[C38] Dock Lines

Tue Aug 18 18:38:08 EDT 2009

During a particularly rough Nov-Dec stay in Marina la Paz, in 1996 we broke five 1/2 dock lines in 4 days. Most fellow sailors were having the same sort of experience.
After talking to more experienced cruisers, I made 2 fixes, using 5/8" 3-strand nylon with plastic water hose chafe protection spliced into the eyes for the boat cleats:
1)  For my every-day, general-use lines, I simply cut the spliced lengths slightly longer than the boat length, heat-sealed and siezed at the running end.  (These lengths provide for tossing and handling by dock-side crew under almost any docking situation).  These lines are still in use on SnowBird, today.
2)  For the fitted lines for our particular slip, (again, with plastic water hose chafe protection spliced into the eyes) I installed rubber snubbers, then--measuring the proper length--I spliced aluminum eyes into the dockside ends.  These were secured with short pieces of 1/4" chain, looped around the dock cleat and secured with a clevis through the aluminum eye.   Never have had a dock line failure since.

As an aside, the new slip lines, bow and stern were run to a dock cleat midships, with 2 midline boat breast lines led to dock cleats forward and aft.  This provided more line stretch & boat movement and eliminated the hard shock of slamming against the end of a short line.

For those interested, Cupcakes and I also developed a can't-miss docking procedure some may have seen, but of some interest, in any case.
Advise if you want me to share.
Glenl

--- On Tue, 8/18/09, Steve Smolinske <SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com> wrote:

From: Steve Smolinske <SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com>
Subject: Re: [C38] Dock Lines
To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <listserve at catalina38.org>
Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 2:05 PM

Larry, 

I just used 1/2 golden braid and spliced eyes using a splicing tool and sewed leather for chafe protection.   If you do this yourself a tip on the splicing is at the end when you have to pull the jacket down.  I wrapped the eye on a cleat and put the tail on a winch that made the process a heck of alot  easier.  

Steve

From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org [mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of Joseph Launie
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:10 PM
To: larrypi at linkline.com; Catalina 38 Listserve
Subject: Re: [C38] Dock Lines

Larry,
    We prefer 1/2 inch nylon so they will have some stretch and not transmit loads to the boat. Chaffing is easy - just slip clear plastic tubing over the lines. Joe Launie/Macavity

Larry Malmberg wrote: 
What is the recommended size for dock lines for our boats?  West Marine has
them on sale and I was thinking about buying some new ones, the ones we have
now are pretty chaffed, any hints on avoiding chaffing?

Best regards,

Larry Malmberg-President

Larry Malmberg Investigations and Security, Inc.
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