Mooring rope question

Becky

Becky

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We have 3-strand nylon mooring lines for our boat in Haslar. HWMBO spent ages splicing loops on each end, one on to a huge galvanised shackle which is attached to the pontoon cleat, and a plain loop for the boat cleats.

BUT, the lines stretch enormously. The boat is now lying in the centre of her berth, about 2 feet from the finger pier, after a battering from the winds.

I have been assured by He Who Should Know that nylon is OK. But when we have been away for a few days/weeks, the lines shrink such that we have to stretch them to get them on the cleats, especially the springs. I have to motor the boat ahead to get enough slack for Richard to put the line over the mid-ship cleat.

So..... what sort of rope do the Forum experts use to tie up their boats?
And do your lines shrink and stretch like ours do?


Another question to further cure Becky's knowledge gaps /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Nylon is the right line. Putting a loop in each end may be your problem. By all means have a loop in the dock end, but a plain end onboard allows you to make adjustments to the line length. A tape or indelible pen mark on the line will tell you where it usually is made off.
 
We use nylon 3 strand spliced over a galvanised thimble and shackled to the pontoon cleats, the boat ends are plain because you never know how long you need it it be initially until you are properly in the berth, it allows for some adjustment. Nylon is used for its stretchy property AND we have rubber snubbers in both bow lines as well, but not in spring or stern lines. BTW we also use an extra spring from the side away from the finger and up onto the main pontoon, pulled tight it holds the boat away from the finger pontoon pretty well most of the time so the fenders are not squished and chafing on the hull, even though we also have a padded fender sheet.
 
Shame on you Becky. Putting a loop on a boat cleat is a sin punishable by having a root filling without a pain killer. That is how Nelson lost his arm ( not really ). Seriously I have had to cut mooring lines to save boats from being sunk when their lines have been snagged. You can't get the loop off. It gets very exciting.
 
Class "A" Manila Hemp!

Plenty strong enough, easy to splice, good shock absorbing properties and best of all, cheap! O.K. so it only lasts 3~4 seasons but there again "so what?"

Before anyone chirps in with tales of woe, I also use a slack backup line (old sheet or halyard) when using the Hemp although so far the Hemp has been fine on its own.
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hammer.thumb.gif
"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"
 
I didn't put the loop in the boat cleat end; that was richard. It certainly makes the initial docking in our berth very quick. 'Course, now the boat is flapping all over the place as the lines are too long.

We will remove the inboard spliced loops and have them plain, as suggested.

The reason for this thread was that I had been told that nylon was the best. But a we have the lines made up, things to my little brain didn't seem correct. So, thank you all for your responses. It's all quite clear now. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
we have the identical system to you except that the aft line to the end of the finger pontoon is plain. So when we come into the berth, I have the spring put onto the midships cleat first, which prevents us hitting the main pontoon. I then ask for the aft line to be handed to me so I can keep the stern closte to the finger and if needed I can gently motor against the spring to keep the bow in, for that line to be easily hooked onto the cleat.

Easy for just me and a fairly novice crew - also simplifies coming alongside single handed...... as long as the wind isn't blowing her off too much!
 
You may now find that when you remove the spliced loops, the lines are not long enough to make off properly to the cleats!!
I use polyester, for everything, I never use nylon for anchor warps as some suggest, because it works internally, and then fails without warning, due to massive heat degradation from said working. But of course many do use it, I wont.
I have been known to use a short piece, with a chain hook as a snubbing line on my anchor, but that doesnt matter if it breaks.
One other thing, nylon seems to be hard to find, outside UK, none of the chandlers I go in seem to have it, but dont ask much.
 
Nylon is OK as dock lines but Polyester is the best. Stays softer longer. Bog standard 3 strand is best purely due to cost being lower.

People talk about using Nylon due to stretch but that is only if you're using it up close to break load. Using any rope near break loads is plain silly and can be very dangerous.

At the working loads (10-20% of break load depending on which use) they are very similar between the 2 and quite low i.e 3-5%. At 50% of break the differance is only approx 5%, not much.

Down sides of Nylon compared to Polyester;
Not as much UV or abrasion resistance.
It goes hard after a while. This can be quite quick on lower quality nyons.
Nylon does 'shrink' to a degree depending on quality of raw product. Cheap ones can shrink quite a bit.

Nylon comes in a few grades, which is not well known. The most common being Type 6 and Type 6.6. A few of the real cheapies are 'textured nylon' which is a clothing grade but common in Asian made cheap ropes. Type 6 is the most common and Type 6.6 is better but not as common. There are also more 'blends' around, these being a mix of fibres.

I'd suspect the 1st poster has a cheapie nylon hence the strange amount of stretch and then noticable shrinkage early in it's life. After a while it will settle down and be quite OK but watch for chafe and UV damage. It will also become un-splicable.
 
I'm not convinced of the virtues of nylon rope for mooring. I replaced my nylon lines with cheap 3 strand polyester, added some of those rubber springs to lessen the shock factor. I have these thimbled and shackle to the pontoon, which is fine if your leaving the boat for while, but really annoying when you're popping in and out of marinas.
 
I'll wait a long time, as I lift my buoy every month and check the swivels and shackles. 2 strops will wind around each other, so I free them off weekly.
 
Becky you probably know but no one has mentioned that lines like springs are not meant to be tight. They should run from typically the bow back to a point on the jetty aft of the stern with a stern spring running forward to a point forward of the bow.
Likewise lines pulling the hull toward the jetty should run from a stern cleat on the side away from the jetty and clear of the hull. At the bow it is not so easy of course.
The lines are meant to tether the boat ie stop it from moving too far away. They are not meant to lash boat tightly in position ( the opposite extreme)
The longer the rope means more up and down movement is possible while retaining location. So ideally as at our club a boat is tethered in the centre of four posts (an access jetty on one side) with the longest possible ropes to allow for rise and fall of tide or swell.ie just short enough to keep the boat off the far side at the point of tide when ropes are slackest.
So loops in the end of the rope can be a good idea if there is always plenty of slack in the ropes. regards olewill
 
[ QUOTE ]
I didn't put the loop in the boat cleat end; that was richard. It certainly makes the initial docking in our berth very quick. 'Course, now the boat is flapping all over the place as the lines are too long.

We will remove the inboard spliced loops and have them plain, as suggested.

The reason for this thread was that I had been told that nylon was the best. But a we have the lines made up, things to my little brain didn't seem correct. So, thank you all for your responses. It's all quite clear now. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't totally agree with the advice you had re: loops on a deck cleat. I see where he's coming from and would never do it on say a quay wall, but on a secure pontoon berth that's another matter. I have one very large central cleat on the foredeck and rather than have the spaghetti of three lines wound onto this I prefer to drop the two bow lines and bow spring as loops onto the cleat then adjust each individually from the pontoon. I see no risk in this as I can get off the boat onto the pontoon as quickly as onto the foredeck...and so can my neighbours passing by see immediately what needs doing in the case of problems. Ideally I should have three big solid deck cleats...but I don't. So use your own best judgement on this...you may not be wrong to use this arrangment.

PS - just re-read your post...you've got loops on both ends...that does limit what you can do...you've really got to have the lines adjustable, but I'm saying not necessarily on board in the case of a marina berth.
 
I always thought pontoon mooring lines is the natural last use for halyards and sheets. Used with rubber snubbers you have the best combination of low stretch and avoiding shock loadings.

You can then make loops both ends. If you use a knot to make the inboard loop and leave a tail on the line, you can adjust length from time to time and, pulling on the tail, relieve tension to unloop the line.
 
Becky, Having first responded late on Saturday evening I woke up in the night worrying about your mooring lines - well not really, I was thinking about my own !

We have the benefit of a berth protected from the prevailing SW'lys. The downside being that its exposed to these nasty NE'lys. So the boat moves around a lot on the berth, not only stretching the warps but possibly chafing too.

I normally have double warps at this time of year but was short of time last time we came in so I've just been down and put the second set on. With the layout of the cleats on the boat and the pontoon, they are now joined together by 10 lengths of rope !!
 
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