That chafing feeling

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

JustBob

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2016
Messages
496
Location
USA
Vessel Name
Mahalo
Vessel Make
2018 Hampton Endurance 658
I have seen quite a few posts here and other places about line chafe. While at FLIBS I saw the setup in the picture here. Seems like a smart way to go. Just have a short piece of line that when worn you dispose of.

Seems like would be really good for the bull rails we find in B.C.

Doesn't seem all that necessary for the spot pictured, but maybe that is how they do it all the time on that yacht.
 

Attachments

  • line-013558.jpg
    line-013558.jpg
    52.2 KB · Views: 135
I don't get it.
I had our lines made up with big loops and anti-chafe on the loops. Loops went to the dock cleat. Why those guys have regular line on the cleat is what I don't get. Huh?!
 
I don't get it.
I had our lines made up with big loops and anti-chafe on the loops. Loops went to the dock cleat. Why those guys have regular line on the cleat is what I don't get. Huh?!

Have any pictures of yours?

I think this picture is pretty self explanatory. In person the line looked like spectra but that doesn't really matter. You just easily add this on and toss it when it is worn?

But anyway, that's why I'm showing it here, to get questions/opinions/answers.
 
I don't get it.
I had our lines made up with big loops and anti-chafe on the loops. Loops went to the dock cleat. Why those guys have regular line on the cleat is what I don't get. Huh?!

I don’t get it! In all my decades of sailing and power, I have never experienced a line chafing when properly secured on a cleat. My chafing experience is where a line passes over another surface and is allowed to rub. My chafe gear is quite simple. I wrap the line where chafe can occur with a microcloth and it with a couple of tie wraps. Nautical??? Heck no! Does it work? Most certainly and much less expensive than pedigree chafe gear
 
Speaking of secure dock ties, I noticed this knot securing two (real) trawlers to the jetty. We were rafted alongside these two in a tidal current.

I'm a great believer in the bowline, but with my 37 tonnes added to theirs,
I ran an extra line to the jetty on the way to the pub.
 

Attachments

  • DSC04041.jpg
    DSC04041.jpg
    69.2 KB · Views: 172
  • DSC04040.jpg
    DSC04040.jpg
    157.9 KB · Views: 135
Have any pictures of yours?

I think this picture is pretty self explanatory. In person the line looked like spectra but that doesn't really matter. You just easily add this on and toss it when it is worn?

But anyway, that's why I'm showing it here, to get questions/opinions/answers.


The only suggestion I would make is to consider doing a wrap on the cleat prevent the line from sawing. Other than that, looks just fine :thumb:
 
Speaking of secure dock ties, I noticed this knot securing two (real) trawlers to the jetty. We were rafted alongside these two in a tidal current.

I'm a great believer in the bowline, but with my 37 tonnes added to theirs,
I ran an extra line to the jetty on the way to the pub.


Blow your picture up and give it a good look. You did the right thing
 
Blow your picture up and give it a good look. You did the right thing

:) Wow you're right Foggy - if I'd looked closer on the day I wouldn't have waited.

I'm less of a believer in the granny knot.

BTW, this was the 'home' jetty for these boats during the season.
 
Last edited:
Have any pictures of yours?

I think this picture is pretty self explanatory. In person the line looked like spectra but that doesn't really matter. You just easily add this on and toss it when it is worn?

But anyway, that's why I'm showing it here, to get questions/opinions/answers.

Don't have a pic handy off hand, but mine would look like you tossed that constricting, and thereby weak link, piece away and looped the chafe protected loop over the cleat: If you looked at the big boys at FLIBs you would have seen that deployed the vast majority of the time. The chafe point in that picture is the edge of the dock, not the cleat. And out of the picture, where the line goes over the boat's toerail or other edge.

For bull rails, multiple clove hitches, aka a rolling hitch, spread the load best for me. I've interacted a lot with those things, though only in transient circumstances. If I was tying a boat to one for extended periods, I'd add chafe guard to the line coming off the bull rail to the boat.
 
I see short sections of chain wrapped around timbers up here, there aren't anywhere near enough cleats in any of the right places to find one to tie off on at most transient moorages. Tying around squared timbers is really hard on your lines, even if all you get is surge from passing vessels inside the harbor, major wind even more so.

I use a piece of double jacketed fire hose where I can't avoid chafe points, a short section I can slip over the line and adjust for position...
 
Have any pictures of yours?

I think this picture is pretty self explanatory. In person the line looked like spectra but that doesn't really matter. You just easily add this on and toss it when it is worn?

But anyway, that's why I'm showing it here, to get questions/opinions/answers.

If the mooring line is spectra , the donut maybe in the loop for a stretch component.
 
I prefer being able to adjust the lines from on the boat. That's one thing I really a lot like about the OP picture. The loop over the cleat makes it easy to have shore-side personnel simply drop it over without imposing their own cleating hitches or setting the length. And, you can arrive/depart without getting off the boat or using dockside help to cleat/uncleat the springs holding you to the dock if you hone your cow poke skills a little for the arrival snagging. If Ann and I could manage it, anyone short of a paraplegic can.

Hadn't occurred to me the black loop in the OP might be a "donut"... all the more complexity IMO.
 
Last edited:
Putting a knot in a dockline (or any line) reduces its strength by as much as 40%. Something to keep in mind. An eye splice won't do that.
 
A line secured like that can NOT be released under load .

Sometimes necessary.
 
Back
Top Bottom