Dock Lines Are Doubled

The storms of winter are coming... our docklines are now doubled up. Not because we need the doubled strength, but because if the primary line should chafe thru, there will be a backup in place, ready to take the strain.

And there really is strain. When the wind is howling, you can see the lines stretch.

Sizing of the docklines is important. This is a case where too strong is not such a good thing. Ours are 5/8" nylon. With our weight, there is a fair bit of stretch in the lines when the boat surges. This stretch removes the shock loading on the cleats, and is a good thing. If we went to heavier line, we would lose this shock absorbing quality.

Here is a plot of wind speed (in knots - multiply by 1.15 to get mph) from the past couple of days.. yes, there was gust to 38 kt on the 5th, and on the 7th, a lot of time was spent steadily blowing between 25 and 30 kt. (By the way, gale force wind begins officially 35 kt.) This plot comes from a weather station that we can see from right here in the marina - it is pretty reflective of conditions here at the dock.

This is definitely NOT the gentle patter of rain on the deck I blogged about earlier...

Dock Lines Are Doubled