Help me park my boat! Diagram included

[waynehol]

Hi everyone,
I have a 16' center console flats boat (just bought!)and I am keeping it tied to my dock in a protected canal in the Intracoastal Waterway (West coast of Florida. Tide averages about 3'. I want to know how to properly tie the boat so it doesnt bang on the dock.
I have included a drawing of what I have. Though it is not to scale, the relative sizes give a good indication of the situation. Your help is appreciated and I think this exercise may be fun for you!

 

[PolishPrince]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

Floating dock or fixed?

 

[cwhite6]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

I would look into getting some of those whips that you tie the boat off too. That should keep it from banging into the dock. Something like these:
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/s...5_225000000_225006000?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT

 

[waynehol]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

The dock is a fixed dock, so I need to keep the tide in mind.
THanks for the whip idea, I have been thinking about that but for now dont have the extra cash to spend.

 

[bowman316]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

tie off to b and c. And tie another line over to A. that is the only line that will keep your boat from bumping the dock when the tide comes in. Or tie bumpers onto the side of your boat. You can't have the A line tight at high tide. But almost tight at low tide will be fine. The first time you tie up using point A, do it a full low water. Then mark the line where you tied it off at, so at high tide, you know how much slack to give. Leave that line on the pyling.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

mooring whips are the way to go. this video shows our 23' 4800 lb deckboat during Hurricane Gustav, in the FL keys. these are Taylor Made mooring whips.

 

[KurtG]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

We used simple eye-bolts or a pulley and lines with weights on the end at the pylons to keep the boat away from the dock.

Maybe two lines to the pylon, one from bow and one from stern

 

[JoLin]

Re: Help me park my boat! Diagram included

Whips aren't a bad idea, but not necessarily any better than fenders in this case. One thing that struck me is that you need to better control your fore-aft movement. I'd suggest:

1. Your 2-B-3 Stern/Spring Line is good. You want to keep that
2. Add a 2-C-3 Bow/Spring Line.

Now your fore-aft movement relative to the dock is controlled.

3. A fender at boat cleats 2 and 3. If your in protecxted water, 6" should be fine.
4. You could probably remove your 1-A line. Up to you, but if you have good fender protection it probably isn't helping anything and may worsen your "bow thumping" on the dock by not letting the entire boat move in and out from the dock.

My .02