Hello Everyone, sorry for yet another thread but I am a new owner and will probably ask a bunch of questions already covered and my boat is in Shrink so I cant measure anything. What size lines do you all have for your 353's, are 5/8 too big for the 1999 cleats on the 353's? I bought 5/8, but in talking with my buddies they said it could be overkill and could have issues when we tie up at the cove with smaller boats w/ smaller cleats!! They said 1/2" would be plenty... Thoughts?

Bigger is always better. Have more than one set of lines.

Go with the size that fits thru your cleats, for tying up your boat, and when you raft up with the smaller boats, just use their line tied to your cleat.

Use 5/8.....they are what you want. They won't fit well on a Cig....but what Formula owner would tie up with a resin bucket like that anyway?

5/8 buy the time you tie up they will stretch and they will only be 9/16

Tell your friends with smaller boats they need to adapt, 5/8.

We have 16 lines 4, 3/8 25ft ,4, 3/8 15ft, 4, 1/2 25ft, 4 ,1/2 15ft it works for us.

Our 3/8 line is good for 4,900 lbs and the 1/2 is good for 8,600 lbs . The 5/8 line is good for 15,200 lbs I'm not tring to pick up the boat on one line . Just my .02.

That was my buddy's point, the 1/2" would be good for hooking up with smaller boats and big enough to hold the 353 in pretty much anything. I like the 5/8" since that is what I purchased but I wonder if it is overkill and I could save some $$$ with the 1/2" and not have problems? Also are the old 1999 Cleats large enough for the 5/8"?

I don't see the need for 5/8 line, my boat is not going to stay in a slip in a storm nor am I going to raft up in a strong wind . We mostly use the 3/8 line the 1/2 line is just in case we are at a marina and a storm comes up.