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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Spring Lines

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zebra50
Captain

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USA
408 Posts

Initially Posted - 02/08/2006 : 19:24:28

The 250 does not appear to be set up very well for bow and stern spring lines. The best I have come up with is to tie off through the stem plate (correct term??) area where the shrouds are attached. Anyone have any other ideas? Is the mounting there strong enough?

Jay
Papa's Boat II
250WB #370
Blog:http://zebra50-boilingpoint.blogspot.com

Edited by - on

kevinmac
Admiral

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USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 20:08:36

I asked this question a couple of months ago, and folks recommended using the winches to tie spring lines to. A cleat on either side would be much better, and is one of the possible solutions I am considering to my own docking issues.

Kevin

Edited by - kevinmac on 02/08/2006 20:09:17

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 20:30:19

If it doesn't foul your genoa sheets, you could try using a sliding track cleat for the spring line. No drilling and you can slide it to where ever its needed.

Edited by - on

atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 20:47:49

Where did you get the cleats?

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 21:05:02

West Marine, but you might search around to find cheaper ones.

[url="http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|10391|292249|312057&id=92875"]Defender has them too.[/url]

Edited by - dlucier on 02/08/2006 21:10:12

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 02/08/2006 : 22:08:04

Usually most sailboats I know of tie of on the cans for the spring lines.

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frankr
Captain

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256 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2006 : 07:06:59

I asked Catalina about adding side cleats and where the best location would be for them - they said use the winches - as they are the strongest attached pieces of the boat. I tie a bowline with a loop about 2-3 inches larer than the winch and loop them over the winch.

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2006 : 07:36:38

When I used my winches for a spring line, I put a couple of wraps on the winch and dropped the line in a jibsheet cleat. It makes it easy to adjust the length of the spring line.

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2006 : 08:24:52

I have always sprun from the front to the back. My bow lines are made off on the dock to a specific length, the spliced eyes simply loop around the bow cleats. The stern lines have the eyes on the dock cleat with some wraps to shorten them and then they go to my winches and from there to my stern cleat. I can harden up the stern lines with the winches to center my boat in the slip or I can "set" the boat against a fender hanging from the dock. When I am leaving to sail the port stern line is the only thing one as I warm up the moter and then I simply lay it on the dock, give a little shove sideways to center the boat and hit reverse. This is a very storm worthy set-up, last year it took an 80+ mph wind to push my bow over to knock the top off my dock box and some short bow lines from the bow cleats to the forward dock cleats could have prevented that.

Edited by - Frank Hopper on 02/09/2006 08:25:25

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2006 : 08:36:43

"I asked Catalina about adding side cleats and where the best location would be for them - they said use the winches - as they are the strongest attached pieces of the boat."

A little cautionary tale when using the winches for spring lines...I, too use my winch to attach my spring lines and have been doing so since I've owned my boat without any problems,...that is, until last fall.

Due to water levels, my coaming winches are about even with the top of my fixed dock where the cleats are located. My spring lines are set for a 2-3ft tide, but due to a relatively rare weather pattern, the water level dropped a good 4-5ft. As the water dropped, the slack was taken out of the spring line attached to the winch and, at some point in the boat's descent, the winch's nylon center stem fractured, from the mostly upward pull on it, and was sent to Davey Jones' locker.

The part of the center stem that let go was the very top portion above the key, which is only about a 1/2" thick.

The moral of the story...yes, the winch is very strong as long as the load is fairly perpendicular to the winch drum.

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kevinmac
Admiral

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USA
732 Posts

Response Posted - 02/09/2006 : 22:47:16

Frank,

Do you have fingers on both sides of your boat, i.e. do you have the crossed front to back lines on both sides?

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zebra50
Captain

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USA
408 Posts

Response Posted - 02/10/2006 : 10:26:13

thanks to all for the input. I like Franks method. I dont have tide problems as we are on a large lake. The forward line still may be better served by attaching to the shroud plates to eliminate any problem with pulling out the coaming winch.

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 02/10/2006 : 12:58:33

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by kevinmac
 Frank,

Do you have fingers on both sides of your boat, i.e. do you have the crossed front to back lines on both sides?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes, you can see examples in the background. That winch will never go anywhere unless you have much bigger problems. If your winches are on the coaming I would do it just like me, if you have winches up on the cabin only I would look at simply going all the way back to the stern cleat.

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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.