Bouba
Well-Known Member
I still refer to my book of knots when making a bowline
New boat blues
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
But your a motorboater…..its forgivable
ylop
Well-Known Member
Wansy is old and wise enough to know that he’ll do as his wife tells him! If she feels more confident on the helm that’s to be welcomed. Whoever is in charge the key is calm polite instructions, discussed before hand
No need for any fancy knot.
If you have eyes (or pretied bowlines) in one end of your dock lines secure that end to your own cleat and bring the other end back to a winch. Throw over dock cleat, haul in slack on winch. No need for any knots but do need to make coils and throw. If the skipper is really good no need for the throw - you can drop it, if pretty good use a boat hook, but a well practiced throw compensates for all your errors!.
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes at allcostavoidshouting
Bouba
Well-Known Member
Absolutely not true !.......she’s allowed to yell at youYes at allcostavoidshouting
Bouba
Well-Known Member
I think that practicing mooring is great....it’s the most stressful part of boating...so it will give you more confidence. And it’s absolutely essential in team building......apart from that it’s all relaxing....just remember to tell her to duck when you change direction
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
I think we ought to sign up for a six date course with John,your friendly neighbours hood moderator
Bouba
Well-Known Member
Get him to take you to visit the Caribbean....you’ll be experts on your returnI think we ought to sign up for a six date course with John,your friendly neighbours hood moderator
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
What in a Dufour 24……are you mad!
Bouba
Well-Known Member
Do you know the full history of your boat ?....I wouldn’t be surprised if it has traveled a long way....I wouldn’t do it...but a lot of people think taking a little boat across an ocean is no big deal
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
That’s as maybe but patrolling the seas beyond the Ria are Orcas,rudder eating monsters !
Bouba
Well-Known Member
Go visit Rum_Pirate....it will test your seamanship....and test your navigation if you can find his island
Bouba
Well-Known Member
And leave at night while the orca are sleeping
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Well, first of all I think Wansy is suffering the not atypical worrying about all the myriad things that cold go wrong when you can't just go and try it out. When he actually gets to do it all his prior experience will come, er, flooding back when he's actually on the boat and it will probably all be fine.
Wansy has bought a 24 footer, it's most unlikely he'll need a winch!
If one is using a pre-made loop in the end of the rope, have it threaded through a bit of flexible plastic tubing (garden hose, perhaps?) on the rope for the loop before tying it off. This keeps the loop open, and hence much easier to get it over the cleat. You may be able, too, to use a boat hook to drop such 'reinforced' loop over a cleat using a boathook.
The vids above appear, from the thumbnails, to show setting up bow and stern lines, but it's usually easier short-handed or single-handed to have the first line taken from the centre(ish) of the boat (sadly, smaller boats rarely have centre cleats, but I have been able to use a fairlead, or even the genoa winch), use this to stop the boat and using gentle forward power to hold the boat again the pontoon (might need to angle the tilled one way or the other to get it to sit parallel), then you can sort out whatever other lines you want at leisure. [p.s. see vid in post below]
In some situations, I find it can be better than a pre-made loop to have one end of the line tied on to a cleat on the boat, pass the bight of the rope and plenty of the length under any guardwires or whatever, and throw the middle the bight over the cleat, and then haul the free end. (This can also have the advantage that it is less effort to pull.)
Another potential aid to getting tied up to your home berth, is to have lines secured on the pontoon cleats hung from poles (could be bamboo or whatever) and you just reach across and lift them off as you come into the berth.
There are various patent mooring grabbers on a pole, which can be useful. They will not work with most cleats, but for your home berth you may be able to semi-permanently attach to the cleat a short loop help open with plastic tube (as described above) which it will work with.
Wansy has bought a 24 footer, it's most unlikely he'll need a winch!
If one is using a pre-made loop in the end of the rope, have it threaded through a bit of flexible plastic tubing (garden hose, perhaps?) on the rope for the loop before tying it off. This keeps the loop open, and hence much easier to get it over the cleat. You may be able, too, to use a boat hook to drop such 'reinforced' loop over a cleat using a boathook.
The vids above appear, from the thumbnails, to show setting up bow and stern lines, but it's usually easier short-handed or single-handed to have the first line taken from the centre(ish) of the boat (sadly, smaller boats rarely have centre cleats, but I have been able to use a fairlead, or even the genoa winch), use this to stop the boat and using gentle forward power to hold the boat again the pontoon (might need to angle the tilled one way or the other to get it to sit parallel), then you can sort out whatever other lines you want at leisure. [p.s. see vid in post below]
In some situations, I find it can be better than a pre-made loop to have one end of the line tied on to a cleat on the boat, pass the bight of the rope and plenty of the length under any guardwires or whatever, and throw the middle the bight over the cleat, and then haul the free end. (This can also have the advantage that it is less effort to pull.)
Another potential aid to getting tied up to your home berth, is to have lines secured on the pontoon cleats hung from poles (could be bamboo or whatever) and you just reach across and lift them off as you come into the berth.
There are various patent mooring grabbers on a pole, which can be useful. They will not work with most cleats, but for your home berth you may be able to semi-permanently attach to the cleat a short loop help open with plastic tube (as described above) which it will work with.
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LittleSister
Well-Known Member
This shows a variation on one of the techniques I was trying to describe in my post above.
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Oh,like flying to the moon at night,googidea
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
That’s all very well but where is the cross wind ,tide etc and the speakers for the music
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
That’s all very well but where is the cross wind ,tide etc and the speakers for the music
There may be another video in the series, possibly available only to subscribers or Patreons, on how to berth single/short-handed in the ultimate storm.
You could try installing some rubber suction pads along the finger to grab and hold the hull, or if you have electricity on the pontoon a contrivance of strong electromagnets, or alternatively powerful vacuum nozzles, to be operated remotely as you approach.
Otherwise, there's the arrangement I saw in IIRC Lymington years ago, where a whole line of Folkboats had each of their berth spaces filled with (what I think were) thick floating pads of presumably flexible-ish foam covered with tough plastic (think bouncy castle material), with a cut-out the exact shape of the waterline of a Folkboat's bow and mid-sections. The boats were simply driven bow first into their slot, where they were held in place by the surrounding pad, and mooring lines could be added at leisure before they were left unattended.
Mark-1
Well-Known Member
Buy in haste, repent at leasure.
