MacGregorSailors.com

I have thoughts of leasing a slip to get some sailing time in. The rigging process has become too big a deal. Need your advice.

The typical setup is this: Large long wooden pier capable of vehicle traffic straight out to the sea. Dozens of small wobbly weatherbeaten finger piers jutting out at right angles. Each pier has two telephone pole size pilings on each side. Off to the side of each pier there are two docks bisected by two pilings.

So, when one eases into a slip there are four pilings, two on each side with a pier on one side or the other. The pier is permanent (non-floating) with a tide that floods and ebbs about four feet or so. There are no cleats on the pier. Some of the pilings have a large horn cleat. The area is fairly open to varying winds from any direction.

How would one secure a Mac here without it being badly bashed? I can only think of four lines to the surrounding pilings and a little prayer to St. Barbara that nothing comes undone. The tide would slacken lines allowing some grinding? A board with fenders would get all screwed up? Can make it to the cockpit without tripping into the sea?

So, how have you managed it?

Could do docklines with loops that go over the pilings but honestly there's no way to keep your boat from bumping around when the tide is in if it's not overly tight when the tide is out.

I've seen people rig PVC pipes from the dock to the boat that act as counter-tension to the docklines, keeping the boat away from the dock. Worked pretty well, and just the light pushback from the PVC pipes does the job. Typically the pipe will have a T at each end and be tied to the dock side and just wedged against the boat side. Worked pretty well.

Hey, Sloop. Where ya been?

Might try these:



http://www.tideminders.com

~Rich

I hate to rig and unrig also BUT - - - I would pass on this marina One day you're going to go to the boat and see a LOT of damage What happensin a STORM when the tide is in

Rick

Sloop,

No matter how you tie up, you will need big fenders. Nice Aft got beat up badly a couple of years ago when I docked at a pier which had rather big pilings. My fenders were not large enough to stop the boat from smashing into the pilings.


Ray

Another solution. Elegant, but expensive.

http://www.slidemoor.com/waves.php

~Rich

I must admit, I am a little challenged trying to figure out the exact layout of the pier/dock/piling configuration you are discussing, but I do have some experience with varied slips over the past 7 years, especially on a 300 mile trip from Sanford, Florida to Jacksonville and back. Not much tidal experience, but a lot pilings, current, and exposed docks, depending on the wind. One general lesson I think I learned is that a couple of nights on board will often show the potential weakness of any system of dockage that you might devise. The "disruption" caused by the problems give you an opportunity to deal with it and see what the fix might be both short term and long term. I agree with previous posts about this being a risky choice, but I know that we may not often have much choice, given all the variables with which we are working. I will say that for simply mooring, we found a "boat hook" that has a round rubber loop at the end instead of a hook. We find it invaluable in snagging pilings. It just loops over the top and you've got it. As to docking with four pilings and a finger pier that does not float, I would start with spring lines on both sides, fore and aft with some type of block on one or two of the outboard pilings so that I could control the distance from the finger pier by adjusting the tension on the lines through the blocks on the pilings to where I could reach from the pier or dock. That would allow securing the boat close to the finger pier for boarding and loading, but securing it away from the dock for regular mooring. I have seen folks run a fairly permanent line between two outboard pilings which was used to help guide in for mooring and to attach a mooring line to for additional control. I would also consider a short term stay to test the system before making a long term commitment to the location. If the pier/docks are not well maintained, then it would suggest that the location is ill conceived and the lack of patronage over the years is telling in itself. Best wishes.

There might be some confusion about what a dock is. A dock is a depression in the water that a boat fits in. Size of depression depends on how much your boat displaces the weight of water by the weight of the boat. A pier is a pier. It's different.

From Your description it sounds pretty nasty.. very crude/rustic at best..

Sloop John B wrote:The typical setup is this: Large long wooden pier capable of vehicle traffic straight out to the sea. Dozens of small wobbly weatherbeaten finger piers jutting out at right angles. Each pier has two telephone pole size pilings on each side. Off to the side of each pier there are two docks bisected by two pilings.

So, when one eases into a slip there are four pilings, two on each side with a pier on one side or the other. The pier is permanent (non-floating) with a tide that floods and ebbs about four feet or so. There are no cleats on the pier. Some of the pilings have a large horn cleat. The area is fairly open to varying winds from any direction.

Sloop,

I used a 4-piling slip like you mentioned in Norfolk, VA back in 2007 for about 3 months. I tie off to each piling and was able to get my dock lines tight enough that I wouldn't hit any pilings or the pier/dock no matter what the wind did and it also kept me clear during the tide rise/fall (but that was only about 2 feet).

But this was a fairly well protected marina so we didn't get too much action from any waves.

It was tricky the first few times getting everything secured but with judicious use of the boat pole I was able to get it to work.

Hopefully you can find a place that is not too challenging.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Jim

John (Esq.),

Is it proper to address a Navy Lawyer with the civilian suffix title Esq.? Educate me please! I hope its not an offense to do so as I mean the utmost respect and thanks for your military service.

Herschel's advice seems right-on for a non-floating dock, having slipped in both floating and non-floating docks with different sailboats in the past. At present I'm in a floating dock with my 'M', probably for all the same reasons you are exploring a solution.

Personnaly I'm to old and tired to fool around with stepping the mast and everything else involved in getting an 'M' from the towing mode to the sailing mode. It isn't fun any more if I have to do all of that. So I painted her bottom and put her in a wet slip. There's still plenty of 'work' involved in getting everything ready to sail-out and especially stowing everything when you get back after a satisfying sail, but just a fraction of the 'work' involved when going from towing mode to sailing mode.

For the reasons you've stated including getting the dock lines just right for high tide vs. low tide and trying to boat-hook a mooring line off a fixed piling while in the act of docking, I've decided on a floating dock. With a floating dock you don't have any of that to mess with. Just make her fast to the dock with a few mooring lines and fenders, spray her off and go home. Don't know if any marinas in your area offer floating docks, but if they do then that's what I recommend.

Kindest Regards,
JonBill

Why no horn cleats on the dock? I slipped my boat in a financially challenged marina and the owner let me install my own spring line cleats, which at his option, had to be removed when I left. He kept the cleats

Pier docking--we used two fenders tied to a 2 x 6 with the fenders facing the boat and the 2 X 6 against the pier.

How are other boats tied to the piers? Do they use spring lines with a series of snubbers or loops that rise/lower with the tide like the TideMinder mentioned earlier?

Is there a mooring ball available and a guest floating dock you can use for provisioning? If the marina is well protected and the operator gives you a tender to access the boat, this might be another way to go.
BTW, having a place to go to by yourself and play with your boat can be very therapeutic

Bob