Ike Question

[Allan12498]

I'm sorry to bring up Ike, but as I just got power and computer to my office I need to ask a question. My Hunter 430 survived the surge I'm told by 2 feet from floating the dock off of the pilings. The only damage was to my dock cleats...both stern dockside cleats pulled boards away from the dock. By the time I was able to get to the boat, someone had already re-tied the stern lines to the opposite slip cleats.

My question is did I make a mistake by snugging all lines tight so the boat wouldn't move about? I had double lines fore and aft with my regular spring lines. Could I have put too much strain on the dock cleats by doing this? Mine weren't the only ones to pull out as I observed other boats with the same problem. If ther is a next time, I want to do this correctly.

Your opinions, please.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

my theory

Allen
I'm not sure if would make much difference but my theory is that having them lose and therefore as long as possible permits them to stretch absorbing some of the shick loading. Essentially, the longer the lines are, the more they can stretch. Some folks use those shock absorbers too which can't hurt.
Then again, I'm in Rhode Island so what do I know about hurricanes...

 

[MikeH]

We tie them loose, but

We keep a 24 footer in Ft Myers tied to wooden pilings with no floating dock when we leave the south (typically hurricane season). The last few tidal surges that hit Ft Myers rose 6-8 feet, so the extra length we allowed in our doubled-up lines meant she stayed floating. If you're tying to a floating dock then keeping the lines tight makes the boat virtually one with the dock which might not be a bad thing. The only concern I'd have, since we have floating docks up north that are subject to river surges, is if the dock could ride up and over its pilings. If that happened then if the boat were "one" with the dock then wherever the dock came down the boat would too - even if it were on top of a piling...

 

[sailaway78]

I would always

leave all the slack possible. This allows the boat to rise with the surge, and as previously stated, gives more shock absorbtion. Not many slips are wide enough to allow the necessary slack to ride out a surge, without the boat banging on the opposite dock. So, I'm not sure what the answer is. Ideally, a foating dock is the answer, assuming the pilings are tall enough to not be overridden.
Check in the archives, as not too long ago TonyB posted up a good idea about how to handle non-floating docks and a big tidal surge.