Ultimate Dock Lines

The new dock lines connect to a short lead intended to be left on the boat at all times.

When I originally got the boat I tied it off like everyone else did. Simple dock lines wrapped around cleats. These however required a lot of repositioning and moving around to get it right. It was also a pain to do when you were single handing and it all took time. So finally I went on a campaign to rig up the docking situation so that it was simple and as turn key as possible.



I thought I had achieved this quite neatly when I attached fenders to the dock and permanently attached pre-measured lines to the cleats. The springs even had clips so I didn't have to tie them off. It was all good I thought.

Now my crew complains that the lines are too tight and you have to do them in a certain order and it can be difficult. It is also tough to get the lines on the cleats. So finally after a few years I have decided to go big or go home and do the ultimate dock line setup.



Like the bow lines the stern tie has a leader intended to be left on the boat.

I started off with the same concept as before: dock lines attached to the dock that were pre-measured and ready to go. This time though I went a little overboard on convenience. I started off by drawing out a plan. There would be two bow ties, two springs, and one stern tie. At the cleats rather than tie off line that was chaffing badly after 2 years I would attach them to the cleat with chain. The chain would be 5/16" and would have a shackle that would create a loop through the eye of the cleat. This would protect against chafe at the dock cleats.



Yellow floats would stop the lines from totally sinking. The chain at the cleat protects against chafe.

Next I spliced in galvanized eyes into some 7/16" black three strand dock lines. I used galvanized as the shackle and chain they would be in contact would be galvanized. I ran the dock line to the predetermined length and spliced in a stainless steel eye at the boat end as it would have a stainless steel clip that would attach to the boat. However before I did the final spice I slid on a "doughnut" float and used a stopper knot to keep it at the end of the line. This would stop the lines from sinking if/when they were dropped in the water and make them easier to retrieve.

As for attaching the clips to the boat I used stainless steel shackles on the toe rail for the springs. The stern line attached to a cleat. As this cleat was on the back quarter of the boat and past the dock out over the water I opted to create a easier system than a looped eye. I took some dock line and spliced a looped eye and then spliced in a stainless steel eye about 10" off of the rope eye. This created a small lead I could clip the new dock line to. This got rid of the need to get to an awkward spot on the boat to tie up.


At the chalks I used leather sleeves to protect against chafe; plus they look slick.

For the bow I followed a similar process. I took dock line and knotted a rope eye for attaching to the bow cleat leaving two pieces of line. Then I spliced in stainless steel eyes leaving about 2' of dock line on each side so the eyes hung just over the guides on the bow. Now instead of fighting with sails to put on the dock lines they would simply be clipped on. I added leather chaffing sleeves to the dock lines where they came into contact with the guides on the bow to prevent wear.



Some Considerations:

• False Creek is really sheltered and I have every confidence in the heavy duty caribbeaner styled clips being able to hold the boat. If you are in a more exposed area I would re consider this.
• I used 3 strand as it was easy to splice. I also used a dark colour as it would not show stains as easily.