Setting up dock lines in a wet slip.

Mightychan

Mightychan

Member
Oct 8, 2016
157
Panama City FL
Boat Info
2005 DA 420, AB Dink
Engines
Cummins 6CTA
I have a 42 foot Sundancer with a 14 foot beam in a wet slip. The slip is about 20 feet wide, so I have lots of room on the sides. However, the last piling is about 25 feet out from the rear of the slip, which puts it just astern of my midships cleats. Currently I have my bow lines affixed at those cleats, but the cleats are so close to the pilings that the line is only about 5 feet long. We don't have huge tide swings here in NW Florida but I still think it would be wise to have a longer line there to accommodate for king tides, storms, etc. Suggestions? I have thought of using a loose bowline knot on the piling so that the rope could slide up and down the piling, perhaps with some chafe guard. Anyone have any better ideas? Thanks.
 
From your post I'm guessing that you go bow first into your slip, is that right? When you set up your lines, are they going directly from the cleat to the nearest piling?

If so and you're concerned about the boat movement during high winds you might try running lines from the cleat to a piling a bit further away. This is called using spring lines and the longer lines will allow for more movement.

We back into our slip. Our slip is also 20' wide and our boat has about a 15.5' beam. I have my lines adjusted so that when the boat is properly positioned in the slip it can't touch the finger pier on either side. It stays centered in the slip to prevent rubbing on anything.

I'm of the belief that you almost can't have too many dock lines. On the windward (starboard) side of my slip my 5 dock lines run directly from the boat cleat down to the dock cleat. This keeps the boat from being pushed toward the port side. On the port side of the boat I have four dock lines and they're set up as spring lines so the boat can't move forward or astern.

This setup keeps the boat centered in the slip very nicely no matter what the wind does. I hope this helps.
 
Actually, we back into the slip.
I have spring lines set up.
My concern is that the "bow lines" are short (maybe 5 feet) due to the proximity of the piling to the cleat. My bow cleats are far away from the last piling and can't really be used due to the curvature of the bow. So my "bow lines" are affixed to the midships cleat. Generally more length is better to allow the lines to move with the tides.
 
Mightychan said:
I have a 42 foot Sundancer with a 14 foot beam in a wet slip. The slip is about 20 feet wide, so I have lots of room on the sides. However, the last piling is about 25 feet out from the rear of the slip, which puts it just astern of my midships cleats. Currently I have my bow lines affixed at those cleats, but the cleats are so close to the pilings that the line is only about 5 feet long. We don't have huge tide swings here in NW Florida but I still think it would be wise to have a longer line there to accommodate for king tides, storms, etc. Suggestions? I have thought of using a loose bowline knot on the piling so that the rope could slide up and down the piling, perhaps with some chafe guard. Anyone have any better ideas? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Might be helpful if you draw it and take a picture of your drawing and post it
 
Bowline cleat to the midship pylon. midship cleat to the bow pylon. Staggered ties to prevent the crossed lines from chafing.
This arrangement will prevent fore/aft movement, but will account for tidal swings. The five foot tie is not a spring line arrangement.
 
Drawing attached. See how short the bowlines are, circled in red?
Lines.jpg
 
It looks to me that you could use the slidemoor system. You'd have to tie up the midship cleat from the deck as the finger piers don't look sufficiently long to reach that cleat.

I appreciate slidemoors because they eliminate the need for spring lines, fenders, etc. The boat goes up and down with the waves and tide. We've had no trouble with the system in 4 years. Brief but very windy thunderstorms have been no problem. Long-lasting 40 mph noreasters have not been a problem either.

We can leave the boat unattended for weeks or months at a time with no worries.

For hurricanes though we center the boat in the canal tied about 20 different ways.
 
I think the slidemoor looks like the best option.
 
You have a bit of a tough one there. Maybe take the two ropes off the red Piling and move them to the next aft piling. Then use the red piling for the bow.... ?
 
Blueone, I thought about that, but the curvature of the bow will not give me a straight shot to the bow cleats...the rope would be chafing on the bow railing.
 
Check out a product called "Tideminders". Several boats at my yacht club use them and we have 8-12 ft tide swings.
 
Mightychan said:
Blueone, I thought about that, but the curvature of the bow will not give me a straight shot to the bow cleats...the rope would be chafing on the bow railing.
Click to expand...
I wondered about that.... I thought being such a wide slip it might no

The Tideminders, slide moor might be your only option...
 
Thats a tight one, I would just use one spring line and move it to the finger pier piling. Slidemore for those front pilings.
 
Cross tie from the piling to the bow cleat on the opposite side. That is how I do it as the pilings are slightly aft of my bow cleats.
Aft lines are good and springs are good....
 
We have an almost identical setup at a few transient marinas we go to around here.
I like the spring and stern lines. Leave them as they are.
I’d take those lines from the midship cleats (they aren’t doing much of anything for you) and run them from the pilings on each side back to the forward cleats and leave a decent amount of slack in them. That will keep them from getting too tight when the tide is high or low.
Use them to keep your bow from swinging too far in towards the adjoining slips on either side if the winds pick up one way or the other.
The spring and stern lines are going to keep you in the slip.
Been tying different boats of mine in slips set up like that the way I described for decades and never had a problem.

Luckily I tie up my boat better than I mark up photos, but here’s the idea:

7A453821-F087-404A-B23F-FFC509757105.jpeg
 
Last edited:
ttmott said:
But if you cross the bow lines and go to the cleat on the opposite sides then the line fleet angles will better hold the boat's bow in position.
Click to expand...
I can't because of the way my boat is. Right now I have it set and it doesn't move anywhere, high winds or not.
 
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