horizontal cleats and docking

[Seakindly]

Hi All,
I'm new to this Forum so please excuse me if I'm asking a question that's already been answered. . ..I'm curious as to how others have dealt with the "cleat issue" on a Sabre 28 when mooring. There's only one cleat on the bow of the boat. Has anyone installed additional cleats or come up with another solution to secure the boat ? Additionally, the cleats on the stern are mounted on a vertical surface, attached to the cockpit combing, so the lines that go off horizontally can slip when docking unless running it through a block which I haven't done, however, there's not a lot of room for a block there. . . suggestions?

Seakindly

[Astral Blue]

Originally Posted by Seakindly

Hi All,
I'm new to this Forum so please excuse me if I'm asking a question that's already been answered. . ..I'm curious as to how others have dealt with the "cleat issue" on a Sabre 28 when mooring. There's only one cleat on the bow of the boat. Has anyone installed additional cleats or come up with another solution to secure the boat ? Additionally, the cleats on the stern are mounted on a vertical surface, attached to the cockpit combing, so the lines that go off horizontally can slip when docking unless running it through a block which I haven't done, however, there's not a lot of room for a block there. . . suggestions?

Seakindly

Not speaking to the Sabre 28 per se, but I feel it is necessary to have more than one cleat at the bow. I personally have four (one on port, one on starboard, and two along the middle laterally.

Not only is having multiple cleats handy for securing the boat at the dock, redundancy is always a good thing in this case. Should you need to be towed for example, having more than one cleat on the bow will help evenly distribute the force exerted by the tow line.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Seakindly

Hi All,
I'm new to this Forum so please excuse me if I'm asking a question that's already been answered. . ..I'm curious as to how others have dealt with the "cleat issue" on a Sabre 28 when mooring. There's only one cleat on the bow of the boat. Has anyone installed additional cleats or come up with another solution to secure the boat ? Additionally, the cleats on the stern are mounted on a vertical surface, attached to the cockpit combing, so the lines that go off horizontally can slip when docking unless running it through a block which I haven't done, however, there's not a lot of room for a block there. . . suggestions?

Seakindly

Welcome aboard Seakindly. While I can't directly help with Sabre 28s, I can suggest that adding cleats in a common practice for turning a production boat into a cruising boat.

If the boat spends most of its life sitting in the home town marina, you don't need a lot of cleats but once you start moving about (ie cruising), extra cleats are essential.

Types and locations of cleat on smaller boats (say <34ft) are always a compromise. Hopefully others will chime in with detail specific to the Sabre 28.

[Steve W]

My Newport 28 came with one bow cleat located directly behind the headstay and in front of the anchor locker. I added a port and starboard cleat on each side of the anchor locker using backing plates, etc. We occasionally have tropical storm winds and I did not want the boat to be dependent on one bow cleat. I double up the lines all the time since I travel so much and can't count on anyone at the marina to notice a failed dockline. Easy project and worth the peace of mind.

[Bob on OTTER]

OTTER is a Sabre 30...while I do have cleats P/S fwd, I added two cleats midship P/S...slid onto the track on the caprail...works well for springs, fenders....not cheap, bought from WM. Regarding aft, I use chafe guards to address the problem cited in OP.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Seakindly.

Originally Posted by Wotname

... While I can't directly help with Sabre 28s, I can suggest that adding cleats in a common practice for turning a production boat into a cruising boat ...

[Curmudgeon]

IMHO you need three cleats on each side-- front, middle, back. The middle cleat is critical so you can get a spring line to the dock and control the boat.

[sailrj]

Welcome aboard and you've come to the right place to ask questions- and most of the time pretty good answers. I have never heard of anybody complain of too many cleats.