mooring lines - how long?

[floatything]

OK - this is a newbie question but - what length would people suggest I buy for the fore and aft mooring lines & springs for an 18 foot trailer sailor? Is there a 'rule of thumb'? Anything else I should know about making these up? Thanks for humouring me in my hour of ignorance /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

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[Miker]

Difficult to say as it depends on where you are tieing up. Mine it is 25 ft boat. In the marina my 4 10 M mooring lines are too long, half that length would suffice. However, if I go over to Port St Mary in the IOM I'm tieing up against a 10M high wall at low tide, so I also carry some 20M plus ropes. Also long mooring ropes would be handy for rafting up.

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[paulrossall]

I would get 2 shorter ones for fore & aft at about 12ft, so they can go round cleat on pontoon and come back onto boat, and 2 springs at about 25ft which again can come back onto the boat. If you do have to raft then you might have to use all the warps as single lines but at least you should have enough length. IMHO. Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".

 

[fastjedi]

It's a tricky question for an 18ft Trailer Sailer for two reasons. Firstly, space is at a premium, and secondly, I'm operating at the budget end of the pastime!

2 off - 12mm x 6m These are my 'bread and butter' bow and stern lines
2 off - 8mm x 10m These are my 'just in case' lines

And ..... most importantly, from experience

1 off - 12mm x 27m This is my ....... Anchor warp extension for panics / tow the trailer off a steep and slimmy slipway / exceptional mooring line








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[Shanty]

The rule of thumb is: two warps at least twice the length of the boat, plus two more about the same length as the boat.

This makes a good starting point, but don't follow it blindly. Think about the places you are likely to tie up - high harbour walls, infrequent bollards, large tidal range, rafting up all suggest longer warps. If you frequent marinas, a second short set of lines might be useful.


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[snowleopard]

to do a proper mooring job when alongside you need two short ones for breast ropes and four longer ones for bow/stern & springs. a minimum of 3/4 boat length for the breast ropes and 1 1/2 for the others.

when going further afield you are sure to need a longer one as well, for example as a shore line when on the outside of a raft.

for example i have warps made up in 10m and 20m lengths and one additional 30m for my 40 footer.

it's not always easy to tell how long a warp is when you pick up the coil. i put short whippings on both ends - 1 for 10m, 2 for 20m etc. makes life easier when telling an inexperienced crew how to tie up.

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[Guest]

At last count ....

4 x 25ft
4 x 10ft
2 x 40ft

plus assorted real short and some real long smaller size lines + one really long heavy for towing.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
So WHAT does the EU really stand for ????/forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[charles_reed]

For warps/springs between 1.5 and 1.8 boat LOA.

You'll also need some shoreline and some lengths of chain and spare nylon for springs.

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