Docking

[Mitch]

Hello all. Now I have a question about docking. I'm rereading my sailing books but was looking for info from others. My boat, 1982, 34' O'day, is in a single slip where I can tie lines out both sides and keep it floating in the middle. I will be moving the boat to the Saginaw River where I will only be able to tie up on the port side. I should be able to angle the boat to starboard with a bow line but the stern will be free to hit the dock. This is a floating dock well below my rub rail. Any opinions on dock guards or another way of protecting my painted sides other than hanging out a fender? As this dock is on the river, there will be a lot of wake, including wake from 400+ foot freighters sometimes, and I'm sure the boat will be moving around a lot more than where it is now. Also, as I am still new to this sailing stuff, my third season, I am going to pay for a licensed captain, who is an expert sailor, to sail with me for the 2 or 3 day journey. I am sure I will learn more from him than in the week long sailing class I took a few years ago.

Many thanks all

 

[sailingdog]

Get some decent sized fenders, you're going to need them. I'd recommend at least 8" if not 10" in diameter.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

The captain you hire should help you with docking. I would assume, depending on the location of the dock cleats you should be able to tie up your port bow and stern lines, as well as your spring line and then pull the starboard bow line tight enough to keep the port side of your boat off the dock.

 

[alexco38]

Hang some fenders on the floating dock.

 

[MrBee]

I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly. How are you going to angle the boat to Starboard if there is no place to tie a line to ? Trying to picture this but can't. Is there a Pile there to run a line to ?

 

[seadaddler]

Drawing

Can you make a drawing to show us,I added fenders a long the dock with also some rubber bumper guard.

 

[Steve Dion]

I use some of this stuff on my dock. We tie the boat tight to the windward side so the dog can easily board/de-board the boat. It is not cheap, but it works very well. It does not mark the hull because it is made from a polyester material (not rubber/vinyl).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MUQFJI...e=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B000MUQFJI

 

[Nereussailor]

I don't get it either, a picture would be great.

 

[MrUnix]

A number of different ways

There are a bunch of different ways to tie your boat and keep it off the dock.. Using mooring whips is probably the most popular method, and allow for easy entry/exit since the boat can be pulled over to the dock when required. Another alternative is what are known as 'holdaway' poles, basically a rigid pole that anchors to the dock and extends out a few feet, then a line on the end attaches to your boat. I've also seen homemade devices of all different shapes and sizes as well.. for example, you can use a short piece of rigid PVC pipe with your mooring lines run through it and secured on one end to keep it from sliding.

Do a google search for 'mooring whips' and you will turn up a lot of different methods and get a lot of ideas on how to go about doing it, from dirt cheap to fairly pricey..

Cheers,
Brad

 

[Johnb]

You probably spend a lot more time moored than actually out. When I shared a dock me and the other boats owner agreed we would run a line between our (boat) sterns and keep them off the dock that way. We also had bumpers in place for when one of us was out. Whoever came in last would put the stern line in place.

 

[Steve Dion]

Mitch:

How are your neighbors tied up to the dock?

 

[zeehag]

put the fenders on the dock...works great and ye dont have the stigma of marina racing stripes if you ever take the boat out .....

 

[Benny]

Yes, get large fenders and attach them to the dock. As your boat will roll independent of the floating dock do not make your lines too tight, allow for the dock to roll one way and your boat the other or you may pull a cleat.

 

[DougM]

I agree... fenders attached to the dock.
I have a starboard seawall mooring and I use a bow line, stern line and midship spring lines one led forward and one aft. The bow and stern lines make about a 45 degree angle between the booat and the seawall.

Believe it or not, even though there's no tide, there will still be some water level fluctuation with freighter traffic, rain, and barometric pressure changes. We live on a marina which has a narrow opening to the Manistee river making it act like a giant bathtub. In stormy conditions I have seen the water rise and fall through a 2 foot cycle in a matter of a few minutes.

Use chafe guards on your dock lines. I've seen 5/8 inch dock lines cut completely through in just a few hours too.

 

[zeehag]

firehose makes great chafe gear....easy to use and cheeep!!!

 

[Mitch]

Many thanks to all who replied. Here is a bad pic. The cleats on my boat are shown in red. Sorry but don't remember where they are on the dock. I'll install my own if I have to. I'll be in B47 and B48 is empty right now.
Many thanks again all

 

[Bob S]

Mitch,

I am on a mooring so not much help but I did find this buried on my computer and started reading it. I found it helpful.

I tried to attach a pdf but it is too large.

Google Captain Jack Klang
and you will see:
Captain Jack Klang Sailboat Docking, Maneuvering and Anchoring


it's 24 pages worth reading

 

[MrBee]

Seems to me to be simple, your going to need a few good fenders to protect the Midship area and the Stern. Stern line will keep the bow off the solid dock and a Bow line to the solid dock will keep the Port bow off the floating dock.

Brian

 

[Bob Poff]

What about a spring line from starboard to the solid dock?
I was in a similar arrangement with my old boat.
Just on the other side (like the B48 slip).

Also it may sound dumb, but before leaving I always lashed the tiller to port (starboard in your case). With even what little current there was passing the boat, it seemed to help somewhat in keeping the stern off the dock.

 

[sailingdog]

Jack Klang's instructions are quite good and well worth reading.

As for how to tie up the boat... use the following lines:

Two bow breast lines—magenta lines in drawing
Two amidship springlines—cyan lines in drawing
A stern breast line—Yellow line in drawing.

The bow breast lines will keep the bow centered. If you can use longer lines for this, that would be better, since the main pier is fixed by the sounds of it. Longer lines will help the boat deal with the tidal height change better. If you can't use longer lines for both bow breast lines, you could tie the port bow breast line to the floating finger pier instead of the fixed dock, and try going with a longer starboard bow breast line.

The spring lines will keep the boat from hitting the main pier or backing out of the slip.

The stern breast line will keep the stern from swinging out. If you have large enough fenders, you might be able to slacken the bow breast lines, since the fenders and stern breast line would keep the bow properly centered. Adding an amidships breast line would help with this.

Remember that you want to tie the lines to the cleats so that the loads on the cleat are almost parallel with the cleat, rather than perpendicular to the cleat. Cleats are generally not very strong at resisting loads parallel to their long axis.