dock line size and type

My boat is 18 to 20,000 pounds and I use three-quarter inch lines
 
You'll get to a certain point where the dang lines won't go around the cleats anymore :)

5/8" certainly sounds adequate, it's what I run as well though you've got 10klbs on me. I suppose it depends a bit on how you're docking. If wind is an issue at the dock you can always double-up in certain areas.
 
ric992 said:
what size and type are you using? My boat is 35k.. is 5/8 enough??
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You should be fine with that size. The most important lines are on the midship cleats. If you add a 4 way tie on top of that the boat will not move. I was on my boat during a supercell event that destroyed thousands of trees on our lake years ago. I watch the whole event develop on my nexrad and Raymarine radar. Winds touched 100MPH in our slip and shredded the flag on our flag pole. We lost many trees but the boat was fine. It never moved enough to touch a spring piling.
 
sbw1 said:
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You should be fine with that size. The most important lines are on the midship cleats. If you add a 4 way tie on top of that the boat will not move. I was on my boat during a supercell event that destroyed thousands of trees on our lake years ago. I watch the whole event develop on my nexrad and Raymarine radar. Winds touched 100MPH in our slip and shredded the flag on our flag pole. We lost many trees but the boat was fine. It never moved enough to touch a spring piling.
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We pulled into Harbor Beach marina an hour before that storm came through. We almost pulled the dock off the end piling but the 5/8 lines were never an issue. I do use a 3/4" stern and spring line at the home dock.
 
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Yeah. 5/8” are pretty robust. But I always have good lines. I replaced the stern lines every spring because of the wake violators on Spring Lake every week end. Would move the old stern lines forward and take the older lines off and use them for travel. We gave away a lot of lines to people we met while cruising and who were tied up with “furry” lines. Never liked seeing furry lines next to our boat in a crowded marina with small spring pilings.
 
While all of the above are valid, the answer to the OP’s question really is, “It depends”. ⅝” is probably a good choice for most in a still water marina, but add current, winds, and/or tide and it may not be enough.

When fully provisioned with fuel, food, water, clothes and throw pillows we tip the scales at about 24k. We also have two springs, and one bow in 3/4” and two sterns in 5/8”. This year I’m adding the large rubber snubbers to the springs. If we get high winds from the NE, the lines get doubled. Why? We are in the mouth of one of the Northeast’s largest rivers, in a harbor that is east facing with flat terrain to the NE. The harbor has a daily tide swing that averages 10’ and even at slack tide there is a 5 knot outgoing current. Circumstances warrant ignoring the rules of thumb.
 
I think it really depends on the conditions you generally find your boat subjected to. I love walking the pups on the marina docks and looking at how folks tie their boats and keep their gear. I am amazed some times at what I see.
My boat came with 1 inch double braided lines as the boat spent a lot of time tied at pier 39 in San Francisco with huge surge issues and even with snubbers 3/4 line would only last a couple of months. I use one of the 1 inch lines as a midship spring line with 3/4 inch on the bow and two crossed on the stern and my 51K boat barley moves in the strongest of winds.
 
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