Centre mooring cleats / fairleads for single-handing ?

Aft of middle?

I have installed central cleats and use them all the time, so yes to the idea.

Logically(?), I installed them in the middle.

There is a case for a cleat which is aft of middle. The ability to attach yourself by a cleat and leave the engine in slow ahead to hold you steady is rather appealing. I can do that with a loop round the sheet winch. If I do it on the centre cleat the stern swings out.
 
I'm amazed that anybody would build a boat without midship cleats.

I mean, what are they saving - about £20?

Granted that on racing boats they might worry about sheet snagging, but for the rest of us they are at least as usefull as any of the other cleats.
 
There are no midships cleats on my old Kingfisher, but then when I got her a couple of years ago, there was only one cleat forward, which made mooring interesting - shoreline, headline and spring all on the one fitting.

That's now been solved, and a couple of midships cleats look like further useful additions. They will give me more flexibility if nothing else. The only problem is that there isn't much room on the side deck so they may get in the way, but a couple of those Barton cleats would solve that. Added to the to do list.
 
parsifal said:
I have never tried using the midship spring in a lock but I like the idea.

Once you have secured the midship line do you put bow and stern lines on or is the midship line enough?
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The midship line works when the engine is in forward at idle speed. Use it first to snug the boat to the dock, then connect bow and stern lines. The shut engine off.
 
Stu Jackson said:
The midship line works when the engine is in forward at idle speed. Use it first to snug the boat to the dock, then connect bow and stern lines. The shut engine off.
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Thanks Stu, but I am very familiar with using the midship line alongside a pontoon, or dock (as you can see from my previous post) but I was really interested in the possibility of using the technique in a lock, where the boat only needs to be secured for a short time to verticall chains or ropes while the lock fills or empties. Would it do just to pass the midship line around the vertical chain or rope and leave the engine running slow ahead with the tiller towards the lock wall, and not bother with bow and stern lines? I'm thinking here of a single-handing situation where just having a midship line to tend would make things much easier.

Percy
 
I also have fitted the SL toerail cleat and I use it all the time. Ideal for coming alongside another boat(assuming they also have centre cleat) or onto a pontoon. Once tied with the centre cleat you can sort out the other lines etc. Indispensible in my opinion. I have two short 12mm lines just for this.
 
parsifal said:
Thanks Stu, but I am very familiar with using the midship line alongside a pontoon, or dock (as you can see from my previous post) but I was really interested in the possibility of using the technique in a lock, where the boat only needs to be secured for a short time to verticall chains or ropes while the lock fills or empties. Would it do just to pass the midship line around the vertical chain or rope and leave the engine running slow ahead with the tiller towards the lock wall, and not bother with bow and stern lines? I'm thinking here of a single-handing situation where just having a midship line to tend would make things much easier.

Percy
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That sounds like a good idea. There may be, perhaps, lock rules that may not permit that maneuver. Some locks, IIRC in the French canals, require you to turn your engine off, so just that midships line wouldn't work, but would to get you into the lock.
 
Also solo, I have preventers permamently rigged through a block attached to a midships fairlead. This doubles as a spring with the line on a winch. Works well, big bowline thrown over a cleat then take up the slack with the winch.
 
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