Bob

I use 12 lines on my boat. All 5/8" braid. 2 on each corner plus spring lines. My boat is in the back of the Marina and is protected from the North and West winds which can blow very hard in the winter and get the most fetch over the water. I have seen (and heard) lines pop in these conditions and boats beat against the dock.

I have read that 3 strand is preferred as it has better shock absorbing charactoristics but being in the back of the marina I don't get tossed all that much.

All lines on my C36 are 5/8" Double braid, and Black that way they never get dirty.

I use 5/8" 3-strand for the 4 'corners' and 1/2" 3-strand for the spring lines.

I have found that the 3-strand gets stiffer and harder to handle than braided, but I'm too cheap to pay for braided. Once a year I soak the lines in water with fabric softener and that seems to help for a few months.

I lived aboard my c30 for 2 years with braided 5/8 and every movement from wind or water ended with a solid jerk! I read somewhere how much more forgiving three strand was, tried it and will never go back, our 36 has black 3strand, very easy to eye-splice, looks great and they have just enough 'give' that movement is much more smooth. A c30 at the end of our dock has 5/8 braid and 5 years of hard jerking has cracked all the glass around the aft cleats.

I use 3/4 polyethylene - which floats has good UV stabilty and about 20% stretch.
There is a great deal of surge in my slip in high winds which was causing tremendous jerking on the cleats.
I've installed the Forsheda Compensators at each corner and on the springs. These allow about 6 inches of stretch and the boat lies peacefully even on the most violent days.

My 2 cents.

I have used 1/2 inch braided line from New England Ropes, with snubbers (compensators), for the last six years on my c36. I am not persuaded that 5/8 line is necessary, unless you are in an area with huge surge or extremely high winds, or unless you have chafe issues, in which case larger diameter line is always better. If you look at the specs online for Yale or New England ropes, you will see that 1/2 line is incredibly strong and is recommended for boats in the 36 foot range with moderate displacement. I would prefer to use 3 strand without the snubbers because of the added stretch, but I like the "hand" of the braid and that it stays supple with age. When I bought the boat they had 5/8 braided line, with no snubbers, and it was way too stiff (non stretching), particularly since my four corner cleats onboard are quite close to the dock cleats--there was just no stretch, and it was really jerking and loading up the cleats on the boat.

--Nelson

Nelson raises some good points that make me qualify my earlier post:

1. I agree that 1/2" is probably strong enough for most conditions, but we get 60kt squalls that roll through from time to time with little warning, so I feel better knowing my 4 'corner' lines are plenty strong.

2. I have the boat at my canal home dock with two outboard pilings. The geometry is such that I have 10-12 feet of line from the piling to the cleat, which makes a big difference in allowing some stretch and reducing shock loads. I agree that bigger diameter (with less stretch) is not always better.

Bob:
Bow and stern are 3 strand 5/8, Springs are braided half inch.
John
Hilbre 2135

I use the SlideMoor system on my dock. With this system Carpice is tied with only two lines tied tight to two 10 inch pilings The suggested line for Caprice is a 3/8 low stretch line like the line used on halyards. I use a little larger 7/16 Sta-Set which has a breaking strength of 6,600 lbs. I have been using this system for the last four years. I told the guy the other day that sold and instaled the SlideMoors I was looking forward to another hurricane to find out if what he claims is true. He claims the Cost Guard tested them and are now using the SlideMoors at several of their locations.

Prior to having this sytem I used 1/2 inch nylon lines. When hurricane Charly came directly over my house and dock two of the eight 1/2" three strand lines parted and one piling disappeared with a parted line. The other two 8 inch pilings bent or broke with four lines holding on. Two more 1/2 inch lines secured to chain leading to ground screws inbeded in concrete held. Hurricane Charley had sustained wind of 140 mph with gusts up to 178 mph.

Based on my experience with Hurricane Charley, which incidently is the only hurricane to hit Punta Gorda, Florida in forty nine years, I would not use anything less than 5/8 inch nylon lines on 10 inch pilings and at least two addtional lines attached to ground screws inbeded in concrete.

My experience with Hurricane Charley is in an article on page 8 of the May 2005 issue of Mainsheet magazine. If you want to see what the Slidemoore system is and why smaller low stretch lines are used you can find information at [url]www.slidemoore.com[/url]. I am not connected with the Slidemoore company. If anyone has any information indicating this is not a good system I would like to here it. This system is being used on several docks here in Punta Gorda on boats as large as 50 feet. On the larger boats three slidemoors are used with larger pilings.

Mike

The link returns an error. I think it should be [URL="www.slidemoor.com"]www.slidemoor.com[/URL]

Since the track on the piling is only 8ft in length, how does it handle a surge from a Hurricane? I think the surge from Rita when it hit Houston was in excess or 20ft. I am on a lake so we don't have the surges but I am just curious.

Thanks
Bill

Bill
Good question about a twenty foot surge. The slide has a stop nut at the top. I keep a loose line attached to the bow and stern. If the slides goes to the top becasue of a twenty foot surge Caprice would most probably get battered. Also, my house is only nine feet above sea level so it would be gone with me in it along with every house and building in my City. Our new emergency responce headquarters sits on one of the the highest places in the County which is fifteen feet above sea level.

Your question prompted me to go out back and take some measurments. Our normal tide difference is 1.8 feet. The highest the water has ever come up in the seventeen years that I have lived here is about 2.5 feet above high tide. Our dowtown is only about two feet above high tide and I have seen that area a half a foot under water a few times. If the sea level goes above 5 feet above normal high tide the slidemoors would stop. However, the sea level has never been that high in Sothwest Florida.

To sum up my friend, Mike's, message: if it goes over his slidemoor max height, all bets are off!