“Marine Grade” Bungee?

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West Marine has great bungee, that just costs more, but they have the right size for some projects. REI sells bungee too. I found another size that is what I use for most scuba gear at Sonoma Outfitters.
 
West Marine is the same stuff as other places sell...IF you can find the size you need. I just pick which store by the size they sell. Quality is not any better or worse, although Harbor Freight wins the crap award. Since you are so far North McMaster Carr is probably your best bet.

West Marine has 1/2" bungee that I use for making tag lines with bolt snaps on each end. They also have a mid size I think around 3/16" or so bungee that has many uses. Sonoma Outfitters has a nice small 1/8" bungee that works great for bungee backups and wrist mounted gauges. REI has small like 1/16" bungee that works great for many other projects.

West Marine rarely has good deals, and there are only a couple of things I buy there. 2 stroke oil is cheap when it is on sale @ $14.95, so I buy a few gallons at a time that lasts me years. Since they price match, and offer discounts I did buy some of my electronics there as they came within a few dollars of buying from the internet for things like my GPS/depth sounder.

I have Home Depot less than a mile from me and didn't even know they offered bungee??
 
I don't know what characteristics allow some bungee to be labeled "marine". There are however differences between bungees. Of the same diameter, some bungee required more pull pressure to be pulled a given length. Some bungee is just wimpy. I have found that marine stores tend to have stiffer bungee. For good prices on any marine gear, including bungee, check out Defender's. Years ago they were in New Rochelle, the last time I ordered something from them they were in CT.
 
I always thought marine grade meant UV resistant with hardware that won't rust, though I'd guess some stuff not specifically labeled marine grade might be just as good. What is definitely different as mentioned, is the stuff you see sometimes at discount places - has it's place, but probably not in any kind of dive application. (I have some long bungees from a discount place, they are very soft and stretchy and I wouldn't trust them with anything important - but for a buck they do a perfectly fine job holding a tarp on my compost pile and similar things.)
 
When I've bought 'Marine' bungee, I've noticed that the 'core' tends to be singular. In 'conventional' bungee, the core tends to be multi-stranded. This has an impact when it comes to dicing and splicing the bungee; whether it frays and unravels, or not...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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