Tying your boat up at the dock

[FSH 210 Sport]

Here’s a couple of vids on tying your boat to the dock.

Here‘s the Len‘s Cove video, solid advice Edit; not good advice, especially adding the spring line.

This second one is very solid and probably better suited to the changing tides in salt water / brackish water or a lake /reservoir that has changing levels. This is one is my fave.

 

[MilesPrower]

I didn't watch the second video, because I got far enough through the first video to see that the guy is giving terrible advice.

1. That's not the proper way to tie to a cleat.

1a. His method (putting in half-hitches) will weaken the line by focusing pressure on smaller sections of the line. The proper way to tie to a cleat will distribute the pressure across more of the line, while also increasing the areas of friction between sections of the line and the surfaces of the cleat, reducing any chances of slippage.

1b. Never ever wrap a line around your hand or fingers. You risk losing your fingers if anything moves the boat (wind, wake, current).

1c. The proper method requires only one hand to get to the point where the line is not going to slip and you have control of the boat. His method requires two. When there's any movement of the boat, you want one of your hands available to hold the boat with the line (but again, not with the line wrapped around your hand).

1d. You should go around both ends of the cleat before making the first diagonal crossover. Doing so will prevent line slippage, and this allows you to hold the boat in place if there's any water movement or wind, before you start your crossovers.

1e. Can I re-emphasize that you should NEVER WRAP A DOCKLINE AROUND YOUR HAND — especially if that line is only half-assed around a solid object like a cleat!!!!

2. The bow and stern lines should never be tight, unless you're using a line snubber. The spring lines — and you should always use two if you're going to use any — can be tight, but the primary lines should have slack. Why? Even if you're at a floating dock that moves with the tide, a rogue wave can still lift/drop your boat relative to the dock, and a short, tight line to the bow or stern could fail itself, pull the cleat off your boat, or pull the cleat off your dock.

If you look through the comments on the YouTube page for this video, you can see there are many people calling him out for his bad advice.

 

[MilesPrower]

This is the proper way to tie to a cleat:

For any new boaters out there, Boat US had many great videos on docking. Their tutorials on how to dock (and undock) in wind & current are the best I've found on YouTube.

I've been a Boat US member for all the years I've been boating, and their monthly magazine is worth reading — so much great advice in every issue, especially in regards to DIY maintenance.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I didn't watch the second video, because I got far enough through the first video to see that the guy is giving terrible advice.

1. That's not the proper way to tie to a cleat.

1a. His method (putting in half-hitches) will weaken the line by focusing pressure on smaller sections of the line. The proper way to tie to a cleat will distribute the pressure across more of the line, while also increasing the areas of friction between sections of the line and the surfaces of the cleat, reducing any chances of slippage.

1b. Never ever wrap a line around your hand or fingers. You risk losing your fingers if anything moves the boat (wind, wake, current).

1c. The proper method requires only one hand to get to the point where the line is not going to slip and you have control of the boat. His method requires two. When there's any movement of the boat, you want one of your hands available to hold the boat with the line (but again, not with the line wrapped around your hand).

1d. You should go around both ends of the cleat before making the first diagonal crossover. Doing so will prevent line slippage, and this allows you to hold the boat in place if there's any water movement or wind, before you start your crossovers.

1e. Can I re-emphasize that you should NEVER WRAP A DOCKLINE AROUND YOUR HAND — especially if that line is only half-assed around a solid object like a cleat!!!!

2. The bow and stern lines should never be tight, unless you're using a line snubber. The spring lines — and you should always use two if you're going to use any — can be tight, but the primary lines should have slack. Why? Even if you're at a floating dock that moves with the tide, a rogue wave can still lift/drop your boat relative to the dock, and a short, tight line to the bow or stern could fail itself, pull the cleat off your boat, or pull the cleat off your dock.

If you look through the comments on the YouTube page for this video, you can see there are many people calling him out for his bad advice.

You should watch the second vid, I think it’s much better, two spring lines etc.

As a fyi, I got that first video via boat test, I’d write them and tell them the issues but they never respond to my messages anyway.

You’re absolutely correct about the points you make about the dangers of putting a rope around your hand or placing your hands, arms, body in the bite. I never put my hands and such in the bite, I should have seen those dangers myself, I worked as a ground man in the electrical utility industry for quite a while and we used ropes a lot with some pretty heavy loads. Nylon ropes are extremely dangerous when they break due to their elasticity, a 1/2” dock line can remove a limb when it breaks.

A culture of safety means sharing what not to do, or sharing the details of an incident with others so that everyone can learn from something bad happening. So upon reflection we can look at the first vid as an example of how not to do it.

Thank you for making those points about how not to do it, and providing how to do it safely.

 

[FSHER]

I didn't watch the second video, because I got far enough through the first video to see that the guy is giving terrible advice.

1. That's not the proper way to tie to a cleat.

1a. His method (putting in half-hitches) will weaken the line by focusing pressure on smaller sections of the line. The proper way to tie to a cleat will distribute the pressure across more of the line, while also increasing the areas of friction between sections of the line and the surfaces of the cleat, reducing any chances of slippage.

1b. Never ever wrap a line around your hand or fingers. You risk losing your fingers if anything moves the boat (wind, wake, current).

1c. The proper method requires only one hand to get to the point where the line is not going to slip and you have control of the boat. His method requires two. When there's any movement of the boat, you want one of your hands available to hold the boat with the line (but again, not with the line wrapped around your hand).

1d. You should go around both ends of the cleat before making the first diagonal crossover. Doing so will prevent line slippage, and this allows you to hold the boat in place if there's any water movement or wind, before you start your crossovers.

1e. Can I re-emphasize that you should NEVER WRAP A DOCKLINE AROUND YOUR HAND — especially if that line is only half-assed around a solid object like a cleat!!!!

2. The bow and stern lines should never be tight, unless you're using a line snubber. The spring lines — and you should always use two if you're going to use any — can be tight, but the primary lines should have slack. Why? Even if you're at a floating dock that moves with the tide, a rogue wave can still lift/drop your boat relative to the dock, and a short, tight line to the bow or stern could fail itself, pull the cleat off your boat, or pull the cleat off your dock.

If you look through the comments on the YouTube page for this video, you can see there are many people calling him out for his bad advice.

Incorrect information/instructions is now typical and mostly intentional within social media. There is no such thing a negative comment (unless its of hate or harassment or something alone those lines). Most if not all comments are good for "engagement" and make a video more popular and the platform gets to sell more and more ads and the creator gets to capitalize more on the ads.

You want to make a video get a thousand comments, all you have to do is show a slotted screw being driven in with a cross point screwdriver but if you use the correct tools for the job, only a few people are going to care enough to comment. Videos with fewer comments go further down on the list.

I guess there's not really a decent way to regulate it but I'm also not sure if I would personally agree with regulating it. I categorize it in the people really suck sometimes part of my brain.

-Mark

 

[MilesPrower]

All good points @FSH 210 Sport !!!

You should watch the second vid, I think it’s much better, two spring lines etc.

As a fyi, I got that first video via boat test, I’d write them and tell them the issues but they never respond to my messages anyway.

You’re absolutely correct about the points you make about the dangers of putting a rope around your hand or placing your hands, arms, body in the bite. I never put my hands and such in the bite, I should have seen those dangers myself, I worked as a ground man in the electrical utility industry for quite a while and we used ropes a lot with some pretty heavy loads. Nylon ropes are extremely dangerous when they break due to their elasticity, a 1/2” dock line can remove a limb when it breaks.

A culture of safety means sharing what not to do, or sharing the details of an incident with others so that everyone can learn from something bad happening. So upon reflection we can look at the first vid as an example of how not to do it.

Thank you for making those points about how not to do it, and providing how to do it safely.

 

[MilesPrower]

So true!

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Incorrect information/instructions is now typical and mostly intentional within social media. There is no such thing a negative comment (unless its of hate or harassment or something alone those lines). Most if not all comments are good for "engagement" and make a video more popular and the platform gets to sell more and more ads and the creator gets to capitalize more on the ads.

You want to make a video get a thousand comments, all you have to do is show a slotted screw being driven in with a cross point screwdriver but if you use the correct tools for the job, only a few people are going to care enough to comment. Videos with fewer comments go further down on the list.

I guess there's not really a decent way to regulate it but I'm also not sure if I would personally agree with regulating it. I categorize it in the people really suck sometimes part of my brain.

-Mark