Friday 23 January 2015

How to tie a boat

At Oak Bay I had a whole slip to myself, and I was able to tie Firefly in the middle so she didn't need a bumper. I found that the action of the boat bouncing around in the slip was jarring. The boat would surge one way and suddenly get stopped short by the dock line before surging in another direction. The dock lines would yank hard on the deck cleats, over and over and over. I didn't want my cleats pulled out of the decks, so I incorporated bungee cords to soften the action.

At Hidden Harbour, Firefly shares a slip with another vessel, hence it's a one-sided affair. But somehow, the bungee experience at Oak Bay has translated itself into another situation where she doesn't need a bumper! As you can see in the following photo, she sits out from the dock.

The trick is the bungee on the starboard side at the bow keeping the bow well out from the finger dock:

And then another bungee worked into the springline which is leading aft. Since the springline attaches to the widest part of the boat and pulls aft, it serves to keep the boat parallel to the dock, rather than pulling it in to the dock:

I'm not sure I completely understand the concept, but it works!
The stern line just keeps things tidy.





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