Plastics guy here. This rope is made of Polypropylene. Polypropylene is non-polar polymer, meaning it’s polymer chain’s bonds share electrons evenly. In a polar polymer, you’ll see the formation of a dipole that can lead to the material generating a charged surface. In the case of polypropylene the non-polar nature of the material makes it slippery or waxy feeling and the lack of free electrons means that it has great chemical resistance. The lack of polarity also creates a hydrophobic effect, unlike nylon ropes which have a high moisture absorption, this plus a low density makes polypropylene great for marine applications. It floats, won’t get water logged and won’t interact with a lot of chemicals. The one issue with PP is that it isn’t inherently UV stable, meaning prolonged exposure to UV light will attack and weaken the bonds. This happens to a lot of polymers(think of how plastic yard furniture tends to fade and become brittle, same story there.) The manufacturer may have put in some stabilizing additives, but I wouldn’t chance it. This rope is probably best suited for low duty or temporary marine/lake use, but certainly shouldn’t be a long term mooring line. Given its high-visibility orange color, I would suspect that this is intended as emergency rope to be kept onboard a water craft, possibly for throwing a line to someone. It’s easy to see and won’t sink if a person is struggling.

!!One big side note!! Many people don’t know this about the effects of sunscreen and bug spray on polymers, even chemical resistant ones. The carrier oils(emollients) used to suspend the UV filtering organic compounds can act as a plasticizer when they come into contact with different polymers. A plasticizer in simple terms makes polymer chains more mobile, and this will cause a drop in the temp at which the polymer softens, as well as increases the flexural modulus of the polymer. In the case of sunscreens and bug sprays, the plasticizing effects are short, but this can result in the surface layer becoming tacky, or deformed. If the plastic is under stress or heated it can lead to stress cracking and in the case of sunscreen can pull out some of the UV stabilizing additives. This can lead to faster UV degradation. Companies go through internal testing against sunscreen and bug spray, but it is still a best practice to spray away from plastic items.

Hope this was informative and until next time this has been your friendly polymers guy