Association Forum - Chafe protection

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Chafe protection

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

kevinmac
Admiral

Member Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/06/2006 : 09:20:12

Now that my boat is in a new slip, I can only tie off to one side. I have read the answers to my other thread on this subject, as well as searched the archives (probably with the wrong key words) and I am left with a question:

I have run lines as follows: From the bow cleat on the boat to a cleat just slightly forward on the dock. From the winch to the same cleat forward. From the winch to a clear near the stern of the boat. From the stern cleat to the same aft dock cleat. (Hope that makes sense.) This arrangement looks right, although in yesterday's strong current, the stern stuck out of the slip more than I would like.

But with this arrangement, the dock lines are rubbing against various parts of my topsides. My question is, I need to figure out some material that I can put on the dock line to both protect the dockline AND protect the boat from chafe. Can anyone suggest a material, and also, how to attach it to the line so that it does not slide downward away from the spot I am trying to protect?

I saw references to old fire hose - is that soft enough to protect my boat?

Thanks in advance, as usual.

Kevin Mackenzie
Former Association Secretary and Commodore
"Dogs Allowed"
'06 C250WK #881
and
"Jasmine"
'01 Maine Cat 30 #34

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 02/06/2006 : 10:02:46

Kevin, it would probably help if you could post a few pictures of your new slip so we can get a better idea of your problem. You know the saying about pictures.

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/06/2006 : 10:13:54

Will do.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 19:31:57

Kevin, do you have a cleat on the dock near midship? I run both my springs from the bow and stern cleat to a cleat midship on the dock. This way I don't have any lines running/rubbing on the cabin area.

Edited by - Tom Potter on 02/08/2006 20:03:24

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 20:06:27

Nope, no cleat. That is why the thread elsewhere in the forum about adding cleats. I have only a cleat at the extreme stern end of the dock, and about 1/4 back from the bow end, all assuming the boat is bow in.

Kevin

Edited by - on

mday
Navigator

Members Avatar

197 Posts

Response Posted - 02/20/2006 : 14:07:08

Kevin,

Here's a couple pictures a vinyl sleeve I used to prevent chafing prior to getting the better grade dock lines from West Marine. I found the new dock lines are soft enough to not produce any rub marks.

Edited by - on

Ben - FL
Admiral

Members Avatar

880 Posts

Response Posted - 02/20/2006 : 19:49:42

A lot of people just use vinyl tubing. It is cheap. And it is also clear so you can see the line inside the softener.

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

Members Avatar

672 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 10:05:27

For chafe protection, I use an old, no longer serviceable, white drinking hose.

Edited by - on

JimB517
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
3285 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 15:47:01

I have normal bow lines and stern lines on the rinky-dink and undersized Catalina cleats. For my spring lines, I have a bronze clip on the boat end of the line. I clip this to the stanchion base. I used to clip to spare genoa track slide, but I put those spares into use for my spinnaker so now just clip to the stanchion base. Also you can clip to the main shroud base.

I use a line from my decks bow cleat back to the main shroud/stanchion base to pull the boat deeper into the slip. I don't like my outboard (tilted up) sticking out into the fairway - just the thing a powerboater would be most likely to clip coming back in.

In storm conditions I run a line from the deck stern cleat forward and drop a loop over the cockpit winch. This prevents the boat from being pushed back by strong headwinds/currents.

Of course I have floating docks. In stronger tidal areas with non floating docks you would need longer spring lines.

With bow line, bow-aft spring, stern-forward spring, and stern line plus a couple of oversized fenders I don't think you really need to worry about having lines on only one side.

Since I sail every day and want to get underway come home FAST all lines are premeasured and loops/clips are in exactly the right place. I leave all lines on the dock. I carry spare (long) docklines in my anchor locker incase I ever dock anywhere else plus I carry a 100 foot nylon double braid line for towing (in addition to my usual anchor lines).

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 15:57:13

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by JimB517
 ...I don't like my outboard (tilted up) sticking out into the fairway - just the thing a powerboater would be most likely to clip coming back in...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

And I've seen this happen on more than one occasion!

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 16:54:51

Frog asked me to post pictures of my dock line setup a couple of weeks ago. Here they are, from pictures taken weekend before last that I finally got posted on my site.

Sorry they are dim, but I always forget to take the pictures before the sun gets in the west. The dock lines are on the east side of the boat.

http://www.catapult.biz/sail/docklines/index.htm

I took the advice given somewhere in this thread, and looked around to see how others had protected their boats. To remind you all, there is a strong current fore to aft, and the current is parallel to the slip. It is a double slip, with the other side of the slip not currently occupied. Large ships go by in the river, and so the boat gets a pretty good rocking every 15 to 30 minutes, even in calm weather.

In any case, I found three answers to the "how to protect the boat" question, as evidenced by dock line/fenders in various slips. The answers were:

1.) Screw it, it is an old boat.
2.) Put fenders fore, aft and center.
3.) The arrangement I adopted (in the pictures).

This third arrangement I adopted after first trying the second. The second caused the boat to grind continuously on the center fender. After only a few days, there was bottom paint powder all over the round fender (the orange ones in the picture) that I chose. It seemed to me that over time it HAD to have some sort of detrimental effect on the boat.

I saw one nicely kept 40+ foot boat with the third arrangment. It is a large cylinder fender hung horizontally in the water from the lifeline stanchions. This fender rides below the lip of the dock, between the boat and the concrete that is the dock itself. (The dock floats, by the way.) Between this cylinder fender and the boat is a large flat fender pad available at West Marine. This fender pad is also hung from the same stanchions, so that it is not possible for the flat pad to be anywhere other than between the boat and the fender.

The effect of this arrangement seems to be to eliminate chafe between the boat and the dock, although I was only able to check on it after a few days installed.

If you have time, please take a look at the pictures, and comment on this arrangement. Here are the things I know are wrong already:

1.) The lines hanging the fenders do not have the ends whipped. This is because if the arrangement works, I will make clips to hang them and eliminate the excess line.
2.) The stern hangs into the fairway. This is because there are only two dock cleats, and their position results in the boat not being all the way in the slip. I plan to add another cleat further into the slip, and also one in the center of the slip on the other side of the boat, to hold the boat forward and hopefully off the dock as someone suggested.
3.) I am trying to contact the owner of the other side of the slip to get his permission to tie lines across his slip until he puts a boat in it.

One other point. There are small cylindrical fenders hanging from the boat still, fore and aft. Those, and the round orange fenders attached to the dock, are there to protect the boat during docking and departing (and as backup in case the center pad/fender combination comes loose or whatever). The flat pad and large round fender will be pulled out before leaving the dock, and reinstalled after arriving.

If you have any suggestions about the docklines, or about anything else you see "wrong" on my boat, please comment. I have everything to learn about keelboats...

My worry about this arrangement is the dock lines rubbing on various parts of the boat. I need something soft to put around the lines I guess, to protect the windows, and various other rub points.

I tried running lines from the forward cleat on the boat to the aft dock cleat, and vice versa, but the angle between the line and dock was so shallow that the boat would drift out at about a 30 degree angle to the dock, and into the other side of the slip (that is not mine).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Edited by - on

Keith D.
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
233 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 19:39:04

Kevin How about going for the simple solution to your chafing problem. Attach the dock lines so that they don’t rub on anything. Just add a cleat amid ships for the spring lines. You could put it through below the windows with a suitable backing plate. Or do what Catalina did for the outboard shrouds. They bolted the U-bolts behind the rub strip with a bar backing. You could easily so the same with a cleat. If it’s strong enough to hold up the entire rigging at that point it will be plenty strong for a spring line cleat.

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 19:53:25

Keith,

That is one of the solutions I have been considering, but I am unsure where exactly to install the cleat, and if it will be strong enough. The locations of the bow and stern cleats (on the boat) look reinforced to me, or at least in places where the fiberglass is thick. Can I just put a cleat through the hull below the windows with a backing plate?

I noted that someone else in this thread asked Catalina where to put a midships cleat, and they answered: "Use the winch".

Edited by - on

frog0911
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1349 Posts

Response Posted - 02/21/2006 : 22:53:41

Kevin, I agree with your plan of adding two more cleats. The one mid-dock between the fingers would hold the bow off easily. The second I would mount forward as far as possible to allow for the present bow cleat to be midships and also pull forward on the boat's bow. Putting the present bow cleat at midship would let you attach spring lines to the boat's bow and stearn cleats. This would eliminate the rubbing problem cause by using the winches as attachment points. It is to bad they do not drive a pile between the finger docks to allow for attaching your starboard stearn. That is the normal configuration here for a floating dock setup. Until you get the additional dock cleats installed it looks like you have it all covered.

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/22/2006 : 09:28:57

That makes a lot of sense Frog. Thanks.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.