Damage to boat when rafting by others

[rsn48]

I kind of have a basic mistrust of rafting up in marinas when visiting. I'm always wondering about the damage done to my boat if I'm away from my boat when the inside boat owner decides he wants to leave.

Have any of your experienced damage to your boat due to others moving your boat around as they leave the marina?

 

[AlanT]

I kind of have a basic mistrust of rafting up in marinas when visiting. I'm always wondering about the damage done to my boat if I'm away from my boat when the inside boat owner decides he wants to leave.

Have any of your experienced damage to your boat due to others moving your boat around as they leave the marina?

On the many occasions we have rafted outside other boats, or been rafted to we always have a discussion with the rafter/raftee to discuss when each party is planning to leave, and also exchange phone numbers. We therefore plan to be present when a move takes place (this is mandatory with larger vessels anyway). So far it has worked out very well and we have met interesting people along the way.
~A

 

[Comodave]

On the many occasions we have rafted outside other boats, or been rafted to we always have a discussion with the rafter/raftee to discuss when each party is planning to leave, and also exchange phone numbers. We therefore plan to be present when a move takes place (this is mandatory with larger vessels anyway). So far it has worked out very well and we have met interesting people along the way.
~A

What he said.

 

[Shrew]

Usually the boats on the inside are the ones with the longest stay. It is uncommon, to raft 5 boats out, when the inside boat is departing in the next day or so. They usually calculate the boats by their departure time. If you have 5 boats leaving on the same day, and the inside boat wants to leave first......they may simply need to wait. If this is really a concern, don't patronize marinas that raft out transient boats.

 

[w8n4sun]

We avoid putting ourselves in this position, we only raft to and with friends. Don't like the idea of someone else coming in to raft to us, nor having strangers walk on our boat. I'd rather pay the moorage rate and not have to deal with this.

 

[AlanT]

On the many occasions we have rafted outside other boats, or been rafted to we always have a discussion with the rafter/raftee to discuss when each party is planning to leave, and also exchange phone numbers. We therefore plan to be present when a move takes place (this is mandatory with larger vessels anyway). So far it has worked out very well and we have met interesting people along the way.
~A

Here's a picture of us (Moonstruck Hylas 49') rafted 3 out at Horta, The Azores during an Atlantic crossing. Most everyone in the harbor was rafted, which did cause havoc shortly prior to our arrival when a major storm clipped the Islands.

 

[kthoennes]

This topic always reminds me of this YouTube video. I'm not entirely clear what's happening but seems to get tense around 2:00 on the video slider.

 

[O C Diver]

With extremely rare exception, I don't raft at docks. If I do, there is only one other boat. While having a smaller boat rafting off of me is usually fairly safe and benign, being sandwiched between a fix dock and a much larger boat or several boats, would make me extremely uncomfortable.

Ted

 

[Arc]

This topic always reminds me of this YouTube video. I'm not entirely clear what's happening but seems to get tense around 2:00 on the video slider.

I will explain. This is just inside Fire Island inlet. NY. It’s a cove just inside the inlet with a thumb of sand an a few rocks that block it from the tidal flow. When the tide is in coming you are protected ok. When the tide changes it tends to sweep along the cove and then head out. Current can be as much as 5kn. These boats were unattended with most on the beach. The tide changed and those boats were heading out to sea. Very dangerous situation

 

[Arc]

Usually the boats on the inside are the ones with the longest stay. It is uncommon, to raft 5 boats out, when the inside boat is departing in the next day or so. They usually calculate the boats by their departure time. If you have 5 boats leaving on the same day, and the inside boat wants to leave first......they may simply need to wait. If this is really a concern, don't patronize marinas that raft out transient boats.

Have you ever visited Block Island? They will raft a 66’ Hatteras to a 19’ Whaler

 

[twistedtree]

And people wonder why marine insurance is expensive....That's what you are insuring....

 

[cappy208]

Reminds me why I like to anchor.

When I do have to raft I put three fenders on each side. And always put my own line to the mooring shackle on the ball.

I have come back with a nice black streak down the hull from a plastic rubrail. Scotchbrite pad took care of that. Usually I am the first one on a mooring and the first one to leave. As I don’t overnight with others (don’t play well in the sandbox with others). Especially after closing time.

 

[jleonard]

Have you ever visited Block Island? They will raft a 66’ Hatteras to a 19’ Whaler

I'd have to say that the crew at Paine's are experts in rafting.

 

[ancora]

We're having a 17 boat Halloween raft-up in October with our yacht club. One boat puts out a bow anchor while the next boat lays out a stern anchor, and so on. No one can leave the raft-up unless it is a medical emergency. In twenty eight years of rafting-up, it has only happened one time, due to food poisoning.

 

[FWT]

Just say no?

 

[AlanT]

Reminds me why I like to anchor.

When I do have to raft I put three fenders on each side. And always put my own line to the mooring shackle on the ball.

I have come back with a nice black streak down the hull from a plastic rubrail. Scotchbrite pad took care of that. Usually I am the first one on a mooring and the first one to leave. As I don’t overnight with others (don’t play well in the sandbox with others). Especially after closing time.

I wasn't actually thinking of rafting on a mooring or at anchor since the OP only questioned rafting in a marina. I have never come across rafting on a mooring, and at anchor I would think one would only raft with friends. My earlier comments were therefore directed towards rafting in Harbors (or marinas I suppose, although I have more often faced this in unimproved harbors where there is limited wall space for cruising vessels). I would have all kinds of problems overloading a mooring whose integrity is an unknown. In fact I haven't used a mooring on any boat since I got a windlass.
~A

 

[FWT]

I'm trying to picture being rafted on a wall with no electrical plug in, needing power, and running a generator in such close quarters when others can't.

Not safe. No power isn't acceptable. And so forth.

 

[kthoennes]

My Dad lives in Stuart FL where rafting up is pretty common in some areas, but it's not something I'd ever want to do. We spent one night on a charter rafted up to a second sailboat in Chuckanut Bay in Bellingham and I worried all night -- chafing, tangled rigging if it got windy, twisted anchor lines, more weight on the anchor line. Of course that was sail, not power, but still. But then I suppose to some degree you pick your poison in tight or crowded anchorages, mooring fields swinging with the tides, etc. I didn't sleep in Mark Bay near Nanaimo in a crowded field either and had the anchor watch set for about 12 inches on my phone.

 

[BandB]

I'd never raft at a marina by choice. However, have rafted many times in locks and on this trip in Europe have had a few occasions where rafting was mandatory. However, on those occasions it was well planned and logical with boats well equipped and protected and arranged intelligently, so presented no problems. So, I'd avoid ill prepared rafting like the plague, would never raft at anchor in some party attempt, but am ok with well thought out rafting. We are not good rafting partners because we do go to and from land from the boat a lot.

 

[AlanT]

I'm trying to picture being rafted on a wall with no electrical plug in, needing power, and running a generator in such close quarters when others can't.

Not safe. No power isn't acceptable. And so forth.

A couple more rafting pictures. Rafted without power in Eastern Italy in a harbor, outside a British Westerly. No option other than rafting or leaving and heading further up the coast. Met a lovely couple on their wedding day as they were being photographed. All in all a great experience. Of course having a boat that doesn't need external (or genset) power for a few days makes all the difference.

 

[AlanT]

I'd never raft at a marina by choice. However, have rafted many times in locks and on this trip in Europe have had a few occasions where rafting was mandatory. However, on those occasions it was well planned and logical with boats well equipped and protected and arranged intelligently, so presented no problems. So, I'd avoid ill prepared rafting like the plague, would never raft at anchor in some party attempt, but am ok with well thought out rafting. We are not good rafting partners because we do go to and from land from the boat a lot.

+1

 

[dhays]

I have rafted in BC at docks. Usually this is rafting next to commercial boats as the marina attempts to accommodate the seasonal recreational boaters. Never had an issue. Rafting at a marina isn't my first choice, but there often can be little options.

 

[skyhawk]

I was wondering about this very topic this past weekend.
Wife and I were at a water front restaurant in the ICW. We were there by car not boat.
These were all small open boats, not liveaboard...although a few were some monster 600 HP and 900 HP multi-outboard center consoles.....
but this was a busy place and pretty much every spot along their dock was two boats deep.

I've never taken my small boats anywhere like that where I needed to raft along a dock, but it made me wonder about the protocol for such a thing...if nobody is aboard the boat tied to the pier, is it considered kosher to just tie up to their boat?
And if I did...they would have no clear way to contact me if I'm mid-meal and they are ready to go....other than perhaps if I write my cell phone number on a sign in the window.
I don't know...it all just seemed sketchy to me.

 

[rsn48]

The reason I raised this topic is though my boat is in Comox BC, I am a French Creek Marina groupie, this was especially true when my boat was in for a nearly two year refit. French Creek is just a five minute drive from my home.

The French Creek Marina is primarily a commercial fishing dock but there are also many pleasure boat spots for moorage. But if you visit the marina overnight in the summer with your boat, odds are excellent to certain you will be rafted up. And I have watched folks try to take their boat on the inside out to cruise as they manipulate the outside boat around. Most are quite good at it and are very conscious of the need to move the visiting boat beside them gingerly back into the now vacant spot.

But I have also occasionally watched as the outside boat was almost lost as those handling the lines weren't really paying attention to what they were doing. The busiest time for this marina is during the short herring season sometime in March. Lots of commercial boats in and out as the fish drop location is also at the marina. And the visiting sea lions know it.

 

[Ddog]

I kind of have a basic mistrust of rafting up in marinas when visiting. I'm always wondering about the damage done to my boat if I'm away from my boat when the inside boat owner decides he wants to leave.

Have any of your experienced damage to your boat due to others moving your boat around as they leave the marina?

Hey rsn48,
I’ve been rafting up at your local marina for 10 years and have not suffered any damage, just a few streaks of dirty bumper crud that cleans off easily. Marinas such as this are not for boaters that stress over a scuff on their gel-coat or dirty boot prints on deck.
The main issue that causes me to check the boat every couple of days is to check if the boat is still tied up properly, due to many boaters not understanding the basics of this. I also use Scotsman’s as well as bumpers so I am well protected from boats with too small or popped bumpers.
Most boaters are considerate of others boats in my experience, although I have heard it is a bit of a sh*t show during the commercial herring opening (I take my boat out in the winter months).

 

[ancora]

A Memorial Day yacht club raft-up.

 

[Circumnavigator]

I've never had to raft in the States, but on both of our trips across the Atlantic, we rafted in the Azores as there were far more boats than dock space. Here's Fintry at Horta in 2005. The marina was very intelligent about it -- attempting to make certain problems didn't happen. And, of course, conversations with your neighbors are essential.


Jim

 

[Hippocampus]

Other when forced to won’t raft and then only to commercial craft. Don’t appreciate the lack of privacy and additional worries. Will admit a rafting of zillions of dinghies together at one of the salty Dawg Caribbean functions was great fun but beyond that just not my thing.

 

[rsn48]

Hey rsn48,
I’ve been rafting up at your local marina for 10 years and have not suffered any damage, just a few streaks of dirty bumper crud that cleans off easily. Marinas such as this are not for boaters that stress over a scuff on their gel-coat or dirty boot prints on deck.

Then I have walked by your boat many times as I strolled the various areas. My usual was to park beside the coast guard building, eat snacks, watch boats in and out, as you know, the pleasure fisherman are the most active of all the "types" in the marina. Often will sit by the "put in area" and watch the occasional show, and oh yes, take many a nap, my favourite being during storms much like we've had in the past couple of days. And during herring season and the visitation of so many sea lions, happy my house in the Eaglecrest area is far enough away that I can barely here the sea lions barking at night.

 

[Ddog]

Hey rsn48,
I’ve been rafting up at your local marina for 10 years and have not suffered any damage, just a few streaks of dirty bumper crud that cleans off easily. Marinas such as this are not for boaters that stress over a scuff on their gel-coat or dirty boot prints on deck.

Then I have walked by your boat many times as I strolled the various areas. My usual was to park beside the coast guard building, eat snacks, watch boats in and out, as you know, the pleasure fisherman are the most active of all the "types" in the marina. Often will sit by the "put in area" and watch the occasional show, and oh yes, take many a nap, my favourite being during storms much like we've had in the past couple of days. And during herring season and the visitation of so many sea lions, happy my house in the Eaglecrest area is far enough away that I can barely here the sea lions barking at night.

Yes government docks can be very entertaining and are usually our preference over yacht club docks when we are out cruising.