Towing Bridle

[Paul&Ness]

Hi Guy's. Thought it might be wise to equip my boat with a towing bridle just in case it should it ever be needed. Fenland Dancer is a 38ft Princess 368 weighing in at about 8.5t. What would be the recommended size rope to make a bridle? Would braided or 3 strand be better? I can splice 3 strand but have no idea where to start on braided ropes! Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Hi Guy's. Thought it might be wise to equip my boat with a towing bridle just in case it should it ever be needed. Fenland Dancer is a 38ft Princess 368 weighing in at about 8.5t. What would be the recommended size rope to make a bridle? Would braided or 3 strand be better? I can splice 3 strand but have no idea where to start on braided ropes! Any suggestions gratefully received.

It should float and have some stretch in it (nylon?) but the big thing to worry about is what you will attach it to. On a raggie it's common to lead it round cleats and back to the winches. Some people tow at quite enthusiastic speeds and, even at 5 or 6 knots the loads are very big.

 

[VicS]

It should float and have some stretch in it<script id="gpt-impl-0.8799236395897597" src="https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/gpt/pubads_impl_147.js"></script> (nylon?) but the big thing to worry about is what you will attach it to. On a raggie it's common to lead it round cleats and back to the winches. Some people tow at quite enthusiastic speeds and, even at 5 or 6 knots the loads are very big.

Nylon is strong and has the most stretch
However it does not float. It is poly propylene which floats but it is no where near as strong.

 

[Paul&Ness]

Thanks guy's but what size rope and 3 strand or braided?

 

[MrB]

Thanks guy's but what size rope and 3 strand or braided?

You could email/tweet the RNLI or if you are close to a station pop in and ask them, i'm sure they will give you an expert answer on what to use.

 

[Paul&Ness]

May well do that, Thanks. Was hoping that someone would already have gone through this process

 

[MrB]

I just thought they would be the best people to give out this advice as they do it all the time. If you do please post what they advise, i'm sure others would be interested too. :encouragement:

 

[Bandit]

Three strand is much easier to work with.

I use 26mm polyester as it stretches a bit but not too much, you will also need towing lines for a long tow at sea in poor weather.

My bridle has a an loop eye tied in the middle and a spliced eye at each end to go over the bollards.

 

[Nick_H]

Three strand is much easier to work with.

I use 26mm polyester as it stretches a bit but not too much, you will also need towing lines for a long tow at sea in poor weather.

My bridle has a an loop eye tied in the middle and a spliced eye at each end to go over the bollards.

26mm sounds huge. For the OP's 8.5T cruiser i'd say about half that, probably 14mm. I'd go for 3 strand nylon, as it's cheap and stretchy, and easy to splice the eyes yourself.

tbh though I wouldn't bother making a towing bridle unless you also want to use it as an anchor bridle. In the unlikely event that you need one then take an existing rope with a spliced end, tie a bowline in the other end, then find the mid point and tie a simple loop. It's a 30 second job.

 

[Bandit]

When i had a similar sized boat a Fairline 36 sedan about 10 tonne, i took a 45 footer in tow using 18 or 20mm polyester 3 strand.

I towed the boat in successfully but the rope was 3 strand and was over stretched and would not go back to normal shape, I binned it.

 

[prv]

It should float and have some stretch in it (nylon?)

Those are considerations for the tow line, but the bridle doesn't need to float (shouldn't be long enough to get much in the water) and I would think stretching is probably bad as it means movement around the various points it's secured to and hence chafe.

tbh though I wouldn't bother making a towing bridle

+1

You're relatively unlikely to need it at all, for a short quick tow you can probably just put the tow line on your forward mooring cleats or whatever you secure the anchor with, and for a major tow in serious conditions you'll most likely have time to rig a bridle with mooring warps while waiting for the towing vessel to arrive.

Pete

 

[NorthUp]

Use the biggest rope that will fit through your fairleads with chafe protection.

 

[BruceK]

I keep hearing bigger rope. Unless you have a stanchion / samson post I'd give that a miss. Personally I wouldn't want anything thicker than would pull my cleats out and I wouldn't be shy on snubbers either. Realistically if you weren't getting a tow from the RNLI or similar you'd be better off investing in fenders and doing a parallel tow putting the load across as many springers as you can.

 

[Firefly625]

good to be prepared!

I was when awaiting a tow from a friend of mine after a breakdown... rigged up a tow line, lines went back to my forward mid cleats to spread the load, attached to my large and very long orange floating line I keep on board for just such an occasion! All set up ready to pass over...

....However when my friend came along he said we won't bother with all that and just passed me a warp.. when we got outside the harbour we dropped the tow and he came alongside and tied up together and he took me in to my berth that I had left some hours before. Was a calm day, no strain on my deck gear, but we have a boat built like the preverbal brick outhouse with no flimsy fittings so spreading the load on a calm day in hindsight pretty unnecessary.. but in worse conditions my bridle and line would have been used (I would like to think...lol), however doesn't actually take many seconds to rig up when needed..

I would just add my friend has a bit of experience salvaging boats..

 

[BruceK]

On a calm day it's not a problem, the problem comes when doing a conventional tow and the boat being towed rides into a swell. He may have a bridle and set up nicely to spread the load but the boat towing may not have a towing bridle to distribute the load as well. Has the OP given thought to a reciprocal bridle to be able to offer a tow? Presumptuous of me but I'd hazard not and nor many others. A parallel tow at least covers more bases.

 

[Firefly625]

On a calm day it's not a problem, the problem comes when doing a conventional tow and the boat being towed rides into a swell. He may have a bridle and set up nicely to spread the load but the boat towing may not have a towing bridle to distribute the load as well. Has the OP given thought to a reciprocal bridle to be able to offer a tow? Presumptuous of me but I'd hazard not and nor many others. A parallel tow at least covers more bases.

but I would not do a parallel tow in rough conditions, even coming along side in anything but perfect conditions could be highly hazadous.

 

[Nick_H]

I keep hearing bigger rope.

To put it in perspective, you could lift the OP's boat out of the water with a single length of 22mm 3-strand nylon

 

[BruceK]

but I would not do a parallel tow in rough conditions, even coming along side in anything but perfect conditions could be highly hazadous.

Agreed. In rough weather absolutely. But in the one instance I had to tow a 40 foot Princess in average conditions if I tried a bridle on the transom I'd be worried I'd squeeze her and create more damage to myself than the boat I was trying to rescue. We towed her to safety in parallel and waited for the RNLI to show. Had it been in rough water it would have been an anchor job and us as standby boat. Most instances during a required tow by another leisure boat will be as standby boat waiting for RNLI etc either because of a lead time or priority rating.

 

[BruceK]

One thing I omitted to clarify is the RNLI that did the rescue had a full bridle and snubber setup and preferred the use of their own rather than a provided bridle mooring strop that was offered, hence my presumption that the OP was investing in a bridle for use other than when getting an expert / professional tow

 

[Firefly625]

Agreed. In rough weather absolutely. But in the one instance I had to tow a 40 foot Princess in average conditions if I tried a bridle on the transom I'd be worried I'd squeeze her and create more damage to myself than the boat I was trying to rescue. We towed her to safety in parallel and waited for the RNLI to show. Had it been in rough water it would have been an anchor job and us as standby boat. Most instances during a required tow by another leisure boat will be as standby boat waiting for RNLI etc either because of a lead time or priority rating.

For towing a boat I guess there are lighter weight boats, sports boats where a heavy tow could possibly squeeze a transom, never thought of that.. I guess then the longer the bridle the less the squeeze.