If separating the rope doesn't help, and you don't have a recent save from before picking up the 4 rope at the teleporter pad, you can drop all the rope you have, and use the procedure in the topic below to replace them.

Lost Items - guide and directory of inventory files


You should be able to get more ale from Rimmer through speech options (one at a time), rather than by the usual trade system. You do not need any more, though (at least for this).


Silver Armour and Treasure Maps