In a current For Sale thread I describe some extra Dyneema / Spectra throw line I wished to sell off after my own needs of about 300-400 feet were met. This stuff is often packaged in 180' lengths or in bulk spools of 1000'.
Seller had sent me a short sample on approval which I weighed on a digitial scale. It came up close to Zing-it of the same spec --size and strength and weight/length. I ordered a 1000' spool and listed it to give others an opp to try an alternative to the high-priced spread -- a smaller amount of an off-brand throw-line such as is found at Wesspur and other arborist suppliers.
A late request came for 200', which I was not going to fill. That was more than a sampler and not a good deal for the buyer. Besides, after cutting tie-out lines for a few tarps, I needed to reserve some for myself and an HF member sending me ca$h. So, as I begin measureing off, by length, 100', I am skeptical that I even could have sold 200'. In fact the spool empties --finis --at what I estimated to be just 800', tallying up what I had used or committed to others. More than one time, as I'm sitting with the empty cardboard spool and reels and plastic end caps, muttering and weighing them. And I'm thinking that if I have to buy another spool of this I will know what the tare weight is before peeling any line off, so I will know at the outset, by weighing, whether it is all there.
Well I go back to the cardboard box the spool came in, and I notice something I had not paid attention to before. Along with a product description and standard measure of quantity and thickness 1000' 1.75mm Spectra throw line, there is a "Gross Weight (lbs.) 1.2. There is also a "Net Weight" box on the form, but it is empty.
"1.2 pounds, 1.2 x 16 = 19.2oz? Just a minute. I've weighed this stuff on an accurate scale, and it weighs 1.93oz per 100 feet, so 1000 feet should have weighed 19.3 oz. All the parts that make up the difference between gross and net weight?
!!! BINGO !!!The packaging weighs just under 4 oz, exactly the weight of 200 feet of cord I thought was missing from the spool (after pulling out tarps and counting tie-out lines.)
Rest of story: Seller made good to me when I told him of the discrepancy. I don't blame him for trusting the company that sold him the cord, "Performance Rope and Supply", which probably never checked the spoolage either.
Repackaging this stuff is not thrilling, but in order to meet my own needs, I had ordered a second spool. That was before determining that I had been shorted and did have evidence of that. I will be selling off an even larger portion of the second spool than I did of the first lot.
Instead of measuring the stuff by length, I may just use the digital scale, and save myself a good deal of time.
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