thimbles
Hello, Regarding my use of thimbles, the slip I used over the winter had a dock on one side only (I backed into the slip so my transom was against the dock. About 30' off the dock are pilings. This is the Long Island sound, so there is a 6' or more tidal range. The docks are floating. There are large pipes, at least 3" in diameter,and 10' long, bolted to the pilings. There is a large ring mounted on the pipe. You tie your lines to a shackle connected to the ring (mounted on the pipe). I know that it sounds confusing, but this allows the ring to slide up and down the pipe to adjust for the tidal range. I put the thimble on the pin in the shackle, ran my bow line around the thimble and tied it with a bowline. This way the line did not chafe on the ring. I can take a picture if it would help. One last comment, in the last issue of Sailing, one of the writers praised the bowline knot. According to him, it's the best knot in the world. I now agree. I tied my docklines with bowlines. They were in place December - March, though a tough cold windy winter, and did not loosen, untie, etc. When I untied them Tuesday (went for a short sail, and then moved the boat to the dock instead of a slip) it was very easy to undo the knot. Barry
Hello, Regarding my use of thimbles, the slip I used over the winter had a dock on one side only (I backed into the slip so my transom was against the dock. About 30' off the dock are pilings. This is the Long Island sound, so there is a 6' or more tidal range. The docks are floating. There are large pipes, at least 3" in diameter,and 10' long, bolted to the pilings. There is a large ring mounted on the pipe. You tie your lines to a shackle connected to the ring (mounted on the pipe). I know that it sounds confusing, but this allows the ring to slide up and down the pipe to adjust for the tidal range. I put the thimble on the pin in the shackle, ran my bow line around the thimble and tied it with a bowline. This way the line did not chafe on the ring. I can take a picture if it would help. One last comment, in the last issue of Sailing, one of the writers praised the bowline knot. According to him, it's the best knot in the world. I now agree. I tied my docklines with bowlines. They were in place December - March, though a tough cold windy winter, and did not loosen, untie, etc. When I untied them Tuesday (went for a short sail, and then moved the boat to the dock instead of a slip) it was very easy to undo the knot. Barry
