Eye splices in mooring warps.

[michael_w]

On permanent lines I like having a spliced hard eye attached to a snubber spring which in turn is shackled to a chain wrapped around the dock cleat. Suitable anti-chafe on the fairleads as necessary.

On non-permanent lines plain ends; as you don't know what you'll need to tie on to. Mildly irritating, is people who raft up with their lines cow hitched to a cleat and expect me to handle the usual miles of slack line. One of my boats had a single foredeck cleat, then the technique was to drop a bowline over the cleat and hand the mess back. Harrump!

 

[Skylark]

I don’t like lines with eye splices as sooner or later they will embarrass you.

Manoeuvring on and off a pontoon berth, I always oxo to all cleats, on the boat and ashore. With these, if something untoward should happen, the line can be released at either end.

I regularly spring off with slip lines and I don’t want them to potentially snag. An eye spice will, sooner or later, snag.

Once the boat is safely secured, I rearrange lines to tie-up securely. When leaving I’ll again rearrange lines to suit the chosen method of departure.

I have some admiration for those who have fixed and predetermined shore lines but I never seem to know how I’m going to tie-up until I’m alongside.

One of my many sailing OCDs is walking along marina pontoons to look how others tie-up their boats. It usually tells a lot about the skipper.

 

[dansaskip]

It's often convenient to quickly drop the loop over a deck cleat before heaving the line ashore.

Being a single hander, I prefer the eye made on the boat cleats

A cautionary tale - Once coming into a marina singlehanded and unsure of what side I would be berthing, instead of making fast my midship mooring line by turns around the cleat, I thought to drop a loop over the cleat, thinking it would be quicker. So I came alongside hopped off the boat with line in hand, put a round turn around the pontoon cleat and pulled. Next thing I knew I fell backwards off the pontoon and into the water headfirst. The loop had slipped of the cleat on the boat. Thats is how I know how difficult it into get out of the water in a marina particularly if wearing full water proofs. It was dark the middle of the night and no-one about. And its why I will never use a loop dropped over a cleat .

 

[dunedin]

I generally prefer an eye splice . Means you only get spaghetti at one end rather than both.

Being a single hander, I prefer the eye made on the boat cleats . I can then release the ropes from the pontoon and jump on. The order I release them depends on the wind and tide. My current berth is like an extended hammer head so I can head of in both directions. Interesting hearing how others do it.

Noooooo! Surely better to loop ropes back to the boat, then release ropes when on board - especially when single handed.
Similarly when arrive loop mid spring onto stern cleat without stepping off.

PS I like spliced eyes, though happy to do bowline where necessary.

 

[dunedin]

A cautionary tale - Once coming into a marina singlehanded and unsure of what side I would be berthing, instead of making fast my midship mooring line by turns around the cleat, I thought to drop a loop over the cleat, thinking it would be quicker. So I came alongside hopped off the boat with line in hand, put a round turn around the pontoon cleat and pulled. Next thing I knew I fell backwards off the pontoon and into the water headfirst. The loop had slipped of the cleat on the boat. Thats is how I know how difficult it into get out of the water in a marina particularly if wearing full water proofs. It was dark the middle of the night and no-one about. And its why I will never use a loop dropped over a cleat .

Our cleats have hole in middle. Always through hole and then over horns.
Only exception is winter ropes left on pontoon when sailing. Just prior to departure change to simple loop over top. Again release from boat and drop onto pontoon

 

[john_morris_uk]

It defies logic that one or two people here think you take the end of the warp with the loop ashore to drop on a cleat.

You put the loop on a deck cleat, step ashore and tie the other end to a pontoon cleat. If it isn't a cleat, it's no different to having a line without a loop, you just have a plain line to deal with. Once the boat is secure you can properly organise your lines, i tend to keep the loop on deck cleats for the fore and aft breast lines, past them around or through whatever devices are on the pontoon and then tie the other end back to the deck cleat. The deck cleat isn't jammed full of line and it's easy to slip the lines when you want to depart, and no, you don't slip the end with the loop, that's stupid, in fact you'd pretty much have to be deliberately stupid, you untie the plain end of rope, leaving the eye on the cleat and slip it, why would anyone untie the plain end and then take the loop off of the cleat and let it go ?

My home berth has two cleats on the finger and i have three on the boat, it's all well and good the likes of Cunliffe waffling on about one cleat one line, one line one job bollox, that doesn't seem to work too well in the real World. I secure the breast lines as above, then i put the loop of a long line on the cleat at the end of the finger, bring it back and make it fast to the midships cleat, then back to the cleat on the other end of the pontoon. When i want to leave i take the spring line off and i can easily slip the breast lines from onboard.

Lines from boat to the pontoon looped round (or through) a cleat and back to the boat are a real pet hate of mine. Why chafe the line in the middle in such a crass unseamanlike way? Lots of people do it but it’s lazy and poor seamanship IMHO. Secure to the cleat (in such a way that it doesn’t use the entire cleat up and stop somebody else using it) and have all the spare line coiled neatly on board the boat.
When you want to leave rerig the line as a slip. If I’m only staying for a few minutes I might leave the line looped around, but never when I leave the boat for any length of time.
(PS And I’ve sailed with Tom Cunliffe and he doesn’t talk bollox. I sail in the real world and I also generally try to use one line for one job. )

 

[Kukri]

Thanks, everyone.

As I work my way through the pile of warps, cutting out bits that show chafe, I realise that some show chafe about two fathoms from the end. Which tells me that chafe was taking place on the boat’s fairleads. The warps that get clobbered here are the back springs, as they make a sharp turn in the fairlead. There are, annoyingly, some warps with chafe in the middle and since I never leave a warp doubled this puzzled me. I now realise that these were long warps that I had been unseamanlike enough to use for two jobs - taken ashore as say a headspring, turned up on a shore cleat and led back to the boat as, say, a stern line. What happens I think is that the OXO gets pulled one way, then the other, all the time.

After cutting out the chafed bits I plan to end up with:

Two lines, one quite long, with no soft eyes in them, used only as doubled bow and stern lines when leaving the berth, plus one long rope with no soft eye, kept handy on deck with a spare fender, in case things go pear shaped.

One not so long line with no loop is the first ashore warp from the midships cleat.

Springs and headropes will have soft eyes in them.

 

[Kukri]

PS And I’ve sailed with Tom Cunliffe and he doesn’t talk bollox.

Well, not much bollox. The bit in “Hand, Reef and Steer” where he says there is no need to mouse the peak halyard block hooks is utter, dangerous, bollox. DAMHIKT.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Lines from boat to the pontoon looped round (or through) a cleat and back to the boat are a real pet hate of mine. Why chafe the line in the middle in such a crass unseamanlike way? Lots of people do it but it’s lazy and poor seamanship IMHO. Secure to the cleat (in such a way that it doesn’t use the entire cleat up and stop somebody else using it) and have all the spare line coiled neatly on board the boat.
When you want to leave rerig the line as a slip. If I’m only staying for a few minutes I might leave the line looped around, but never when I leave the boat for any length of time.
(PS And I’ve sailed with Tom Cunliffe and he doesn’t talk bollox. I sail in the real world and I also generally try to use one line for one job. )

My current mooring lines have been tied how i describe and they are currently 10 years old, no sign of chafe. My home berth is behind a lock, so it's pretty easy on mooring lines, if i was moored somewhere that was likely to chafe the lines i'd tie up differently, but i'm not.

I'm perfectly happy to use a single line for my springs, no matter what Mr Cunliffe says. My centre cleat is small and would not accommodate two separate lines being tied to it. I could use two lines with spliced eyes, but that means more line tied around the pontoon cleat and all of the spare line lying there too. I have two loops on the end pontoon cleat, the other pontoon cleat has the aft breast line around it and the end of the long line used for the springs tied to it, with the spare line taken aboard and secured to the pushpit, no spare line left lying around for someone to trip on.

Your "crass unseamanlike way" comment is out of order, who are you to claim such a thing ?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

A cautionary tale - Once coming into a marina singlehanded and unsure of what side I would be berthing, instead of making fast my midship mooring line by turns around the cleat, I thought to drop a loop over the cleat, thinking it would be quicker. So I came alongside hopped off the boat with line in hand, put a round turn around the pontoon cleat and pulled. Next thing I knew I fell backwards off the pontoon and into the water headfirst. The loop had slipped of the cleat on the boat. Thats is how I know how difficult it into get out of the water in a marina particularly if wearing full water proofs. It was dark the middle of the night and no-one about. And its why I will never use a loop dropped over a cleat .

Thanks for passing on the experience.
I have often thought of passing the loop through the boat's cleat, cow hitch style mentioned above.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Noooooo! Surely better to loop ropes back to the boat, then release ropes when on board - especially when single handed.
Similarly when arrive loop mid spring onto stern cleat without stepping off.

PS I like spliced eyes, though happy to do bowline where necessary.

It wouldn't work on my boat/berth single handed. I have a boat both ahead and aft of me with only about 3ft gap each end. I cannot move about the boat quick enough to allow any slack.

I have an extra spring that I put on motoring ahead with the tiller tied hard over. I can undo all the lines at leisure and mostly spring off the pontoon . It has a large loop with hose round it which is easy to pick up on the way back.

 

[Ink]

In the Crinan canal the lock keeper took the lines from the other boat in the sea lock, took one look at the eye splice and tied a nice big bowline in the end.......

Ink

 

[capnsensible]

Teaching several hundred sailing school students over a couple of decades has taught me to never, ever have a loop in the end of a dock line.

However, it's personal choice. ??

 

[john_morris_uk]

My current mooring lines have been tied how i describe and they are currently 10 years old, no sign of chafe. My home berth is behind a lock, so it's pretty easy on mooring lines, if i was moored somewhere that was likely to chafe the lines i'd tie up differently, but i'm not.

I'm perfectly happy to use a single line for my springs, no matter what Mr Cunliffe says. My centre cleat is small and would not accommodate two separate lines being tied to it. I could use two lines with spliced eyes, but that means more line tied around the pontoon cleat and all of the spare line lying there too. I have two loops on the end pontoon cleat, the other pontoon cleat has the aft breast line around it and the end of the long line used for the springs tied to it, with the spare line taken aboard and secured to the pushpit, no spare line left lying around for someone to trip on.

Your "crass unseamanlike way" comment is out of order, who are you to claim such a thing ?

You are entitled to your opinion. I stand by my opinion that leaving a boat secured with loops round dockside cleats is unseamanlike. The fact that you've got away with it for so many years doesn't make any difference. It's a bad habit and lazy IMHO, but it's your boat and you do what you want.

 

[pyrojames]

I have a loop in one end of the line only. That is almost always over one of the bitts aboard. I send the lines ashore and preferably over the pontoon so I can then step onto the pontoon and make off as required to secure the boat. Once made off, the line is taken back on board and made up at the bitts there too. Chaff on any one line, will then not affect the mooring. If I am being particularly rigorous, each doubled line from ashore is made off on to a different bitt, so that the failure of a single bitt aboard does not compromise the mooring,

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

From personal observation I can tell you that the RNLI uses bowlines on the shoreside ends of their warps. I would like to use the "Saint Tom Method" , and would do soon a bigger boat, but my own boat does not have midship cleats, and the bow and stern cleats are not big enough to accomodate belaying both the Bow/Stern Lines and the Bow/Stern Springs, so I am forced to adopt a hybrid method where I cowhitch the soft eyes of the bow /stern lines over the pontoon cleats and the soft eyes of the springs over my bow and stern cleats.
I make the final arrangement of the lines after I have come alongside using a short midships spring , with the engine and tiller to keep me positioned until at least two other lines ae secured. som posters above seem to believe that the first method that they use to attach a warp should by the final one, but not necessarily, once the boat is secured, everything can be tied down in a seamanlike manner. For slipping, when it is time to leave I remove the springs, then take a spare warp from the bow fairlead to the pontoon cleat and back to the boat. I then detach the existing warp and quickly belay the warp from the fairlead onto the cleat, leaving just enough on the ether end of the line to belay the other end on top, following suit with the stern warp.
Attached below is a PDF of a Sailing Today article on the subject for your delectation and , I hope, education. (I have absolutely no conection with Hamble Sailing School.)
https://www.hamble.co.uk/pdfs/WARPSPEED.pdf

 

[john_morris_uk]

I have a loop in one end of the line only. That is almost always over one of the bitts aboard. I send the lines ashore and preferably over the pontoon so I can then step onto the pontoon and make off as required to secure the boat. Once made off, the line is taken back on board and made up at the bitts there too. Chaff on any one line, will then not affect the mooring. If I am being particularly rigorous, each doubled line from ashore is made off on to a different bitt, so that the failure of a single bitt aboard does not compromise the mooring,

This works well when you secure to a floating pontoon.
It doesn't work well when you're tied up to a pier or harbour wall and there's tide to contend with.
We seem to live in a world where no-one ties up in tidal areas anymore unless they're tied to a pontoon that floats with the tide....

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

From personal observation I can tell you that the RNLI uses bowlines on the shoreside ends of their warps. I would like to use the "Saint Tom Method" , and would do soon a bigger boat, but my own boat does not have midship cleats, and the bow and stern cleats are not big enough to accomodate belaying both the Bow/Stern Lines and the Bow/Stern Springs, so I am forced to adopt a hybrid method where I cowhitch the soft eyes of the bow /stern lines over the pontoon cleats and the soft eyes of the springs over my bow and stern cleats.
I make the final arrangement of the lines after I have come alongside using a short midships spring , with the engine and tiller to keep me positioned until at least two other lines ae secured. som posters above seem to believe that the first method that they use to attach a warp should by the final one, but not necessarily, once the boat is secured, everything can be tied down in a seamanlike manner. For slipping, when it is time to leave I remove the springs, then take a spare warp from the bow fairlead to the pontoon cleat and back to the boat. I then detach the existing warp and quickly belay the warp from the fairlead onto the cleat, leaving just enough on the ether end of the line to belay the other end on top, following suit with the stern warp.
Attached below is a PDF of a Sailing Today article on the subject for your delectation and , I hope, education. (I have absolutely no conection with Hamble Sailing School.)
https://www.hamble.co.uk/pdfs/WARPSPEED.pdf

I should also add that the marina staff recently moved my boat to the neighbouring pontoon,and tied it up in a very labyrinthine manner requiring considerable time to figure out and disentangle!

 

[Kukri]

My elder son’s training tends to come to the fore and he approaches mooring, securing to and leaving a marina pontoon from the perspective of a forty thousand ton bulk carrier.

I dislike short lines ashore, as they are likely to snatch a cleat out, so I want to do everything with springs and head and stern lines, but since that means the boat can lie off the berth I leave a short line on the midships cleat but unsecured ashore that I can grab and pull her in with.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Death to back splices for slip lines.