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Once again, our group of test subjects
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Stretch II: Rather than take what was left of our supply spools to filling our reels and go fishing, we took them all back to the lab for some additional tests. Enter Mark Gibson, a Materials Research Specialist with more than 25 years experience working for a Multi-National Manufacturing Company. Since material properties are his forte and fishing is a passion of his, Mark was keen on sharing with us some of his experience in this area - specifically as it related to stretch with nylon monofilament versus fluorocarbon lines. In short, when we conducted our initial tensile tests, we noted all our test subjects experienced a degree of stretch, wet or dry, and all were comparable to our Trilene XL. Since the differences between our wet and dry measurements were negligible, we chose to abandon the wet tests in our first go around in the interest of keeping things moving.
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FC Stretch Test Results: Products in red displayed the most stretch, while products in black showed the least. Some stretched even more after soaking for various lengths of time (color key at top of chart)
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We formulated a plan and started retesting when Mark got in touch with us to point out it can take up to two full hours for nylon monofilaments and even copolymer lines to become saturated to the point their ability to resist stretching will be compromised. Fluorocarbon lines, on the other hand, should show no significant change regardless of saturation. We took note of his points and continued with our tests for each line measuring stretch first dry, then again after soak times of half an hour, one and a half hours, and three hours. The actual sample lengths of line were two feet (plus or minus an inch) with a constant load factor of three pounds.
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TackleTour Fluorocarbon Showdown II Stretch Tests
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Brand : Make
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Dry
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1/2 Hr Soak
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1.5 Hr Soak
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3 Hr Soak
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| Berkley : Vanish Transition |
10.3%
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10.8%
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11.3%
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11.3%
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| Bass Pro Shops : XPS FC |
8.4%
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8.4%
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8.4%
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9.5%
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| Cabelas : No-Vis FC |
11.2%
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11.2%
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11.2%
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11.2%
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| Gamma : Edge FC |
11.5%
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11.5%
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11.5%
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11.5%
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| Maxima : Fluorocarbon |
7.4%
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7.4%
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7.4%
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7.4%
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| P-Line : Fluorocarbon |
8.2%
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8.2%
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8.2%
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8.2%
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| P-Line : Halo |
8.2%
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8.2%
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8.2%
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8.2%
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| Seaguar : Carbon Pro (12lb) |
10.5%
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11.6%
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11.6%
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11.6%
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| Seaguar : Invisx |
13%
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13%
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13%
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13%
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| Sugoi : Fluorocarbon |
8.5%
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8.5%
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9.6%
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9.6%
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| Sunline : Shooter FC |
6.3%
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6.3%
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6.3%
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6.3%
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| Toray : SuperHard |
7.7%
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7.7%
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7.7%
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7.7%
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| Triple Fish : Fluorocarbon |
8.5%
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8.5%
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8.5%
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8.5%
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| Yozuri H20 |
9.3%
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10.3%
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10.3%
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10.3%
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| Berkley : Trilene XL |
9.4%
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9.4%
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10.4%
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10.4%
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Indeed, we did find that after an hour and half constant soak in water, our Trilene XL stretched more than when dry or even after a half hour soak. The majority of our fluorocarbon lines remained constant throughout but, surprisingly, a small number of them were affected by extended time in the water. These numbers are highlighted in red in the table above. Unfortunately, even with the extended soak times, some of the more elastic fluorocarbons exhibited stretch values that were more than the water laden monofilament. It seems, as we found in our abrasion tests, the easier handling lines like Gamma Edge FC and Seaguar Invisx, had a greater tendency to stretch than did the stiffer, less manageable lines like Sunline Shooter FC and Maxima FC. But that's not all. As has been typical in this investigation, while testing this one characteristic we found yet another to peak our interests.
