Length of mooring lines

[PetiteFleur]

Trouble is that I have so many bits of rope lovingly collected over the years that I need to rationalise. Advice received excellent, thanks everybody.

I also have lots of rope on board - I only listed it a couple of days ago before putting on board:-
3 x 4m x 12mm(centre cleats for coming alongside)
6 x 8m x 12/14mm
4 x 10m x 14mm
4 x 22m x 12mm
2 x 20m x 12mm, doubles as spinnaker sheets
2 x 50m x 12mm
1 x 55m x 16mm anchorplait
1 x 50m x 18mm Nelson floating
1 x 25m x 20mm nylon
Several small hanks of 8 & 10mm
Roll of 4mm plaited
Bag of 'small stuff'
My friend says I have too much rope on board but who always gets him out of trouble when he needs a bit of rope?(all he has is one long(knotted) length and two short lengths). I have used the longer lengths when on the outside of a big raft in Holland - the Harbourmaster insisted on it!

 

[John_Clarke]

For many years I had separate lines for bow, stern and springs. Now I use two combined lines of 2.5 x boat length. Each is used for a spring combined with bow or stern line. The advantage is that on a long pontoon with cleats widely spaced you have more scope to adjust each line and usually if the spring needs to be extra long the bow will be close to a cleat and need less line. The ends of the lines go to the the cleats ashore with the slack onboard so all lines can be adjusted aboard. The 25 m of 14 mm octoplait is a handful to coil but hanging half the coil over a winch lightens the load when half coiled.

 

[kengill]

I am confused, looking at the web and various posts on this forum there seems to be differing opinions on the length of mooring lines. Dont need to know diameter or type just length for 31ft Jeaneau Sun Odyssey. Plus if slip lines are needed should the ropes not then be doubled?

Keep the boat on a swinging mooring so only need lines when visiting other ports on the East Coast and cruising to the South West in the summer.

Ken has it right for most places but if you want to tie up to a harbour wall in the bay de St.Malo you'll need very long ones indeed. Four climbing ropes of 50 Metres each should take care of that.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have a photo upstairs of a raft of boats, taken at Dunmore East in about 1994. I would scan and post it but unfortunately I cannot climb stairs at present. There were two rafts at the time, we were about in the middle of the second one. The one I photographed has 13 boats in it and ours was about the same. I had a shoreline out, something like 50 metres of it, but I was almost alone in this. The boat on the inside of ours was steadily being crushed (wind was force 6-7) and after requesting that more people put shorelines out he gave up, cast his lines off and moved to the outside.

I had scanned it already but didn't save it in the most obvious folder. Not sure how long a shoreline the aluminium cat will need.