How to tie her up :-)
 

I need to rig my dock/mooring for a second boat and i’m keeping all my current stuff with my other boat…so I need all new.

Have there been any recent equipment breakthroughs when it comes to fenders, snubbers and other stuff used for mooring a boat? A bit about the situation - the boat is a fountain 272 (approx 6K lb), it will only be secured to the dock on the starboard side. Storm winds will come in from the starboard side, moderate/continuous (normal) winds will come port side. It’s in a lake so there is no tide, on windy days there are whitecaps, on busy days there is a lot of boat wake. Without any words of wisdom to influence me, i’d probably pick up 4 10”x20 something fenders to hang off the sides of the boat and probably get 4 hearty snubbers to keep the boat & fenders slightly snug to the dock.

The other reason I am asking is that when all is said and done i’m probably looking @ $500-$600…and this will probably get closer to $700 if I also get smaller fenders so I don’t have to drag big old 10”r’s around. So, I wanted opinions on better ways of doing this. For example, would it possibly be better to get those bouy type fenders? Are there gadgets I should be looking to attach to the dock? etc.

Lastly, is there a particularly good place where this can be purchased?…I don’t think I am going to West for this :-)

Dock config is much like this;

[ATTACH=CONFIG]553549[/ATTACH]

and the boat would be on the right with the bow facing outward to the lake.

Thanks!

- scott -

Mooring whips?

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/taylor...05_157_007_002

+1 on the whips...they work well when properly sized to your boat but in storms I have seen them overpowered so dock edging and fenders work really well as a package set up

+1 on the mooring whips. Also when buying the fenders check out Ebay and Amazon. You will save a good chunk of change that way.

Boat Lift!

Padraig

Is there a way to anchor a mooring buoy that won't move?

We ran a line from the dock to the bow hook (on a clip), then a long line from the dock out too the buoy and then back to the stern of the boat (with another clip); we then would pull the stern line tight which would pull the boat out to rest half way between the dock and the mooring buoy. This would keep the boat away from the dock and away from the mooring buoy. More or less put the boat on a clothes line and allowed for the boat to be stored away from the dock without anyone having to get wet.

Even with fenders my boat got rubber markings on the side of it when tied up to a dock on a busy lake.


Edit: We haven't done this in years as we now have a lift, but it was a much cheaper solution that worked well before the lift.

Whips still made of that itchy as sh!t fiberglass?

How is the dock constructed, permanent pilings or is it just sitting on the bottom?

Padraig

Hand cuffs :D

My buddy has a few of these on his dock up on Castle Rock Lake.

http://www.bigfender.com/inflatable-...ml?___store=en

fuzzy or steel ??

Going off the title of the thread....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...tor4888741.jpg

Silk ties work well too and don't leave the marks that handcuffs might .
Just saying

neck ties to all four corners... they don't leave marks on her!:party-smiley-004:

Whip it, whip it real good:479:

These look good. I wonder how abrasion or puncture resistant they are, in case the dock has a rough area on it?

While reading your post the first thing that came to mind was the Whips as well,
However if yyou really want to step it up put this under your boat!
If I had a dock it is what I would do here in MN!
http://www.airdock.com/

This is something we used to do in Maine where we had tiny floating docks and huge tides. Its called a "pull off line". You anchor a float far enough away from your dock (we used big concrete blocks). On one end of your float you attach a large bull nose ring (6" around hoop). Then you loop a line through it and back to your dock. Tie boat to line (we had loops in the pull off line every so many feet) and pull your boat toward the float and away from dock and tie off. When needed just pull it back to the dock. Basically it is a boat clothesline.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...off%20line.jpg

http://www.hopballs.com/adult-hop-ba...-ages-13-plus/ enough said.......

I'm glad you like the post title, I was hoping it would attract attention :-)

About:

Whips - doesn't UV and weather destroy these making them very brittle?

Airdocks - I had looked at these, they are not exactly cheap. I also need to back my boat into my dock space and it looks like you need to drive forward onto these so your outdrive does not shred them

Inflatable dock bumper - I would be concerned these would get smashed/pushed under the dock. If I could sew, I'd go buy some PVC pond liner and roll it into a tube & seal it w/ PVC cement/weld. Here I could make them as "thick/wide" as I desired.

Pull-off line - I would be concerned the anchor would break free, The lake is soft bottom and I think big winds would break it free.

HopBalls - I actually thought about this :-) Is this a serious recommendation? Conceptually it is like those big round fenders, correct?

Another option I am pursuing is to see if I can get the dock owner to let me put a 8ft piece of docking running parallel to the stern of the boat. Doubtful I can, but it is worth the ask.

For now, sounds like the answer is fuzzy handcuffs and silk ties? I can probably get a dozen models to product demonstrate for less than some of these other solutions :-)

Thank-you all for these responses, I need to go back and think about all of these.

If those hop balls can survive a 6 year old, they should be able to survive just about anything...

Some whips around here - they are only found near the real wavy section of our lake. Why these used and not lifts ? They wheren't that available when these where all bought...so, yes, they can last a very long time.

Not related, but if you back in your boat to dock, make sure you don't have a sea wall or big rocks on the waters edge that will redirect large waves right into the back of your boat and into the tailpipes.

Throw in a huge cement mooring/buoy and tie it so it will never hit the dock.. Bumpers will do nothing when a real storm comes. I like a mooring off the side rather than whips for 2 reasons. Whips are always in the way and they will bend and bend until it hits in big wind.

My preference would be to drive two pilings about 12 feet away from your dock, and create an alley. You suspend the boat between the pilings and the dock, and it never touches anything. Invest in nice dock bumpers and a roller at the corner.

Done.

some enjoy the residual markings...that 'day after' warmth, memories of that evening run down the lake, glass smooth as she just begins to rise up on the pad listening to growl of pistons pumping, the moan of the hull enduring the stresses...

Even better if can afford

This is what I came up with
[IMG]http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/...pstf2ixikk.jpg[/IMG]

So important once or twice a year..

Exactly ... it's a 4 point tie up. Easiest and least expensive is to auger in 2 posts of 2in diameter galvanized pipe or even 2in diam. aluminum into the lake bottom off the dock about 4ft wider than your boat and apart about 4ft longer than the boat. Add 4 Kwik Tec bungee (Amazon,West,Ebay) and your all set. Let's the boat do it's natural thing when wakes go by.

I have had mooring whips for over 20 years, i keep the boat in all season on our river lots of wave action and wind and my boat looks great. and they do last a long time, its the only way i would tie my boat up in a windy and high traffic area.

I ordered a HopBall, i might get a few more :-) I'd like a lift, that's the goal, that will be my project for next year (I wonder if they can be rented/leased?)...i've blown my boating budget for the year and another $8-10K for a lift isn't going to happen this year (for now, my lift will be putting it on it's trailer if bad weather is expected).

I have been thinking about what SCT Kota and f_inscreenname are describing. It sounds like they are very similar in concept with a couple differences in implementation. It seems the key to this method working is in how the buoy is secured as this will be the force holding the boat from the dock. My follow-up question to this is, how do I secure they buoy such that it remains stable while the boat attempts to move closer to the dock. An anchor in mud isn't going to do it. I had thought about bending a piece of re-bar and pouring a few bags of concrete around it creating a weight to which I could attach a cable/rope....and use this to keep the buoy sturdy and in place. The question would then be, how much weight is needed to hold a 6,500 lb boat with wind, etc. in place?

The other thing I have been wondering is if I could make my own whips vs forking out $500+ for them. I found fiberglass rods here - 8ft sections are $26 for 1", $39 for 1.25", $59 for 1.5". (smaller lengths and diameters are available too) and they can be chemically bonded/welded together. It would take some time to determine the appropriate thinckness to get the desired flexibility/strength and some playing around with hardware on top and bottom of the rods, but it could make for a nice DIY project....has anyone tried this?

I wouldn't recommended it. It does sound like an interesting project, but the money you might save pales in comparison to being able to sleep at night and not worry if the contraption is going to keep the boat off the dock.

We've had the same set of Monarch mooring whips since 1994, they have been flawless and have only needed a coat of wax once a year. These are used in northern NY for about 6 months a year.

I have used a few other brands including some of the two-piece models, and there is no comparison to a set of single piece Monarch whips.

I bought a bunch of this cordage last year, really happy with it, especially for the price and the color selection.

http://www.maddogproducts.com/cordage.html

Our water drops during the winter so they were able to dig a hole, two or three feet across a foot deep, put some chain rapped around rebar (I believe) and then filled it full of concrete. It has been there for over 50 years and all the dirt has washed out around it but it is still there though the chain link going into the concrete finally broke. After that we wrapped a chain around the block (the top was larger when the dug the hole so it had a "lip" in the top). We do have some storms but the boat was downwind of the dock so the weight of the boat was pulling on the dock, not on the mooring. The set up we had was just like f_inscreenname's image except we had the bow and stern clipped to keep the boat from rotating.


We used 5 gallon buckets with large landscaping nails between the links of the chain (then filled with concrete) for jet ski moorings, it wouldn't be enough for a boat but you could try linking several of those together if you need another option, maybe even an old cooler full of concrete (handles to help move it) You could tie on fenders, mooring ball, life jackets etc to help with the weight in the water, then cut the rope once it is in place.


Edit: I just remembered that the club I worked for in high school used an engine block as an anchor to hold a small dock in place.

2 pilings with a pulley screwed into each piling, 2 coffee cans full of concrete, keeps the boat off the dock,
boat goes up and down with wave action, tide, etc. without jerking the lines tight.
my dad did it that way for 25 years without incident and probably only changed the lines on the coffee cans a few times

I guess my question is- how deep is the water at the dock? Coolers and pails full of concrete are all fun and games until you're the poor SOB that catches a prop/skeg on one in shallow water.

I prefer the four point method with big lengths of pipe I can see sticking out of the water, and some of these attached to the bottom
https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...256300#sgro=om

BBCLiberator - I was looking at the Maddog site last night shopping for cordage. Thanks for the quality recommendation on the bungees. What really caught my eye were the inflatable life vests, are these quality, seemed reasonable?

STL Kota - now I wish I saved the cracked block on an old 454. I joked about using it as a paper weight, this is far more practical :-) . I wonder if about 200 lb of concrete can hold a 6,000 lb boat in place? (once the Eurasian Milfoil takes off, that would most certainly hold the concrete in place...what a sad thought). Maybe I could daisy-chain orange home depot buckets of concrete via heavy chain?

outonsafari - Just 2 coffee cans? How did that work out for wind? those can have some pretty strong pull (I would think). As mentioned above, I was thinking of 2-4 home depot orange buckets of concrete...Guess that would be overkill :-)

The only issue with concrete buckets is that they can slide on the bottom (not much surface area dragging when they fall over) but you can always keep adding more until it held.

Anytime we have white caps they come from the same direction and the dock was up-wind of the boat so it did most of the "holding" of the boat.


Water depth was never an issue here but it is something to keep in mind.

Still wondering about the dock construction. Is it removeable or permanent? I ask because here in Western NY, on Chautauqua Lake, most docks are removed in the winter because of the ice. If that is the case tying to the dock or using mooring whips could be a problem. I would go with four posts along placed along side the dock.

Years ago I used to leave the boat at the dock on calm days when I was home and moor it at night or when I was not home. I used a 100# mooring a anchor and changed the chain and rope yearly. After I got a boat Lift I slept much better and it was easier keeping the boat bottom clean.

Padraig

Well damn, I actually never noticed these, so I'm useless on advice about quality. But they look pretty nice, and the price seems reasonable for sure.


Also, I don't know what the bottom is like, but what about an anchor auger??? Those things hold like a mother.... if you get the right size, AND they are relatively cheap.

Something large and it ain't going anywhere https://shop.hamiltonmarine.com/prod...FZRahgodZasP_Q

Or even better, again depending on the bottom (this is actually for dry earth, but doesn't really matter): http://www.gmesupply.com/66-galvaniz...FU5ZhgodPhQD5A

I've been tying to the same auger for about 20 years...