? best way to tie up to tall pier on the cheap?

[Spoooner]

I have a 40' Columbia Sailboat, it's being delivered to Morro Bay where I have secured a "slip" against a tall pier (protected marina). This will eventually be a liveaboard, so it must be fairly permanent. I can't make a little dock due to legalities so here's the Scenario:

I need to make this today or tomorrow, I have no major marine stores, nor time to have things shipped to me. I also have a lack of cash to buy expensive setups.

QUESTION: Whats the simplest way to protect a sailboat tied to a tall pier, and please use great detail, as I don't have a vast experience and terminology.

[Bash]

Long dock lines and lots of big fenders. With your boat, 12" fenders would not be oversize in this situation.

Local knowledge is everything in these situations. The first thing you want to check is how the neighbors are doing it. If they are using fender boards, you should use fender boards too.

If you don't get the lingo, get the book. Chapman's Piloting would be a good place to start.

[boatman61]

Wot he sed.... tho' I'd go for the fender boards regardless if your gonna be fairly static...what kinda tidal range do you have there...

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Spoooner

QUESTION: Whats the simplest way to protect a sailboat tied to a tall pier, and please use great detail, as I don't have a vast experience and terminology.

Most of our harbours are above sea level for half the day (up to a 40' tidal range) so mooring against a wall not uncommon.

s/h tyres are cheap (free?).........new (old ones ) will leave black scuff marks against the hull - but it will clean up with some elbow grease (or use / make bags)........ will need something like an angle grinder or powered hack saw to cut rope holes in the top (and a drain hole in the bottom)......or a lot of patience!, it's not just rubber in there (you don't want rope score marks against the hull!.........doesn't have to be neat though .......and on top of those (to make it pretty much bomb proof) a fender board, which can be an old ladder instead of a plank. One thing you want to avoid is the fenders / tyres riding up (from catching on the wall) as she drops - for that the more fendering the better .

Should be the case that the mooring lines won't need adjustment, when set right (esp. making sure they are long enough for the boat to reach the bottom )....the wider (further forward of the bow and back past the Stern) the better.....depending on where boat located, might want to consider setting the lines so no one can untie them on the dock - and run off giggling........

One other thing to consider is the bottom - firstly that nothing down there that you don't want the boat to sit on (like an old car or even simply large boulders). If the berth not used for a while may well be that now some slope outwards from Harbour wall - in time your boat will dig own channels on the bottom, but in the interim a bit of weight on the inside deck (water jugs or whatever) may be a comfort to make sure she settles leaning inwards.

For the first few tides would be useful (and instructive) to watch her settle as well as seeing how she reacts when afloat, especially when other boats moored ahead and / or behind.

Hope that helps - but don't blame me etc etc

[Waterway Guide]

I'm not quite sure of your situation, but if you can't get enough fenders or fenderboards soon enough, you might use anchors to hold you off the pier (but be careful that boat traffic won't be fouled by your rode...you could tie them off to the pier side of your vessel).

[tomcat1]

You might want to do something for chafe protection. A concrete dock will chafe through your dock lines in a few hours if they are leading over the edge without protection. Some rags will do for immediate use; for long term protection look around the dock and see what works at your place.

[rebel heart]

Fenderboards.

The pier will beat up your boat, and fenders are rather pricey. Here's an example of one, although this looks more like a pipe than a board:



You want something squishy against your boat (the fender) secured to something smooth and durable that won't ride around and will stay between the boat and the pier (the board). If you google around you'll see plenty of examples. If you're really cheap you can take some old smaller tires and put them in cloth bags of some type, but be advised the black rubber will mar up your hull something disgusting once the bags wear through (which won't take long).

So cheap and available anywhere:
- old tires
- plywood
- thrubolt the tire to the board (use a mushroom head for the pier side of the board)

Couple hundred bucks if you buy new:
- fenders
- plywood
- use padeyes or similiar to secure the fenders to the board, same deal with as smooth a fitting as possible sticking out on the pier side.

[sailcruiser]

I agree on fenderboards. The pic above is likely PVC as suggested in this article:
http://www.tropicalboating.com/boati...derboards.html

I made a pair of these for tying up as you mention. Chafe protection is also a must. These aren't pretty but were certainly cheap and worked well when we were tied to a wall and in ferry traffic wake for most of that visit.

SC