Centre cleat / spring lines

[Mandybstorm]

Not a rope expert so after a little advice. The boat has the usual two ropes stern and bow but does have a centre cleat. I was thinking of buying a couple of spare ropes to use as spring lines. I know that spring lines help stop the boat moving fore and aft but can they also be used to keep the boat in closer to the staithe? 

Reason for asking this is that both times we have lost a dog overboard they have panicked when getting on/off when moored side on and slipped between the boat and staithe. Very scary! As a result we try to tie the ropes tight so the gap is small thus hopefully no falling dogs.

obviously this can be tricky with the rise and fall down south and not wanting to scrape the side of the boat or flatten the fenders. Any advice please, pictures helpful as im not aufait with the technical terms!  Also I believe a rope on the centre cleat is easier for single person mooring, anyone use this method? 

[Boaters]

Hi,Mandy,we have a centre  cleat which we use when mooring.It pulls the  boat in parallel to the bank and moor using this as well as the bow and stern cleats.To keep the boat into the bank we have a rubber rope tensioner  which keeps the lines taut but stretches when wind or wash causes larger movement.

[JennyMorgan]

If I'm mooring up by myself then I will often moor using the centre cleat first, especially if mooring to a floating jetty. Very handy although I do slack it off after making fast fore and aft etc.. I'm not that nimble now so I need minimum space between boat and quay when boarding or landing so that central mooring rope and cleat can be a godsend.

[Baitrunner]

Spring lines has been discussed on the forum quite a few times so might be worth trying a search - I know there were a few pictures posted as well which might help.

There are lots of factors to consider to try and keep the boat in tight and allowing for rise and fall without confusing things.

The centre cleat option is good but I would be careful in a strong tide on a longish boat as the tide will try and rip the front round and you will put an awful lot of strain on the cleat, rope and post. I would always go for the forward rope first when mooring into the tide. In a strong offshore wind in these conditions you may want to try and get the fore and then centre ropes on which will help a lot if you struggle to get the stern in for any reason.

Next depends on your access point - if we assume it's from the stern. If you keep the stern rope and spring slightly shorter than the forward ones with a fair tide running you should find it keeps the back in even when it changes direction. An off shore wind will scupper this though and always cause a problem. If it's from the front reverse this. From the centre then you can use the centre cleat for the springs and keep them slightly shorter than the fore and stern lines.

If this is totally confusing, moor at Reedham or similar and practice adjusting the rope lengths and you will see how it all works.

With no tide then the wind will dictate how the boat sits, but similar rules will apply.

Have fun!!

[clive]

I use the centre pop up cleat to moor as I have made my own device consisting of a length of strong rope with a hook at one end to fit the cleat and the other end I fitted a strong ring covered in plastic so that as we come along side we just drop the ring over the post and the boat settles close in depending which way the tide is running you can step for or aft ashore then tie on the bow and stern ropes at your leisure it can be reversed for rings we also tie both our stern ropes on to hold us in but in really strong winds we put two long ropes one running from the forward cleat to the stern mooring post and one from the stern cleat running forward these Are springs to stop the boat jumping about in strong winds.

[Mandybstorm]

Thank you for all the great replies. I will stop off and buy a couple of spare ropes on the way down on saturday I think. That way we can have a fiddle around at different moorings and see what works for us.

what length ropes would people suggest i use as spring lines for a 38ft aquafibre then please?

 

[Baitrunner]

Now you will get some serious answers to that one!!!

 

I personally wouldn't go any longer than the length of the boat for any of my ropes - some will say at least 1.5 times.

If you have at least 4 ropes between 1-1.5 times the boat length you will be covered for most situations.

careful what rope you choose though - I was on a 40fter last weekend with ropes the length of the boat - they were serious ropes and when coiled in the wet my wife could not throw them and I had trouble coiling them in my hand - sure there are ways to get round this, but I think they were over-kill unless you had a tanker you were mooring up!!

[Liberty]

I use 1.5 times boat length on the stern, and 2 time boat length on the bow.  Covers all eventualities including springs on the south.

[Matt]

On 22 October 2015 at 16:18:00, Mandybstorm said:

Thank you for all the great replies. I will stop off and buy a couple of spare ropes on the way down on saturday I think. That way we can have a fiddle around at different moorings and see what works for us.

what length ropes would people suggest i use as spring lines for a 38ft aquafibre then please?

 

We have spare ropes on Thunder for using  the centre cleat on Thunder- ideal for single handed mooring.