your experience/opinion on mooring whips

[flashback]

I want to tie up my 27ft sail boat to my dock. the lake I'm on varies as much as 7 feet between summer and winter and I was wondering how well the whips would work for that type of situation..as I'm not there all the time to tend the lines...

 

[flashback]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

well, I will try them and let you know how they work out for me... but I sure would like some input.... thanks, Flash/////////

 

[steelespike]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

I have only seen whips at my various neighbors docks.I don't see how they would work over the 7 foot difference even with tending.I would think they would need tending at least at every 12 inch change.I assume the angle of the whips is critical so as the water raises and lowers they would also need adjustment.If exposed to high winds or storms you could lose your boat regardless of how well your whips work.<br /> I you are in quiet water with no waves from boats adjustment would be less critical.

 

[tommays]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

I have seen them on lakes and on the long island south shore were the tide only chnges 18" or so<br /><br /><br />After that everthing is on a floating dock <br /><br />But how fast could the lake level change even with a big rain fall ?<br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[Bondo]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

That's a 'ell of a Tide for Tennessee.........<br /><br />I've seen those Fiberglass Whips used on Lakes or Ponds where water levels change only Inches a year.......<br />Back Home in Maine, on the Coast.... The Tides are pretty Substantial,+ Floating Docks with Gangplanks is the Norm.........<br /><br />At My place on Chaumont Bay,... The Winds,+ Weather will change the water levels Maybe 18"s a day,......<br />Last year,.. I secured My Boat to a small false roof overhang, with Rubber Bungee Straps,...21"ers....<br />The Overhang is Maybe 18" beyond the Edge of the Concrete seawall,... Double Bungee'd to the Close-side Cleats with the docklines kept it Away from the cement, Even thru some Pretty Good Blows,+ T-storms......<br /><br />You Might be able to come up with a "Strong Arm" style of Tie-off........ The boat would move Closer as the water Dropped,+ Further away as the water rose.....<br />To a Point of course....<br />And depending on the Winds encountered,... It Might be 'ell on the Cleats,.... You'll need to incorporate some sort of Spring into it........<br /><br /><br />Ohhhhh, Btw,.........<br />We're All Sorry it took a Whole Day,+ 5 1/2hrs. to get you a Response,....... Ya Gotta Love iboats.....<br />There's boards I wander thru now,+ then that Don't see Total posts that Close together........ <br /><br /><br />Good Luck with it FB.....

 

[flashback]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Thanks for the input guys, yep the tide does change alot here. the TVA uses the reservoirs for flood control so they juggle the water level quite often especially when there is a lot of rain in the mountains.. the lake rose a foot and a half in the last 24 hours.. I like floating docks but very few folks here use them.. why I don't know and I haven't been here long enough to find out why.. sometimes the water can actually go over the dock a couple of feet. I haven't seen that happen yet but a couple of fishermen I was talking to said it happens occasionally. seems like the whips would work ok if they can flex enough to handle it.. and if the boat is sprung far enough away from the dock at normal pool..right now I don't have any other ideas but the whips but I'm open for anything..thanks again

 

[Lou C]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Can you use a rotating mooring, you can tie up a dinghy up to your dock and use that to go out to the boat, we use them here on the North Shore of LI where the tide changes are 6-7 feet every 6 hours. They allow the boat to always face bow to the wind and waves, so in some ways they are safer than a dock.

 

[BillP]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

flashback,<br />I've never used them but South Florida has them everywhere...on megabuck boats along the ICW waterway and canals. They have been around in big numbers for 30+ yrs. Tides here are only 4' max but it seems to me the only difference for a bigger tide range would be a longer whip.

 

[Mike Robinson]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

I don't know about the whips, only seen pictures of them. <br /><br />Here we have as much as 26 feet in tidal range. For the vessel I work on we have vertical wires that are attached to the dock top and bottom at the height of maximum tide range. We attach lines with shackles to the vertical wires so that the shackles slide up and down the wires with the tide. The pins of the shackles need to be wired in place so that they can't back off if they rub against the wire.<br /><br />Hope this helps!

 

[flashback]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Mike, that is an interesting idea, if I run some cable from the riverbed to the dock vertically, I can tie off to the cable. I wonder how they fasten the cable to the bottom of the lake?

 

[flashback]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Billp, that,s what I was thinking, if the tide change is greater, use a longer whip..thanks for the input...

 

[Mike Robinson]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Flashback <br /><br />In our case the vertical wires are secured top and bottom to the pilings. If this is not feasible I suppose one could secure the bottom to concrete blocks.

 

[swist]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Morring whips are not designed to handle water level changes. They are supposed to keep the boat from slamming into the dock when waves hit it. You can only do so much with fenders.<br /><br />IMHO, I think these are useful if you have a very exposed dock subject to buffeting from seas, wakes, etc. But if not, they are very expensive, put a bunch more clutter on the edge of the dock where you'd like to keep it clear, and are one more set of moving parts that needs to be cleaned, adjusted & otherwise dealt with.

 

[flashback]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

Well I e-mailed Taylormade (one of several manufacturers of whips), and the responded and said their whips would handle the situation I described without any problems. This is encouraging but I take it with a grain of salt..they want to sell whips.. in any case the theory seems good. swist, as to your comment about extra moving parts cluttering up the edge of the dock, I totally agree. But I do need something to keep the boat off the dock if the water rises 2 feet over the dock..that's really the tricky part to this whole thing..when the water goes back down, I could have a 6000lb boat stranded on top of the dock..

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: your experience/opinion on mooring whips

The whips on my dock are made of very stout fiberglass. I don't see any reason why they would not work for you on your boat. We get lots of tidal change here, and there is never a problem.