Supertramp
Well-known member
That's a good solution and you could even use three bolts to secure the hardwood if you worry about ultimate strength.
Clip on cleat midships ?
- Thread starter Refueler
- Start date
MoodySabre
Well-known member
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
The cleat I have is alloy, so no dissimilar metals. No sign of corrosion.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
I use that technique.
johnphilip
Well-known member
deleted as duplicated previous
Last edited:
Supertramp
Well-known member
My issue with old toerail fittings is the fastening bolts in stainless which can be oxidised solid. Anything new gets Tefgelled. The 35 yr old stuff can be locked in place.
Refueler
Well-known member
You would be surprised as to size of vessels that use such techniques .... or similar.
At one time I worked on 1000 ton Chemical tankers UK / North Sea / Irish Sea ... one of our loading ports was Whitehaven. We used to load Phossy Acid there.
To get in .. we needed to have two good mooring lines ready - one each side of bow. We would slowly enter breakwater - one line over to get bow to make the tight turn .. then other side to make the zag ...
First time I did it ... I was nervous .... this was a ship - not a yacht ! Second time was going out loaded !!
Interesting little story about that first time .... we warped round the breakwater and then went alongside to load. Master and Pilot went ashore for a pint ... as Master left - I was C/Off ... he said : Once loaded put ship over there - let sister ship load ......
I thought he was joking. Not a bit of it ... We finished loading. Did the paperwork ... disconnected loading gear .... and I expected Master etc to appear ...
Next I hear a guy calling .. its the Pilot Boat skipper ...
We basically led rope across harbour and warped of the loading berth and tied up .. sister ship moved and started loading ...
Shortly after tied up - Master appears and says : Well done - watched you .. you seemed to have all under control !
srm
Well-known member
My second boat was a 50ft decommissioned fishing boat. When I first got it a fisherman friend spent a couple of hours showing me how to move the boat around piers, singlehanded, using springs. A skill that has saved me the cost of fitting bow thrusters to subsequent boats.
Refueler
Well-known member
Can well believe it ....
Number of times you see boaters straining / pushing / getting into all sorts of stress .. when simply having a rope .. leaning on the boat - does the job - slow but surely.
So often the quiet is broken by the shouts and sound of thruster being used ... when a little more care and thought could have done the job better.
My 25 is 4 tons and my gardener used to offer to help when I turn her ... but he's partial invalid - had a stroke when his wife died and its caused his legs to lose full mobility ... I say - its ok and he can get on with other he's doing. He's used to my doing it now and watches ....
1. Note wind direction vs what I need to do.
2. Any current / water movement
3. Decide which is best - stern or bow to move out and swing ...
4. Two ropes - one to do the work - other ready to catch other end of boat if it goes wrong.
5. Let mooring line go at end you want wind / current to move ..
6. Slack other ends lines / springs to allow boat room to move.
7. Without straining oneself - lean on rope or boat to keep her going
I've done this in Marina's .. home berth ... all sorts ... only when wind etc is up do I start to put real effort in - then I try to use winches / windlass ...
Even my 38ft has been handled similarly..
srm
Well-known member
Yes, I was using the wind plus a couple of ropes to move my 35ft + bowsprit off the hammerhead and into a berth. The boat was slowly drifting off the hammerhead with me still on the marina when two guys came running round from the other pontoon thinking the boat was adrift and I was needing help. "Its OK, just letting the wind do the work". On another occasion a crew from Cambridge University ran round and offered to help my wife and myself when we were quietly springing the boat (long keel) stern first into its berth. Initially stopping the boat at right angles to the end of the finger obviously looked as if something was wrong.
Refueler
Well-known member
Sadly old hand skills are getting few and being lost ...
Watched a crew leaving Baltic Moor at local yacht harbour other day - I was sitting out - waiting for the Pizza's (best Pizza in town at yacht Harbour) ...
3 guys ... typical sailboat about 28 - 30ft ... chatting to couple on pontoon. They then decide to depart .... heard them say to pontoon guys - no its ok we are fine.
Boat has one long stern line back to buoy ... two bow lines in a V to pontoon ... they have a bav 36 to stbd and empty slot to port ... wind is negligible, no current.
Helm starts engine .. two guys on bow .. one ashore lets go one line .. lets go other line and steps back on board .. bow now falling of vas stern line pulls on one 1/4 ... OOP'S ... fend off from the Bav ... one guy goes aft to start pulling on stern line ... guy on bow doing his best to fend off from the Bav ...
When guy takes line of stern cleat - boat decides to pivot when astern engine engaged .. making it worse ..
Finally after huffing and puffing .. they manage to get boat straightened and back to buoy to unclip and go ....
It only needed to swap one bow line to a doubled back line - so that bow could be controlled while pulling boat back on that stern line ... once clear of Bav ... let bow line go and retrieve ... unclip stern line and go. Engine ? started but in neutral ready for when boat can move out ..
For example of the mooring arrangement - here's my 38 racer moored bow to pontoon and line back to buoy.
Poignard
Well-known member
Me too!
srm
Well-known member
Could it be that the older generation has picked up more tips from proper seamen in our formative years?
How about this one? Leaving Bergen harbour we noticed that the rubbish bag had not been put ashore. There was a skip near the end of the pier so said we would drop it there. All the piers in Norway were faced with a network of used truck tyres. Told crew not to bother with lines or fenders as they had all been stowed. I approached at 90 degrees and placed the anchor against a convenient tyre, motored slow ahead and used the rudder and prop thrust to keep the boat in position. Crew member climbed tyres, dumped rubbish, returned. Backed off the pier and continued on our way.
Don't think its an RYA approved manoeuvre.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
I learnt it from an RYA instructor when my late wife did a day's course on manoeuvring under power - it was a special offer by the marina, and for various reasons they used my boat, with me handling lines!
The day trip and local ferry boats all use the bow onto a fender technique in Hong Kong. But in their case, the tires are attached to the bow of the boat, which is often a square bow junk style hull, so boarding and disembarking over the bow doesn't involve acrobatics!