Shore lines and rafting

snooks

snooks

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I'm a stickler when it comes to shorelines, and after mooring in a raft next to a boat who only had bow and stern lines (no springs or shorelines) my partner now knows why, you can't rely on anyone to tie their boat up properly :)

I'm not the only one who uses shore lines, but sometimes it feels like it.

Anyway, if mooring along side a larger boat on a raft (when directed by HM or lack of choice), and the raft on either side are close, how would you lead lines ashore when you cant "see" a cleat?

I know how I did it once, but the other time I had to go without shore likes, it was non tidal and the skipper next door was happy, but it still didn't feel right.

So unless you always have the biggest boat, what do you do?
 
Well - you can lead the line through their fairleads - providing it isn't going to rub and cause damage....
if there are rafts fore and aft then you could use them to either put a tweaking line or run through their fairleads (with their permission of course!)
or just decide which shore line is most important (wind/tide) and put one on there

If your boat really is blind and you're not happy with the way they've tied up inside then move away...

ps - now we tend to be the largest boat in the raft!! ;)
 
quite often if my line is going to rub on a stern of some other boat / or there is no cleat visible i will either tie the shore line to a bit of the pontoon (you may get a line through a gap). Or improvise another line between two cleats on the pontoon and join my shore line to the centre or mid way down the improvised line.
 
AIDY said:
quite often if my line is going to rub on a stern of some other boat / or there is no cleat visible i will either tie the shore line to a bit of the pontoon (you may get a line through a gap). Or improvise another line between two cleats on the pontoon and join my shore line to the centre or mid way down the improvised line.
Click to expand...

In theory, this could put large loads on the line between the two cleats, depending on how tightly it was tied between the two cleats. It's the same principle as swigging up a halliard at the mast - pulling sideways on a rope puts a lot of tension along the rope.
 
of course , the technically correct answer would be to row out your bow and bower anchors and use them. Have you thought about jopining the social group of anchors to point this out.

PS It might necessitate yer jib up yer backstay!
 
snooks said:
I'm a stickler when it comes to shorelines, and after mooring in a raft next to a boat who only had bow and stern lines (no springs or shorelines) my partner now knows why, you can't rely on anyone to tie their boat up properly :)

I'm not the only one who uses shore lines, but sometimes it feels like it.

Anyway, if mooring along side a larger boat on a raft (when directed by HM or lack of choice), and the raft on either side are close, how would you lead lines ashore when you cant "see" a cleat?

I know how I did it once, but the other time I had to go without shore likes, it was non tidal and the skipper next door was happy, but it still didn't feel right.

So unless you always have the biggest boat, what do you do?
Click to expand...

If it's impossible and you're going to take the raft on to others, fore or aft - or distress boats inside of you, I don't see how you could stay. There's normally a way though such as those described. I've led lines through other's fairleads with permission.

I was in Bembridge once and came back from dinner in the Baywatch to find the pulpit of a (very) large displacement motor vessel, so far into my cockpit I could hardly sit. He was outside of much smaller boats which were right on the end of the pontoon. So he couldn't get any purchase anyway. I think he had been "put" there by the dockmaster but should've decided otherwise.

Edit <<so far into my cockpit I could hardly sit>> Erm can I re-phrase that?
 
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Shore line etiquette

Shore lines aren't always necessary, but I think it is courteous offer to put them out anyway. On this occasion the adjacent skipper waved them away

DSC_0772.jpg


Provided that everyone is properly "sprung", shore lines from every third boat or so may do the job

DSC_0654.jpg
 
I wonder, in the pic above, what possible service the shore lines are providing, apart from lip service? There's so much slack in them that the raft could move quite a way before they exerted any influence (unless they're cleverly measured to come taut just at low water).
 
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I watched a fisherman who was in about the fifth boat in, in a similar raft, extricate his boat from the raft single-handed. Very impressive, but clearly the folks in that harbour couldn't afford to be too fussy about smudges of other boats' paint on their topsides.
 
Twister_Ken said:
I wonder, in the pic above, what possible service the shore lines are providing, apart from lip service? There's so much slack in them that the raft could move quite a way before they exerted any influence (unless they're cleverly measured to come taut just at low water).
Click to expand...

Ken - you are right about lip service with shore lines. Unless they have a reasonable angle ashore, they are rather pointless.

Whilst on holiday in Brittany this year, I was astounded by how few boats used springs. Of the 20 or so yachts on our pontoon, only ours was square to the pontoon, with full length springs. All the others lay bows in. The boats on their outside were at an even more drunken angle, and were swinging into each other. The owners seemed unconcerned. However they all had shorelines, which were doing precisley nothing.

As you say, first get them to moor properly, then worry about shorelines, - but only if they do something, and not every boat.
 
fireball said:
Erm - have you seen them on the far side of the raft? That's where the tension is ....
Click to expand...

But surely they should have "tension" on both sides....no point in having them if the boat can move 10ft in each direction before they take up the slack.

Slightly alarmingly I find I can usually control the whole raft from the outside, with a bit of tension on each end. If everyone in the raft had shore lines set up right, I shouldn't be able to that....should I? :confused:
 
So - the other day there was a thread on here about how SPRINGY your lines needed to be ..... and now you want to put tension on them to stop anything from moving?!

It rather depends on what is around and how strong the current/wind is - but by the looks of that picture it's fairly quiet so no need to tension everything up - imagine what the fenders would look like on the inside boat if everyone applied sufficient tension so their boat didn't move!!
 
snooks said:
But surely they should have "tension" on both sides....no point in having them if the boat can move 10ft in each direction before they take up the slack.
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Er, no, or not on a harbour wall, at least. You need the slack to allow for the tide.

Having the whole raft move back 10 foot isn't usually too much of a problem because adjacent rafts tend to move in the same direction.
 
If we're on a club rally we would consider not putting shore lines on if we're in the middle - but then we know those inside and out of us - and their (k)not tieing capability!
 
The comments on here do raise the issue of what land lines are for To reduce the pressure on the inside Yachts lines/cleats, To keep the raft in place, or as a precaution against the inside yachts poor knot tying.

I have always assumed the first and in bad conditions the second and am happy with every other boat putting them on. I tend to think being properly moored with springs is more important.
 
morawel said:
Er, no, or not on a harbour wall, at least. You need the slack to allow for the tide.
Click to expand...

So why don't you have slack on both sides of the pic? ;)

My point was that both sides should have roughly the same "tension" (not bar tight) on them to keep the raft running out at 90º to the wall/pontoon etc. I realise that the tide rises and falls, but this is why you lead the end back to your boat so you can tend the lines if you need to.

morawel said:
Having the whole raft move back 10 foot isn't usually too much of a problem because adjacent rafts tend to move in the same direction.
Click to expand...

Isn't this the reason we use shore lines to stop the raft swinging like a slow pendulum?
 
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