Line & Cleat Failure
Hermit,
Something is wrong here. First of all, previous posters' advice regarding moving to more sheltered waters closer to home is good advice. Neither, you or your wife have any, repeat any, sailing experience, yet you have the boat in a location notorious for high (rough) wind conditions according to other posts. You aspire to cross the open gulf on a offshore passage vs. using ICW/coastal shore hopping with a boat that can't even be properly docked in an exposed marina wiithout damage. Driving a long distance just to motor just a few hours is not sailing. The motoring and practicing docking in itself is good.
But what is going to happen in high wind sailing with sails, while trying to learn, is, I am afraid, going to be similar to your experiences with damage to boat just in the slip, except it's going to be more serious and potentially deadly. You need to get the boat to a calmer area to learn to sail...otherwise, you are going to risk not only your boat and money, but your life. And if this is not possible, get an experienced sailer to go with you to teach you how to sail. This would be someone who may know how to avoid dangerous incidents, and if they occur, know how to respond. Learn in water where the winds are not so high where mistakes are not going to hurt someone or damage the boat. This is especially important if you are intent on learning by yourself (that's how I did it also, but I carefully picked relatively calm conditions on a river well away from open ocean). A sailing course for you and your wife would be an excellent way to accelerate the learning curve, but is going to cost money. If you have never sailed, how do you even know whether you will like sailing, much less whether you really want to cruise offshore. Maybe the horse is ahead of the cart here. I had an aquaintance who longed for offshore cruising and had lots of experience sailing rivers, bays, and sounds. He knew how to sail, loved sailing, and had owned several boats. He got a chance to crew on a offshore delivery of a boat, and found that he got terribly sea sick in the open ocean, and that was the end to his open sea cruising. He continued to sail inshore and loved sailing. The point is that before you commit too much money to this venture, learn first hand what it is you are getting into if possible, or work up to it slowly. And the advice regarding your wife was well taken. You have to make sure all these problems, time, and difficulties, plus the many sailing misadventures to come in rough open water while learning don't turn her off to sailing. If it does, you will have a difficult decision to make: Stay on shore with wife and not cruise the islands, or go without the wife....neither is very good.
Now the lines and cleats. There are lots of Catalina 30's out there. Most don't routinely have cleats pulled out of the decks. Neither do other boats. Also, other boats in the marina remained tied up without lines breaking or boats hitting pilings. You don't mention having severe storms, but you do say there is damage each time you go to the boat. Your marina seems to be exposed, so that is enough reason to move sooner than later if you can't keep the boat there safely. Also, from your post, you and your adjacent neighbor suffer serious damage, but other boats in the same marina apparently don't have damage. What are they doing that you are not. I doubt that your exposed slip is significantly different from theirs in the same marina. Study very carefully to see what they do differently from you, and adopt those successful techniques. Get good quality nylon lines (2x 1/2" per cleat minimum given your rough location). Tie them so they don't chafe one on the other. Tie the lines securely to the pilings so they don't slip down the piling and become prematurely tight, leading to early failure. Cross your stern lines and tie the boat so that you can take increases/decreases in water level...while tide may or may not be an issue, when winds increase, they cause additionaly wind tides that could make your lines go tight while you are away. This could create enough force to pull cleats out or to break lines. Use the rubber snubbers if you like, but over time, they tend to degrade and break (I don't use them). If you have chafe points that can't be eliminated, use chafe gear that that absorbs water to keep lines cooler internally. On chafe points, a smooth round bolt head is enough to chew a line apart in just a little time if the line is tensioned under high load, so watch your line leads at all points that the wind can come from (360 degrees). Your lines could be tied fine for one wind/wave direction and totally unsuited for another direction. As an engineer, you should be able to visualiize this easily. If there is large/big boat/ship traffic close by, they kick up terrific wakes even when going slowly and could cause you problems. Finally, don't forget nylon line stretch is good for absorbing shock, but it can also be harmful if there is too much stretch, so that you get against the pier. Stretch increases significantly in high winds, well over what you might think in calmer conditions. Actually, I use doubled up double braided lines vs. three strand to minimize stretch for this very reason.
If seems that neither, you, nor the adjacent boat are doing things correctly. From what you have said, I don't think anything (boat, barge, etc.) struck you boat. If so, there would be obvious contact damage on the hull and other deck fittings...bent rails, etc.
I hope this is helpful, but I have an idea that you will continue to charge ahead blindly in your own way, and if so, there will be more tales of misadventure. But those do make good sea/shore stories and attract attention from well meaning posters on forums like this.
Best of luck...get some sails and go sailing, preferable with experienced sailer at first, and in calmer conditions.
Hermit,
Something is wrong here. First of all, previous posters' advice regarding moving to more sheltered waters closer to home is good advice. Neither, you or your wife have any, repeat any, sailing experience, yet you have the boat in a location notorious for high (rough) wind conditions according to other posts. You aspire to cross the open gulf on a offshore passage vs. using ICW/coastal shore hopping with a boat that can't even be properly docked in an exposed marina wiithout damage. Driving a long distance just to motor just a few hours is not sailing. The motoring and practicing docking in itself is good.
But what is going to happen in high wind sailing with sails, while trying to learn, is, I am afraid, going to be similar to your experiences with damage to boat just in the slip, except it's going to be more serious and potentially deadly. You need to get the boat to a calmer area to learn to sail...otherwise, you are going to risk not only your boat and money, but your life. And if this is not possible, get an experienced sailer to go with you to teach you how to sail. This would be someone who may know how to avoid dangerous incidents, and if they occur, know how to respond. Learn in water where the winds are not so high where mistakes are not going to hurt someone or damage the boat. This is especially important if you are intent on learning by yourself (that's how I did it also, but I carefully picked relatively calm conditions on a river well away from open ocean). A sailing course for you and your wife would be an excellent way to accelerate the learning curve, but is going to cost money. If you have never sailed, how do you even know whether you will like sailing, much less whether you really want to cruise offshore. Maybe the horse is ahead of the cart here. I had an aquaintance who longed for offshore cruising and had lots of experience sailing rivers, bays, and sounds. He knew how to sail, loved sailing, and had owned several boats. He got a chance to crew on a offshore delivery of a boat, and found that he got terribly sea sick in the open ocean, and that was the end to his open sea cruising. He continued to sail inshore and loved sailing. The point is that before you commit too much money to this venture, learn first hand what it is you are getting into if possible, or work up to it slowly. And the advice regarding your wife was well taken. You have to make sure all these problems, time, and difficulties, plus the many sailing misadventures to come in rough open water while learning don't turn her off to sailing. If it does, you will have a difficult decision to make: Stay on shore with wife and not cruise the islands, or go without the wife....neither is very good.
Now the lines and cleats. There are lots of Catalina 30's out there. Most don't routinely have cleats pulled out of the decks. Neither do other boats. Also, other boats in the marina remained tied up without lines breaking or boats hitting pilings. You don't mention having severe storms, but you do say there is damage each time you go to the boat. Your marina seems to be exposed, so that is enough reason to move sooner than later if you can't keep the boat there safely. Also, from your post, you and your adjacent neighbor suffer serious damage, but other boats in the same marina apparently don't have damage. What are they doing that you are not. I doubt that your exposed slip is significantly different from theirs in the same marina. Study very carefully to see what they do differently from you, and adopt those successful techniques. Get good quality nylon lines (2x 1/2" per cleat minimum given your rough location). Tie them so they don't chafe one on the other. Tie the lines securely to the pilings so they don't slip down the piling and become prematurely tight, leading to early failure. Cross your stern lines and tie the boat so that you can take increases/decreases in water level...while tide may or may not be an issue, when winds increase, they cause additionaly wind tides that could make your lines go tight while you are away. This could create enough force to pull cleats out or to break lines. Use the rubber snubbers if you like, but over time, they tend to degrade and break (I don't use them). If you have chafe points that can't be eliminated, use chafe gear that that absorbs water to keep lines cooler internally. On chafe points, a smooth round bolt head is enough to chew a line apart in just a little time if the line is tensioned under high load, so watch your line leads at all points that the wind can come from (360 degrees). Your lines could be tied fine for one wind/wave direction and totally unsuited for another direction. As an engineer, you should be able to visualiize this easily. If there is large/big boat/ship traffic close by, they kick up terrific wakes even when going slowly and could cause you problems. Finally, don't forget nylon line stretch is good for absorbing shock, but it can also be harmful if there is too much stretch, so that you get against the pier. Stretch increases significantly in high winds, well over what you might think in calmer conditions. Actually, I use doubled up double braided lines vs. three strand to minimize stretch for this very reason.
If seems that neither, you, nor the adjacent boat are doing things correctly. From what you have said, I don't think anything (boat, barge, etc.) struck you boat. If so, there would be obvious contact damage on the hull and other deck fittings...bent rails, etc.
I hope this is helpful, but I have an idea that you will continue to charge ahead blindly in your own way, and if so, there will be more tales of misadventure. But those do make good sea/shore stories and attract attention from well meaning posters on forums like this.
Best of luck...get some sails and go sailing, preferable with experienced sailer at first, and in calmer conditions.
