Big Tidal Swing - Docking Suggestions?

[off-the-grid]

Moving into my home slip soon.

There's a high fixed dock at my bow and port side, with a piling off my starboard side and a few feet behind me, and another boat in the next slip (on the other side of the piling). And about a 6 feet difference between tides.

So, how exactly do I go about leaving enough slack to compensate for a swing that big, but at the same time avoid banging into the dock and the other boat at high tide (due to too much slack in my lines)?

[svHyLyte]

See TideMinders: freedom from line adjustment during storm surges, tidal changes and high-winds. .

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by grunzster

Moving into my home slip soon.

There's a high fixed dock at my bow and port side, with a piling off my starboard side and a few feet behind me, and another boat in the next slip (on the other side of the piling). And about a 6 feet difference between tides.

So, how exactly do I go about leaving enough slack to compensate for a swing that big, but at the same time avoid banging into the dock and the other boat at high tide (due to too much slack in my lines)?

The cris-crossed bow and stern lines are only for side-to-side. The spring line are for fore/aft.

Pay special attention to how the ropes will move at the extreems - they may hit something as the angle changes. Chafe is also a bigger issue.

Fenders can help, but they have a good probablity of getting pushed out of the way. Don't bet on them.

If you have not done this before, perhaps the very best lesson is to stay with the boat through a tide cycle and watch how things work. I had been at the same marina for 15 years and I thought I knew how to tie up a catamaran. I got a new one, just a little bigger, kept just 4 slips down the row, and the tie-up routine was much different, because it was a different fit.

[off-the-grid]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

See TideMinders: freedom from line adjustment during storm surges, tidal changes and high-winds. .

That's exactly what I was thinking of as a possibility. I decided to go the much cheaper, old tire filled with foam pool noodles route, though.

[off-the-grid]

Considering, I'm going to be living aboard. Staying on the boat for a cycle isn't a problem.

First night it was pretty windy, and I got pretty much no sleep. I left the lines pretty slack, but woke up every few hours to the boat rubbing against everything, and constantly had to readjust lines and fenders.

I'm thinking in addition to the tire, a fender board at the mid ship piling that I forgot about, and then cris-crossing my 2 bow lines, and rigging them on pulleys, with weights (which seems to be what most of the boats in this marina do.)

[captain465]

I think that seeing and mimicing what the majority of other boats do is the best way to go.......lot's of experience by others findings. ( I don't rememember the tidal range at Highlands being quite that much)

[off-the-grid]

Maybe not 6', but it is a pretty big swing. There's a broken piling that's probably about 4' out of the water at low tide and below the surface at high tide.

[Fishspearit]

IMO, the trick is to use long spring lines.
If you need to keep your stern from hitting a piling a few feet away, tie from that stern point as far away as you can, maybe all the way to the dock by the bow.
With long lines, the tidal drop won't move the boat as much.

[gonesail]

depending on the ratio of your beam to the distance between the pilings .. you may or may not be able to do this. the pulley and weight would not hold in a storm IMHO. tide minders will work but the pilings need to be smooth or they will get hung up. most places that have big tides also have floating docks. crossing the stern lines might help.