay the rope in loops about as long as your arm, back and forth across your hand, not round and round. This is a butterfly coil and it does not kink.
Leave a tail about two arm lengths long.
Wrap the tail tight around the middle of the coil four or five times.
Push a bight of the tail through the top of the coil, then pass the end through that bight and pull it snug.
For a short piece of cord, wind it in a figure eight around your thumb and little finger, then tie it off around the middle.
To seal the end of a synthetic rope, cut it clean and melt the end with a lighter or a hot knife until the strands fuse. Let it cool before you touch it.
On natural rope, wrap the end tight with tape or whip it with thin twine.

Dry a wet rope loosely in the shade before you coil it away.
Keep rope out of the sun when you are not using it. Sunlight weakens it over time.
Run the whole rope through your hands now and then and feel for damage.

Don't

Do not step on a rope or drag it through grit. Dirt works in and cuts the fibres.
Do not store it near gas, oil, battery acid or other chemicals.
Do not run a rope over a sharp rock edge under load.

Danger

Retire a rope that has cuts, flat spots, soft or stiff sections, a glazed or melted look, or that has held a hard fall or a big shock load.
Camp rope and cord are for tarps, loads and lines. Never use them to hold a person's weight in a fall or a rescue. That takes rope made and rated for it.

A good rope, looked after, lasts years. A rope thrown in a heap in the bottom of a pack comes out in a knot when you need it most.

Coil it right at the end of the day and it runs out clean in the morning.

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Updated 2026-09-27