posted May 03, 2005 09:21 AM               

It's comical to see how some boats approach the dock, usually they want to throw me their bow line first, then a stern line. One can't effectively stop a boat with a stern line; and the bow line is even less useful during the initial tieup.

Our two springs are 45ft long, that's around 130% of boatlength. We find that our two long springs secured to the bow and stern, then taken forward and back to the opposite ends of the dock make the spring angle nearly parallel to the dock. This stabilizes the boat very nicely, even in high wind.

We use all four springs on the winter dock. The boat is very stable, even in those winter gales with sustained gusts of more than 45 knots! Our neighbour's boat has no springs at all...the boat sails back and forth all winter. The first month last winter, every time we looked out the window we thought that we were moving....I'd hop out in my pajamas, only to see that our vessel was solid, while our dockmate was moving 2-4 ft back and forth.

Of course your fenders can (almost) never be too large.
You wouldn't believe the teeny 6 and 8 inch fenders we see on 32 ft 10,000 lb boats! Usually only two, mashed flat by the high winds during the week, while the owners are safe at home inside their suburban houses. Lots dock scuffs scar their once shiny topsides.