See full version: Tying Up Boats: Mooring Basics
If you find your boat wandering out from the pier or bulkhead too far because of the angle of your bow or stern line, consider running a breast line perpendicular from the pier or bulkhead to an amidships cleat. You can also run an individual breast line to the stern and the bow cleat.
Tying up alongside is very much like tying up in a slip or berth, but you’ll only be worried about half of the equation. Two spring lines should be rigged the same way as we discussed when tying up in a slip. Also run a stern and bow line like we discussed above, though naturally, you can only put these on one side of the boat.
Before we dig into the heart of the matter let’s take a look at some basic nomenclature that will make it all clearer.
Securing your boat alongside a pier or bulkhead is another common scenario you’ll encounter. Fenders are an important part of the equation, to provide cushioning and protection from the piers or bulkheads you’ll be tying up to. Most folks tie them off with a piece of line and hang them between the boat and the pier or bulkhead, usually from deck railings or lifelines, though some boats have special cleats just for hanging fenders.
Lastly, be sure you leave enough slack in all of your dock lines to account for the rise and fall of the tide in your area. Spring lines should remain fairly taught, however, and are generally able to adjust with the tide, especially the longer they are. And don’t forget to place fenders where any potential contact points occur.
A breast line keeps this powerboat from drifting too far away from the dock and makes it easier to pull it in when boarding.
To deck-mount a high-load fitting like a cleat so that it's really sound and water tight, first strengthen the system by reinforcing the base. Use an under-deck pad twice the length of the cleat and one half cleat length across. On deck, use a pad about 25% longer and wider than the cleat. Use only stainless steel or bronze bolts (not screws) as recommended by the manufacturer, and stainless washers under the nuts to spread the load. [links]
As a rule, you should buy the largest size cleat your pocketbook and the deck space can handle. Choose one made of a high tensile strength material, like stainless steel , bronze, aluminum or marinium. Examine the feet to make sure they are large relative to the size of the cleat, sturdy, and have an ample thickness of metal around the fastener holes.
The Foundation tested 11 six inch cleats made of nylon, aluminum, marinium (a magnesium-aluminum- titanium-beryllium alloy), chrome-plated zinc, bronze, stainless steel, and Zamac (a high-grade die-cast zinc alloy). Five of the cleats were two-hole; six were four-hole. The cleats were mounted on a 3/8- 6 inch thick steel plate in a tensile test machine. Admittedly, the steel plate is not the same as a deck mounting on a boat, but it prevents the fasteners from pulling out, and it eliminates different boat decking materials as a variable, so that only the cleat itself is being tested. To ensure uniformity, the cleats were mounted to the steel plate using manufacturer recommended sizes of flathead stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers, all tightened to precisely the same torque. The tensile strength of the bolts was also tested; they fell consistently within the manufacturer-listed range of 80,000 psi ( +/-10%). [links]
Chafe plays a vital role in the security of any cleat system. You can reduce chafe by using larger cleats, or cleats with smooth, round legs and no sharp angles, since the strength of a line is reduced by bending fatigue when it has to turn sharp corners or make tight bends. Mount your chocks as close to the cleats as possible, and avoid changing the direction of the rope along its path through the chock to the cleat.
Line is another part of the system. Generally, manufacturers recommend just slightly under one inch of cleat for every 1/16-inch of line diameter , which means you need a six-inch cleat for 3/8-inch line, an eight-inch cleat for 1/2-inch line, and a 10-inch cleat for 5/8-inch line. Using larger cleats for larger lines adds both weight and expense, but what would be the point of using 3/8-inch nylon line, with a breaking strength ocleat you attach it to can't withstand the same or greater load? here
Marinium usually costs slightly more than aluminum. Both metals have the same tensile strength, but marinium has a higher strength-to-weight ratio. The marinium cleat held up better in our tests, performing almost as well as the stainless. Zinc and nylon have the least tensile strength, and are the least expensive. But with zinc, as with aluminum and marinium, be aware of the potential for galvanic corrosion if you use fasteners of dissimilar metals (like stainless) in a saltwater environment. Nylon or plastic cleats are fine for small boat rigging, flags and other low-load applications, but for moorings, docking, and ot her uses that involve the security of your boat, stick to the stronger metals. Best buys on our test list are the four-hole stainless, marinium and bronze six-inch cleats, and the two hole aluminum cleat (B) at $16.95.
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This article was co-authored by Nitzan Levy. Captain Nitzan Levy is a Sailor, Social Entrepreneur, and the Founder of Sailors NYC, a recreational sailors’ club based in Jersey City, New Jersey that specializes in cruising boats and a variety of community programs. Capt. Levy has over 20 years of sailing experience and has sailed in many places around the world including: the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, The Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean. Capt. Levy is a U.S. Coast Guard Licensed Master of vessels up to 50 Tons with Auxiliary Sail and Assistance Towing Endorsements. Capt. Levy is also a NauticEd Level V Captain Rank Chief Instructor, an American National Standards Assessor, an SLC instructor, an ASA (American Sailing Association) Certified Instructor Bareboat Chartering, and an Israeli licensed skipper on Boats for International Voyages.
wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 88% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. [links]
There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
Experienced boaters know the importance of tying up a boat at the dock, also called docking, when it is not in use. If a boat is left unsecured, it can rock back and forth in the water, resulting in scratches and damage. It may also drift away during stormy weather or a rough tide. To tie up a boat at the dock, start by getting the proper mooring gear. Then, set up the dock lines, which are the lines of rope that attach your boat to the dock. Secure the dock lines with strong boating knots so the boat stays in place. here
Typically you look for stress cracks, loose mounting hardware, missing bedding compound, or concentrated streaks of dirt or rust. Even to a detailed examination, I found none of those things. However, my Hunter 410 has a heavy rubber rub rail that covers the deck-hull joint. I could not discount that possibility of some flaw being hidden by that structure.
Now the marina has to reinstall the rub rail, reinstall the stem fitting, and retune the rig. It was too cold on their first attempt. The rubber had contracted from the cold and was also too stiff to manipulate.
In the case of the port side crack, I poked sealant INTO the voids before smoothing over the area. I had also taken the screws out of the T-rail to investigate the condition of the exposed core laminations. All but one screw hole looked fine. I squeezed a little sealant into that hole before I replaced the screw. Sealant squeezed out from both sides when I tightened the screw.
In the last month or so, we've run across no less than six larger boats where deck and superstructure cores were badly damaged as a result of water intrusion into the cores. The water intrusion came about as the result of the indiscriminate attachment of hardware -- anything from canvass snap fasteners to antenna mounts, windlass foot switches and tender cradles -- while failing to properly bed the fasteners to prevent water leakage. In other cases, hardware was removed and holes left wide open, and in many cases all the owner did was to smear some putty over the hole with no more concern than a person filling a hole in the living room wall with toothpaste.
The reason for the extensive delamination of the house side of this yacht became obvious after the laminate was peeled away. Notice all the plugged holes. Water got into the core and caused extensive blistering. more
Snap fasteners? You mean those little snaps that hold my enclosures and covers on could be causing me a problem? Yep, that's exactly what I mean. Every single snap that is installed into a cored structure is likely to be allowing water into the core. One recent example turned up a 31' Tiara in which the entire deck and cabin trunk core was filled with water, so much so that water was running out from under the snap fasters, leaving nice trails of green slime. This happened because someone installed snap fasteners all over the cabin top to secure sunbathing cushions. more