Shockles for mooring lines

[chouliha]

Have been looking at the Davis Shockles for use on our mooring lines in anticipation of leaving the boat for a few months in a potentially surgey harbor.

Shockles By Davis Anchor Snubber

Davis offers no technical specs on how many pounds it takes to stretch the units out to recommend maximum. They only state breaking loads.

Contacted Davis with the question and here is the response.

From Curtis Lawson at Davis
We don’t rate the Shockles product to any weight specification because they are meant to hold loads in-line only. They should be set up to stretch just 4-8 inches and after 4-8 inches the chain or rope should bear the load

I looked at a Practical Sailor review from June 2013 where the results showed very low amount of pounds to stretch them out to the max.

Anyone using these on there mooring lines?? If so can you share your experience please

Thanks

Chuck
Jacaranda

[zeehag]

i used one as a tool to keep bowsprit from damage by mooring ball... they break easily. it lasted exactly 3 days. oops. bought another.. same thing. stopped tossing dough and use my own lines.
is always good to mimick the neighbors. especially if they have been in same place more than one year. they know how the water moves there, and winds. useful info.

[Dockhead]

I've used them for years. Never broken one despite very bouncy winter harbour with regular hurricane force winds. But I use very large ones, fitting 1" nylon octo lines.

I set up my normal dock lines without any perpendicular to the dock, with proper bow and stern lines led well forward and aft, with an extra line to the offside quarter and a second bow line from the offside, too. Then I set two heavy lines with rubber snubbers ("shockles") fore and aft, perpendicular to the dock, to dampen any yawing in a storms, or any surging.

It works well. They absorb a lot of energy and really tame the motion in stormy weather.. I like them.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I've used them for years. Never broken one despite very bouncy winter harbour with regular hurricane force winds. But I use very large ones, fitting 1" nylon octo lines.

I set up my normal dock lines without any perpendicular to the dock, with proper bow and stern lines led well forward and aft, with an extra line to the offside quarter and a second bow line from the offside, too. Then I set two heavy lines with rubber snubbers ("shockles") fore and aft, perpendicular to the dock, to dampen any yawing in a storms, or any surging.

It works well. They absorb a lot of energy and really tame the motion in stormy weather.. I like them.

Were these the Davis brand " mooring shockles" that you used?


Thanks

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by chouliha

Were these the Davis brand " mooring shockles" that you used?


Thanks

No. Just rubber mooring line snubbers.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by chouliha

Have been looking at the Davis Shockles for use on our mooring lines in anticipation of leaving the boat for a few months in a potentially surgey harbor.

These Falcon Line-Master Mooring Snubbers stretch to more than twice their length, if necessary, to absorb shock loads and protect boat from the strain of winds and waves. In effect these snubbers make your bridal longer in adverse conditions.

Falcon Safety Mooring Line-Master Snubber / Compensator
.
.

[Simi 60]

Why wouldn't you just use 3 strand nylon?
I watch my anchor snubber stretch several inches when under load.

[zeehag]

i tie my boat with 3 strand is the best docklines possible. stretchy and perfect. yacht braid snaps..saw that happen, was kinda fun to watch except i knew the owner of the breakaway boat..
i have 5/8inch. 1 inch, and 1.5 inch lines i use to tie my boat to dock. i have snapped a dock cleat in 215 mph steady winds with 250 mph gusting..... the cleat held my one inch line i used for 2 boat cleats and one dock cleat..was a midships line, sprung fore and aft.

[savoir]

I have been using Falcon snubbers on my dock lines for years and am very happy with them. So far I can't see any reason why they would not work on a mooring. Mine is the outside dock where waves can get to to 2 feet in bad weather.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Why wouldn't you just use 3 strand nylon?
I watch my anchor snubber stretch several inches when under load.

I use 3 strand nylon for dock lines and looking for a method to slow the extreme charging of the boat. This will in turn lessen the chafe. Last season we had some swell roll in that caused some of the docks to break up. Our dock lines did just fine but we had a huge amount of chafe on both the dock cleats, deck cleats and chocks. Yes I had fire hose on all and it served its purpose.

Every boat that had falcon type black snubbers on found them blown apart after a few days.

Vessel docked next to used use large springs that worked extremely well and softened the boat movement. It was amazing the difference between the movement of them with springs and us with just dock lines. BUT they want $200+ each for them here in Tahiti (One of the more expensive places around)
Low-noise mooring spring / for boats - 00370-09 - Eval

Chuck

[JPA Cate]

Leave it to me to come in from left field, but take a look at this link: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ey-190275.html

I think this may be the best way to avoid dock cleat chafe that I have seen.

Then, be sure to spring your boat with long dock lines, and do the off side as well, to the same cleat that the off bow line goes to. Use the stretchy nylon you already have. If you're leaving the boat for cyclone season, double all the lines, as when it's hairy, people don't get to the boat to check on it.

When we left our boat in Tassie for 7 months, it chafed one line through on one of the dock cleats, and another one 2/3 of the way. I think using the dyneema soft shackles on the cleats would eliminate their roughness as a source of chafe. Fortunately, someone was looking after the boat for us, and he put on a replacement line. We found the chafe on the offside bow line when we arrived back at the boat.

Good luck with it, Chuck, hopefully y'all have some dyneema on hand to make the soft shackles (instructions here on CF and other places), and a source for chafing gear in Papeete.

Ann

[Simi 60]

Chain on the marina cleats, 3 strand and galv eye from then on, chafe sorted.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Leave it to me to come in from left field, but take a look at this link: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ey-190275.html

I think this may be the best way to avoid dock cleat chafe that I have seen.

Then, be sure to spring your boat with long dock lines, and do the off side as well, to the same cleat that the off bow line goes to. Use the stretchy nylon you already have. If you're leaving the boat for cyclone season, double all the lines, as when it's hairy, people don't get to the boat to check on it.

When we left our boat in Tassie for 7 months, it chafed one line through on one of the dock cleats, and another one 2/3 of the way. I think using the dyneema soft shackles on the cleats would eliminate their roughness as a source of chafe. Fortunately, someone was looking after the boat for us, and he put on a replacement line. We found the chafe on the offside bow line when we arrived back at the boat.

Good luck with it, Chuck, hopefully y'all have some dyneema on hand to make the soft shackles (instructions here on CF and other places), and a source for chafing gear in Papeete.

Ann

Thanks Ann I have already done that and have been using that dyneema soft shackle setup for past few months. It does work really well. I made the soft shackles long enough to slip a piece of fire hose thru them for added chafe protection. That should solve the dock cleat chafe issues. Unfortunately there is not enough cleats on the dock and lines have to be doubled up. That seems to cause extra chafe with more than one line sharing a cleat. Now that should be eliminated.

Chuck

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by chouliha

I use 3 strand nylon for dock lines and looking for a method to slow the extreme charging of the boat. This will in turn lessen the chafe. Last season we had some swell roll in that caused some of the docks to break up. Our dock lines did just fine but we had a huge amount of chafe on both the dock cleats, deck cleats and chocks. Yes I had fire hose on all and it served its purpose.

Every boat that had falcon type black snubbers on found them blown apart after a few days.

Vessel docked next to used use large springs that worked extremely well and softened the boat movement. It was amazing the difference between the movement of them with springs and us with just dock lines. BUT they want $200+ each for them here in Tahiti (One of the more expensive places around)
Low-noise mooring spring / for boats - 00370-09 - Eval

Chuck

Add the springs. I use two on each side for just this reason. They will help FAR more than anything else you can do. The reduction in force is typically about 50% (I did some instrumented testing). They also add redundancy in many cases, depending on the angles (if you have 4 springs they will restrain the boat even if a bow or stern line breaks).

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by chouliha

Thanks Ann I have already done that and have been using that dyneema soft shackle setup for past few months. It does work really well. I made the soft shackles long enough to slip a piece of fire hose thru them for added chafe protection. That should solve the dock cleat chafe issues. Unfortunately there is not enough cleats on the dock and lines have to be doubled up. That seems to cause extra chafe with more than one line sharing a cleat. Now that should be eliminated.

Chuck

Chuck, have you considered buying some additional cleats and putting them on the dock, just where you want them? If you buy galvo instead of chrome, not too dear.

Jim

PS Where are you leaving her?