How tight are your mooring lines

[thinwater]

Then we have the really clever ones who seem to think that securing a shackle through the pontoon cleat with a bit of chain makes their boat more secure but in reality theirs is the first to break free.. I wonder why ?

Not always. A Maalaea Harbor in Maui probably 90% of the boats use a short length of chain, because nothing else holds up with the steady surge over the concrete dock. Beefy rings, not cleats.

I've found that either staying on the boat for a few days or visiting the boat a few times in a wide range of weather helps you adjust and find the right answer re. lines, fenders, and tension. Even in the same marina, different boats, different best answers.

 

[Rappey]

I was highlighting a potential issue with aluminium cleats and steel shackles which are very common in uk marinas.

 

[thinwater]

I was highlighting a potential issue with aluminium cleats and steel shackles which are very common in uk marinas.

I thought that was an excellent object lesson!

 

[driver0606]

Always use snubbers. The dog bone type break. The pretty stainless steel spring types break but do not fail. Non stainless spring steel types rarely break but go rusty, eventually. Never tried the stainless and "rubber in compression" type but they look a good idea, if expensive.

 

[lustyd]

I tighten mine until they match a g string when plucked.

 

[LadyInBed]

Maalaea Harbor in Maui probably 90% of the boats use a short length of chain, because nothing else holds up with the steady surge over the concrete dock. Beefy rings, not cleats.

Rings are a special case.
I've made up two bridles with a meter of 6mm stainless chain in the middle. I use them on rings and attach mooring lines to them or use one if on a buoy for a night or three.

 

[ianat182]

You could try Anchorplait for the fore and aft lines ,and normal rope for the the springs, Slight slack on all warps I,'ve used in marinas.
Need to learn to splice the anchorplait loops though, large enough to pass over the cleats easily.

ianat182

 

[Lucy52]

I pulled a fairlead in the toe rail about 1 cm because the line was too tight. In a drying harbour or marina the pontoon changes height when it dries out. Plantation teak is made of cheese.

 

[Never Grumble]

Always use snubbers. The dog bone type break. The pretty stainless steel spring types break but do not fail. Non stainless spring steel types rarely break but go rusty, eventually. Never tried the stainless and "rubber in compression" type but they look a good idea, if expensive.

which ones do you recommend then?

 

[Bouba]

which ones do you recommend then?

I have also had a stainless steel spring snap. But the secret is not which type but which size. I now use springs for a much bigger vessel so they can cope with the far lesser demand I put on them

 

[thinwater]

In principle, the snubbers should not be used to take the jolt, they should be used to keep the slack out of the system so that there is no jolt. If they are taking the impact they are not being used correctly and will fail. Use snubbers for slack control.

This works better for gusts and swell than wakes. If there are a lot of wakes and you are on a bulkhead... you should be somewhere else.

Long skinny nylon lines, rigged parallel to the main lines, work very well, if there is room. Again, they are for slack control, not snubbing.

 

[SolentDavid]

I tighten mine until they match a g string when plucked.

Have you got a video to demonstrate that?

The g string version.....