Can't get out of the Slip! Wind

[sailingdog]

1/2" is the minimum I'd go with on a boat the size of yours. IMHO, you'd be better off with 5/8" if your cleats are sized to handle it. Rough rule of thumb—16x diameter of the line used for cleat length will let the cleat handle two lines fairly easily—so 10" cleats for 5/8" line.

The best dock lines are nylon. Polyester doesn't stretch enough, polypropylene is too weak and breaks down under UV to quickly.

Three-strand are better if you are dealing with rough pilings or need more stretch. Double-braid are better if you need strength, and look better, don't hockle, and are overall more abrasion resistant.

For a boat 30' LOA, I'd recommend going with two different lengths. Say 20-25' for the shorter lines and then 40' or so for the longer ones. It'll be easier to keep them straight if you get two different colors of docklines.

When I first pulled into my slip, I didn't have all my dock lines ready. I got some "complimentary" "docklines" that look like old half inch anchor rode. The marina guys were like "it'll hold" since I had only docked a boat a couple of times I was like "ok".
When I get back down to the boat a week later, someone had to retie my boat up with more old crappy line because the wind broke 2 of their lines and my boat was rubbing up against a piling. Now I have a 6"X1/2" edge on the gunwhales to re gel coat and the piling looks like a shark took a bite out of it.
I am using 1/2" anchor rode as 2 bow lines now but it's pretty new.
I haven't been shopping for docklines at a real boat store. I don't have a real boat store near my house, but the docklines at walmart are 5/8" polypropylene. I want to buy good dockline. What is a good length for use when going to other docks? What type of rope and size is good?

 

[Ron20324]

HS, I'd look at what your slip-neighbors have for line size as a starter, though 1/2 is probably what you really need. Nylon dock lines, like anchor lines, are intended to stretch to avoid shock to the cleats when the line gets to it's static limit- like the nylon-line snubber on a chain anchor rode. My neighbor has a C30, and I doubt he can use 5/8 line on his cleats. The stronger/thicker the line is, the less it will strech- and do you want some stretch. When you think you've tied off the boat sufficiently, push the boat every which-way to make sure there is no way a piling can get hit at any expected tide level. It is not a "tie it up once, and that will do forever". You need to do several adjustments at several tide stages.

I see many of my neighbors tie their lines way up high on the pilings then they slope way down to the deck cleats. Trouble is, the higher the tide, the more the lines allow horizontal movement of the boat. I prefer to have all dockside ties to be at the same height as the boat's cleats at mid-tide. Also, I have 6 feet of chain around each piling to take the wear, then have the line shackled to them. An eye spilce at the proper location means the crew only has to retrive the line off the dock and slip the leye over the deck cleat then can move on to another line quickly. The weight of the chain acts like a kellet on an anchor line and helps keep the boat in the middle of the slip. It all works nicely keeping my 33-foot boat in a 30-foot slip.

 

[sailingdog]

A lot of this depends on whether the docks are floating piers or not.

If they're not floating docks, then tying the lines so that the boat doesn't move too much and yet is well protected requires using longer spring, bow and stern lines... and crossing them. This allows more vertical range of motion, without allowing too much movement of the boat horizontally.

If you tie off to pilings, I would highly recommend tying the lines off about mid-tide, as Ron suggests, so that the slack is minimized at high and low tide evenly... Tying the lines off at one extreme or the other generally results in the boat moving much more at one point in the tide cycle, than the other.

If the pier is a floating one... then tying off is simpler, since you don't have to account for tidal rise and fall.

Using chain can cause its own problems. Some marinas don't allow it because of the damage it can do to the docks, other boats and the pilings.

As for whether to leave the lines on the boat or the pier... it depends. In my home slip, when I might not be at the boat, and my lines might need to be adjusted, I will leave the working end on the pier so my friends or the marina staff can adjust them as needed. In your home slip, if any are attached to pilings that are not easily reachable, leave the working end on the boat, so it can be adjusted fairly easily. When I'm overnighting in a transient slip, the working ends are on the boat... where I can adjust them more easily.

HS, I'd look at what your slip-neighbors have for line size as a starter, though 1/2 is probably what you really need. Nylon dock lines, like anchor lines, are intended to stretch to avoid shock to the cleats when the line gets to it's static limit- like the nylon-line snubber on a chain anchor rode. My neighbor has a C30, and I doubt he can use 5/8 line on his cleats. The stronger/thicker the line is, the less it will strech- and do you want some stretch. When you think you've tied off the boat sufficiently, push the boat every which-way to make sure there is no way a piling can get hit at any expected tide level. It is not a "tie it up once, and that will do forever". You need to do several adjustments at several tide stages.

I see many of my neighbors tie their lines way up high on the pilings then they slope way down to the deck cleats. Trouble is, the higher the tide, the more the lines allow horizontal movement of the boat. I prefer to have all dockside ties to be at the same height as the boat's cleats at mid-tide. Also, I have 6 feet of chain around each piling to take the wear, then have the line shackled to them. An eye spilce at the proper location means the crew only has to retrive the line off the dock and slip the leye over the deck cleat then can move on to another line quickly. The weight of the chain acts like a kellet on an anchor line and helps keep the boat in the middle of the slip. It all works nicely keeping my 33-foot boat in a 30-foot slip.

 

[NC-C320]

Storms -

Guest, on behalf of all the other sailors on this forum I'll take exception to your comment that we'll not LIKELY be around, etc.. Any storm that would test the limits of our docking arrangement is a storm that any self-respecting boater would find themself down at the marina looking out for his craft. As for me, I live 200 yards from my slip and most LIKELY, I'm there every day.

Ron,

Let's see...you have been appointed on the behalf of all the other sailors on the forum to take issue with my comment? Perhaps more accurately, you can only speak for your self and others can speak for themselves. As I said, sailors do nutty stuff (things). One of those is to be at/on your boat during bad storms (read hurricanes). Sure, in lesser storms, if you are close by, then you would wisely check your lines before the storm and perhaps during the storm if it is not too severe. However, not everyone lives close by the place the boat is docked, so it's often not practical to be at or to check boat when storms arrive, which sometimes happens without much notice on the lesser storms. My point pure and simple was that one should invest in good dock lines, and to keep the boat properly tied up so you don't have to adjust the lines during the storm...it takes some skill to tie the lines so that they will handle all wind and wave situations (and in some docks may be nearly impossible, which is a good reason to move to another slip). Extreme storms like huricanes obviously require additional lines (you really can't get too many in my opinion) if you are to remain at the slip. Recycled anchor rode and worn out halyards are not good dock lines. Neither is polypropylene which I think Hermit mentions in another post...polyporpylene rapidly looses it's strength when exposed to UV light. Nylon would be my recommendation, either 3 strand or double braid.