Oily ropes

[Brian]

Er, had a little accident and need some advice.
I bought a set of brand new ropes, beautifully cut to size, and a gallon container of engine oil.
I put them together in an underfloor locker and set off on a trip. After a particularly rough passage, I opened the locker to find the oil container had burst and had soaked the new ropes (which I hadn't even used yet!!).
I tried washing them in washing up liquid, Tesco's Value bath foam and even soaked them overnight in a warm solution of washing powder. I have hung them up in the rain from trees in the garden, i've hung em up to dry in the garage.
They are still soaked in oil (he wailed).
Has anyone got a magic cure or will I have to put my hand in my pocket again?

[Ribald]

I would think that a few trips though the washing machine with a good quality biological washing powder should do the trick. Don't forget to get the 'management's' permission first though .

I did this once with a set of lightly oiled ropes from a yacht and they came out very well.

Well worth a try before buying new ones - you've got nothing to loose.

[Brian]

Thank you Ribald.
I will tippy-toe to THE BOSS and see what sort of response I get.
Can I give her your name?

[Alan Mckewan]

Recommend the washing machine, we do it every yaer with grubby yacht ropes, but be careful! Last time I stuck about 5 long ones in together and it took days to get them separated again!

[batfalcon]

Did you put the ropes in the washing machine like "spagetti" ? How did you manage to mess them up ?