Midship docking question

[jen1722terry]

Following up on some earlier threads about midship docking, we try to do this whenever possible. It's so fast and easy to just have one crew member step on the wharf/float and do one quick cleat hitch to get the boat under control, then we take our time rigging the bow/stern/spring lines.

The problem we have is the Sparten mid-rail chocks we have on our 31, which include a smallish horn cleat with only one support leg (i.e., no hole under the horn to thread a dock line through) and are a bit too small to tie a good cleat hitch with our 5/8" double braid dock lines. One certainly can't tie two spring lines on this cleat (at least we can't). Yes, we could just loop the eye splices on the dock lines over the cleat, but we don't trust this arrangement.

So your mission is, should you choose to accept it: has anyone devised a way to securely fasten two 5/8" spring lines to this type of chock?

Or is it even a good idea to use this type of mid-rail chock for spring lines? It is fastened through the deck with four bolts, but the bolts are in-line, not the paired bolts like out larger Herreshoff cleats fore and aft.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Jenn and Terry

[tjr818]

Are 5/8" Spring Lines really necessary, that seems awfully heavy. Is your midship cleat bolted in place or is on a track? If it is on a track you could easily add a second cleat.

[Steve Laume]

Spartan almost got those cleats right. They are very pretty and fit well in the toe rail but the horns are just too small.

I usually slip the eye of my dock line over the aft horn and then take a turn under the forward horn to lead it aft. That works when coming into a dock. To get a second line on, I use a turn around both horns and then tie a couple of half hitches. That hold everything pretty well in place.

You could also use the cleats as chocks and run the line back to a winch and then cleat it off.

It's too bad those horns aren't just a wee bit bigger, Steve.

[John Stone]

I recall the midshipmcleat is rather small, but 5/8” for a spring line is a pretty big line. I only use 1/2” three strand nylon on the Far Reach for dock lines. I have a couple 40’ 5/8” lines as backs ups for hurrican prep but seldom use them. Maybe a small line will help solve the problem.

[jen1722terry]

Thanks, folks, for the ideas.

Actually, I think our spring lines are 1/2", now that I look through my notes. The dock lines are 5/8" because they were on sale.

Nonetheless, yes, we agree with Steve that the horns on that chock are a bit too short.

Happy launching to all of you who are still on the hard.

Jenn and Terry

[Randy Capstick]

The previous owner of our CD36 mounted a large cleat on the deck about 4 inches inside each toerail cleat. This allows us to use the toerail cleat as a chock to guide the lines from the larger cleat through the toerail cleat and fore and aft as required. When I first saw the setup my thought was that the cleat would be a toe stubbing hazard, but it has never been an issue.I'll try to attach a pic of the cleat. http://s1071.photobucket.com/user/Randy ... i.jpg.html

[Bill Goldsmith]

On my 32 I have found that for daily tie-ups in decent weather, the horn is sufficient to accommodate two 1/2" spliced loops, one for a forward and one for an aft spring. While this precludes adjustments from on board, it's been easy enough to hop on the dock to make adjustments to the non-spliced end. For storms, I have run extra long dock lines from the bow and stern cleats, through the rail as a chock and to the dock. Surely you could run two long 5/8 or 1/2 dock lines this way. Due to stretch on such a long line, chafe gear is important. Randy's solution is interesting, not requiring as long lines, and also provides a hard point to attach a preventer!