Mooring Whips are the devil

[Bluewater272]

Or, more than likely, the idiot using them improperly. Thought I would share this story for a few reasons

• I'll let you all know how Skisafe handles claims
• Sharing in my misery
• Think I'm the first person here who totally fucked up their rudder, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyhoo - rented a house on Seneca Lake in NY, dragged my boat all the way up there, launched it and tied to the dock on Thursday. All was well Thursday. All was well Friday. Overnight Friday the winds really kicked up coming across the lake to our house, and seem to have overwhelmed the capacity of the whips, pushing the boat closer to shore, where it proceeded to slam down on some rocks. Woke up Saturday morning to 2-3' whitecaps on the lake, and a bilge pump running every three minutes - no bueno.

Before things went bad. Looking back at it, maybe the boat was too far away from the dock, or not enough tension, etc. Was my first time using whips, and everything I read only said "Have some tension, but not too much". OK - Whatever TF that means.

By the next morning, the stern of my boat would be about even with the first piling.

Better idea of scale, stern moved from just behind the rear whip, INTO the dock, and about even where it was getting splashed by waves on the seawall.

See those white marks on the rocks? Yeah, that's my gelcoat.

Brought this bastard home.

At least the dog enjoyed swimming where the boat once was.

Anyway, on to the carnage.

That's a straight on opening into the bilge, caused by the rudder moving upward, and the bolt on the steering bar impacting it. Lets an alarming amount of water into the boat. I had only plugged it in the night before (and didnt even really feel like doing it when I did, since it involved digging extension cords out of the truck and running them down the dock). Glad I did, the amount of time that pump was running probably could have easily exhausted the battery. Also, I had put off adding a secondary bilge pump with float switch - I'll be doing that first thing this spring.

This weekend I'll be emptying the boat out, changing the oil and winterizing, then off for repairs. Gal certainly lives up to her name.

Oh well. Had a great season, though would have liked to use it a few more weeks (and maybe a bit on the lakehouse vacation. Grr.). She saw all of 6 miles of use on the trip, three miles down to the dock, and three miles back to the ramp hoping not to sink.

Oddly - there was zero suggestion of an issue with my rudder or steering on the way back, running on plane in some pretty serious chop.

 

[2kwik4u]

Dude, that sucks.

I have no idea how those whip things work. Seen them used a bunch on smaller local lakes, but always thought they looked a little shady if there was a storm to blow up.

Think a line off the bow would have helped to hold it forward off the rocks?

 

[Bluewater272]

Took this video right before we brought the trailer over to the ramp, and was much calmer than it was an hour or so before.

https://imgur.com/4jqBeTe



And if you really want to get a kick out of things, I'm pretty sure I left the keys to the trailer coupling lock on the back of the truck when we dropped the trailer off where we stored it. So, we had to go find a hacksaw to cut the coupler lock off. Not such an easy task in the middle of friggin no-where, NY. Also, the lake was glass for the next eight days, lol.

 

[2kwik4u]

WOW, thats calmer? That kind of wave action makes me nervous. I would have been tempted to drag it out to deep water, toss an anchor, and swim/paddle back to shore. Not sure I have more faith in my anchor or my bowlines and bumpers?

 

[Bluewater272]

Think a line off the bow would have helped to hold it forward off the rocks?

I think a bow line may have helped, or possibly spring lines from midship. Not sure how much it would have helped, really a small margin from safe waters to a little too shallow (especially with the vertical movement from the waves).

Would've been better off leaving it on the trailer for the week, or anchoring offshore and swimming it in. Oh well, live and learn. Shit happens, at least it is the end of the season and not the beginning. Have a feeling this will take a while.

 

[Bluewater272]

Just an idea of how nice the water was the rest of the trip. Would've been a fun place to explore - we'll go back, but renting a house with a lift or leaving it on the trailer.

https://imgur.com/hXUYMd3

 

[McMark]

Boat repair mojo on the way.

 

[viper15]

Looks like you are missing some lines on the whips. I've used whips for years, and they work great. There are a total of 6 lines, with to connection points to the boat.
- 1 line from each whip ... 1 line connected towards the bow, 1 line connected towards the stern
- 1 line from the base of each whip to the boat ... 1 line connected towards the bow, 1 line connected towards the stern
- 1 line from the base of each whip to the opposing end of the boat (these lines criss-cross each other) ... 1 line from the base of the bow whip connected towards the stern, 1 line from the base of the stern whip connected towards the bow

Essentially, the whip lines keep the boat away from the dock. The base lines keep the boat from floating too far away from the dock. And the cross lines keep the boat from floating forward or back parallel to the dock.

 

[Beachbummer]

You sure you don't want to take the keel off and use an epoxy stick to fill the holes so you can use the boat??

Good is the enemy of perfect. Temporary repair and boat on vacation would seem to be a decent outcome.

Best of luck!

 

[Whisky]

Dang thats a bummer, I’d just have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Looks like a beautiful spot though! Best of luck with the repairs!

 

[Bluewater272]

You sure you don't want to take the keel off and use an epoxy stick to fill the holes so you can use the boat??

Good is the enemy of perfect. Temporary repair and boat on vacation would seem to be a decent outcome.

Best of luck!

Trust me, I thought about it. You can actually see some flexseal tape on parts of it that I tried to quickly patch before I even noticed that the keel was fucked. Holes in your boat tend to distract you from other broken things. In the end, I just didnt trust whatever I could do in a pinch to not give way out in the middle of a big ass lake. We still ended up having a great vacation, just no boating involved.


Flexseal is the real deal by the way, that shit is amazing.

 

[ptwb]

Wow. Hopefully that can all be repaired to look like new.

It doesn't look to me like you were using the whips properly. While you had 'some' tension on them, it was in the wrong direction, the boat was too far away from the dock. It looks like there's enough line out for the boat to still come in and hit the dock and with the winds, all that line just let the boat get pushed back further onto the rocks. My understanding is you tie your boat closer to the dock than the whip tips and then use the whips to pull it away from the dock. In your 1st pic, it looks like the wind is pushing the boat away from the dock and the tension in the whips is from that. The line coming down from the whip to the boat should have be angling towards the dock, not away from it.

 

[Matts18]

Looks like you are missing some lines on the whips. I've used whips for years, and they work great. There are a total of 6 lines, with to connection points to the boat.
- 1 line from each whip ... 1 line connected towards the bow, 1 line connected towards the stern
- 1 line from the base of each whip to the boat ... 1 line connected towards the bow, 1 line connected towards the stern
- 1 line from the base of each whip to the opposing end of the boat (these lines criss-cross each other) ... 1 line from the base of the bow whip connected towards the stern, 1 line from the base of the stern whip connected towards the bow

Essentially, the whip lines keep the boat away from the dock. The base lines keep the boat from floating too far away from the dock. And the cross lines keep the boat from floating forward or back parallel to the dock.

Viper15 is spot on. I usually cheat and leave off the lines going straight to the boat and just use the whip lines and the criss-crossing lines. Never had an issue and am always amazed at how well whips work.

 

[Bluewater272]

Wow. Hopefully that can all be repaired to look like new.

It doesn't look to me like you were using the whips properly. While you had 'some' tension on them, it was in the wrong direction, the boat was too far away from the dock. It looks like there's enough line out for the boat to still come in and hit the dock and with the winds, all that line just let the boat get pushed back further onto the rocks. My understanding is you tie your boat closer to the dock than the whip tips and then use the whips to pull it away from the dock. In your 1st pic, it looks like the wind is pushing the boat away from the dock and the tension in the whips is from that. The line coming down from the whip to the boat should have be angling towards the dock, not away from it.

Super helpful information, far better than the few videos I watched about it where the putz jsut loops it on and pulls the whips tight. I was fairly certain it was 98% user error. Heck, that extra black dock line was just my "I hope the boat doesn't float away because I'm not sure about these sticks" dock line.

 

[Benoit]

Sorry to hear about the damage. Seneca is a beautiful large lake. Because of the depth(500+) and surface area, wind can churn it up. It got me this year but that was a rope and bad previous repair. Don’t let this shy you away from the biggest finger lake. It’s little sister next door(Cayuga) is nice too with even more shoreline. Good luck on the repair

 

[Bluewater272]

Sorry to hear about the damage. Seneca is a beautiful large lake. Because of the depth(500+) and surface area, wind can churn it up. It got me this year but that was a rope and bad previous repair. Don’t let this shy you away from the biggest finger lake. It’s little sister next door(Cayuga) is nice too with even more shoreline. Good luck on the repair

We thought it was gorgeous. Probably more upsetting that we couldn't go explore the lake than about the damage. We'll definitely be back.

 

[cindr]

Always tie the boat with extra lines. I use whips all season, but tie my boat with extra dock lines. Also, my boat whips are adjusted so the boat isn't as far from the dock as was pictured. I've never had a problem in twelve years, even when it is stormy.

 

[Cambo]

Sorry to see the issues you have to deal with keep us posted on the repair that keel hanging low is something new to keep an eye on and be aware of. Could you have thrown an anchor to keep the boat from pushing back into the rocks.

 

[Bluewater272]

Sorry to see the issues you have to deal with keep us posted on the repair that keel hanging low is something new to keep an eye on and be aware of. Could you have thrown an anchor to keep the boat from pushing back into the rocks.

Probably. Trouble is, boat was fine - went to bed, woke up and the boat was fucked. Didn't have any warning of the escalation in conditions.

 

[merlinjet]

No Monday morning quarterbacking here...I feel your pain, friend. Sometimes sh!t just happens, that's why we have insurance. Hope the insurance company treats you well. Have a beer and plan for next year