The not so benign Med

[Greg K]

We've had some rough weather on the coast of Spain over last fall and winter. Chafed mooring lines were par for the course but, surprisingly, ripped out cleats were also fairly common on Med moored boats in our marina.

Cleats ripped right out of the deck seems to me to be fairly common these days, especially on newish production boats. Just this winter I personally saw two such incidents on my dock. The one in the picture is off a fairly new ( 5 year old, maybe?) 40 foot or so Beneteau.

50-60 knots for about five hours or so. Not that uncommon for a Med storm. Of course the lack of a proper backing plate was probably a contributing factor, but still... to rip out like that? You'd figure the builder would beef up that area of the deck to prevent this sort of thing.

[LittleWing77]

Yup. Many of the new production boats are crap.

Tell that Beneteau owner to have a look at his/her seacocks. At least the cleats aren't below the waterline....

Hope I'm wrong, but I'd bet I'm not...
LittleWing77

[Yellowtulip]

I don't think lack of backing plates or reinforcement is anything new. Doesn't make it right of course.

[chuckr]

Interesting.. maybe there is more to it than just the clears .. My Jeanneau has been through a number of hurricanes when she was in Fla with winds way over 100k .. and spent 6 winters in the Med along with sailing the entire Med and Black Sea .. never had an issue .. what type of line was used for

[slug]

Originally Posted by Greg K

We've had some rough weather on the coast of Spain over last fall and winter. Chafed mooring lines were par for the course but, surprisingly, ripped out cleats were also fairly common on Med moored boats in our marina.

Cleats ripped right out of the deck seems to me to be fairly common these days, especially on newish production boats. Just this winter I personally saw two such incidents on my dock. The one in the picture is off a fairly new ( 5 year old, maybe?) 40 foot or so Beneteau.

50-60 knots for about five hours or so. Not that uncommon for a Med storm. Of course the lack of a proper backing plate was probably a contributing factor, but still... to rip out like that? You'd figure the builder would beef up that area of the deck to prevent this sort of thing.

Surge is what cause cleats to tear out or dock lines to break

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by slug

Surge is what cause cleats to tear out or dock lines to break

Well, maybe, but the CRAP construction quality sure helps... Look at that! A mooring cleat secured with WASHERS?????

I am assuming I can trust the poster and this is an actual cleat from a late-model Beneteau.

This is absolutely pathetic. Just another good reason they are called Bendy-toys. They aren't getting any better. The latest green thing: Bio-degradable boats!

[tkeithlu]

That's a pretty big cleat to not have even a backing plate, and the structure is one sheet of 3/4" or so plywood - the fiberglass doesn't seem thick enough to add anything. Simply looking at that cleat my mental response is "Someone will tie a pretty heavy boat to this thing," and I'd expect a builder to think the same, even without any engineering. A shock absorbing dock line would help, but really...

[redneckrob]

That looks like a plywood core, does Beneteau really use plywood cores on late model boats?

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by slug

Surge is what cause cleats to tear out or dock lines to break

Yup. Lots of folks use metal springs attached with a short lengths of chain to the dock, but in those kind of blows they don't last long. Rubber springs are probably better.

My own solution is to triple up on the lines with slightly varying amount of slack in each, so that before one tension to the max the others start stretching.

Still, the attachment points for deck cleats are clearly a weak point and should be much better engineered considering how common an issue this is. I'm surprised that insurers put up with it.

[Chotu]

Where are the backing plates?????

That’s an unbelievably poor cleat installation.

Originally Posted by Greg K

We've had some rough weather on the coast of Spain over last fall and winter. Chafed mooring lines were par for the course but, surprisingly, ripped out cleats were also fairly common on Med moored boats in our marina.

Cleats ripped right out of the deck seems to me to be fairly common these days, especially on newish production boats. Just this winter I personally saw two such incidents on my dock. The one in the picture is off a fairly new ( 5 year old, maybe?) 40 foot or so Beneteau.

50-60 knots for about five hours or so. Not that uncommon for a Med storm. Of course the lack of a proper backing plate was probably a contributing factor, but still... to rip out like that? You'd figure the builder would beef up that area of the deck to prevent this sort of thing.

[Greg K]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Where are the backing plates?????

That’s an unbelievably poor cleat installation.

Folks, if you've never had a chance to look below deck at your cleats, I encourage you to do so. For those of you who own relatively new boats especially, it would be interesting to hear what you find under there.

When refitting our first cruising boat, a 1979 Cape Dory 36, I had a look below at the cleat backing plates. The CD36 is a relatively well built boat, but she had something like 1"x2" smallish aluminum tabs under all the cleat bolts. I replaced them all with large 1/4 inch aluminum plates.

It turned out to be one of the best upgrades I did on that boat before going cruising. Well worth the time and effort.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Greg K

Folks, if you've never had a chance to look below deck at your cleats, I encourage you to do so. For those of you who own relatively new boats especially, it would be interesting to hear what you find under there.

When refitting our first cruising boat, a 1979 Cape Dory 36, I had a look below at the cleat backing plates. The CD36 is a relatively well built boat, but she had something like 1"x2" smallish aluminum tabs under all the cleat bolts. I replaced them all with large 1/4 inch aluminum plates.

It turned out to be one of the best upgrades I did on that boat before going cruising. Well worth the time and effort.

I’m sorry to hear that your first boat was so poorly built. My previous boats all had 1/4” aluminum backing plates. Possibly installed by previous owners. They have all been older boats. My new custom boat has 1” balsa where cleats go (for compression strength) and 1/4” aluminum backing plates.


I guess this is one of the many reasons I’d never but a modern production boat. Too many upgrades required..

[Silverfox]

In addition to the sturdiness of the cleat mounting, another trend that surprises me is the increasing use of cleats without fairleads on modern designs. This means the load on the cleat is greater and not necessarily in a direction best managed by the cleat. but of course, it saves money and looks great!

[meirriba]

It seems to me that the lack of backing plate was not the cause of the issue. The small washers also seem to do their job.
The deck broke in a piece around the whole length of the cleat, the bolts were not ripped off!
So, IMHO, the issue is with the deck construction.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by meirriba

It seems to me that the lack of backing plate was not the cause of the issue. The small washers also seem to do their job.
The deck broke in a piece around the whole length of the cleat, the bolts were not ripped off!
So, IMHO, the issue is with the deck construction.

I believe what people are saying is that a backing plate would have spread the tension to more surface area.

I had a good old boat that went through a hurricane, and the cleats on the dock ripped out. The cleats on the boat were fine. Early 70s boats were built like tanks.