Looking forward to the invention of cleats in Canada
- Thread starter DDW
- Start date
Alex W
Super Anarchist
I wonder if old fire hose as a moveable "chafe guard" is the best way to handle that. I have 20' left of the stuff and might as well try it next time I'm up there.
I share in DDW's hatred of splintery bull rails. The metal ones are just as bad because they are normally mostly rust.
DDW: are you at least having better wind? This week is an exception (at least in Seattle), but so far there has been decent wind a lot of this summer.
I share in DDW's hatred of splintery bull rails. The metal ones are just as bad because they are normally mostly rust.
DDW: are you at least having better wind? This week is an exception (at least in Seattle), but so far there has been decent wind a lot of this summer.
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Two posts, thanks, unless you count accidental double posts that I can't figure out how to delete.
Honestly, I've never had a problem with splinters. Maybe I've just gotten lucky with smooth ones?
Jim in Halifax
Super Anarchist
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OK. But just remember, Brent Swain belongs to you guys. From that perspective, Bieber and Cruz don't look so bad.
SloopJonB
Super Anarchist
I'll take that deal - BS does less damage than those two.
I mean, I guess it does, if you don't set your lines to pull into the corners of the rail supports?Jammer Six said:
Honestly, I was just teasing a bit with my post. I admit they're marginally (marginally) less convenient than a well-placed cleat. If there's a legion that's determined to hate them with burning passion, and for whom this is the preoccupying annoyance of sailing (rather than say, Bros on Bayliners dragging through the moorage) I'm not trying to unseat your godhead.
Jim in Halifax
Super Anarchist
So, GunkHoler...its time to show a little respect for the traditions of this forum. Fuck off and show us some tits!
SloopJonB
Super Anarchist
When you are paying more than a buck a foot a night I don't think it's unreasonable to expect decent cleats on the dock.
TwoLegged
Super Anarchist
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The world is full of injustices. Fix 'em when we can, but meanwhile try to minimise the damage they do to us
Autonomous
Super Anarchist
Most people do it that way but I can't bring myself to. I want my lines to have some give and spring to them so's I lead 'em fore & aft as if there were cleats.
Ajax
Super Anarchist
valis
Super Anarchist
The rails are a nuisance, not a tragedy. And yes, there are ways to make them work a little better. The point is that cleats, reasonably spaced along the dock, are so much nicer. The point is also that we enjoy making fun of rails.
- Thread starter
- #177
$2.50/ft/night in some of the marinas up here in season.
Trouble with chafe guard is there is no way to get in on the line till the damage is done. On a bull rail, you MUST loop something around it and draw it tight. By the time you have threaded the line through something, positioned it, repositioned it as you sweat the line in, your boat has drifted away.
Still no wind. We put the sails up everyday, sometimes we get an hour with the engine off. Today nearly 2 hours tacking up the Cordero channel in 5-6 knots but it was OK - the slack at the rapids was at 7 AM so we had plenty of time. Then the wind died to 0.5.
The same people who tell me this argue that cleats are never where you need them. You can't have it both ways. Rail supports are never were you need them. Also, now your lines are chafing over the end grain of the rail supports, an even more splintery wonderland.
Just buy a bunch of goddamn cleats and put them on the dock. Even bull rails made of the finest polished teak still suffer from a fatal design flaw: you cannot adjust the lines quickly and easily. I have seen about 10 different hitch variations tied by lifetime wharfingers. Adjusting any of them requires untying them and retying them. I can adjust all four dock lines on cleats and have a beer in the time it takes a lifer to adjust one line tied to a bull rail.
No, I will not be swayed. I will not rest until the scourge is lifted from the earth.
Jim in Halifax
Super Anarchist
Whether tied to a bull rail or a fancy-smancy cleat, bollard, or whatever, the best way to adjust lines is using the cleats on your own boat. The loop or fixed end of your dock line goes on the dock, the other end is adjusted as required on board. Because you don't even have to hop down to dock level, you never risk spilling so much as a drop of your beer or gin and tonic...
