Placing Cleats On Dock

[kartracer]

We have finished building our new dock. We have a 45ft boat, how do you tell where and how many cleats to put. Ropes will stay on dock when boat not there. Boat will only be tied on one side.

 

[bilge53]

Do you have tall pilings?

 

[caltexflanc]

You can't have too many cleats.

 

[Nomad Willy]

HaHa cal,
You can have too much of anything. Any more than five would be a waste of money and time spent. Or a tripping hazard.

Two spring lines a midship line and a bow and stern line. That's it.

 

[High Wire]

X2 for tying to pilings vs cleats.

 

[dhays]

Depending on the configuration of you dock I would say 4. If the dock makes an angle, i.e. You have a dock at the bow or stern as well then a couple there as well.

Never tied to pilings. With 15' tide changes that doesn't end up well. Your area is likely different.

On the cleats, thru bolt them. Don't screw them in.

 

[psneeld]

Floating or fixed?

Tide range?

Point of boarding?

Hurricane hole or will the boat be moved? How protected if staying?

 

[kartracer]

Straight bulkhead no pilings, fixed, tide 2ft, very well protected behind my house. My question is should dock cleats be even with boat cleats, or how far from back and front of boat should they be.

 

[menzies]

I would add four to the side the boat will be tied to and at least another two to the opposite side of the dock for doubling up when there is a storm forecast.

 

[menzies]

Straight bulkhead no pilings, fixed, tide 2ft, very well protected behind my house. My question is should dock cleats be even with boat cleats, or how far from back and front of boat should they be.

Put one at each end of the dock. Then the other two equal spaced along the dock.

 

[O C Diver]

Just like anchors: They're too small and you don't have enough of them.

Ted

 

[psneeld]

I would place one fore and aft of the ends of the boat by about 6 feet and one near the middle for an aft bow spring and a forward after spring.

Unless that is going to interfere with boarding...then place a couple where they won't interfere for the 2 springs.

How are you going to attach? Lags don't last too long if there is much upward pull on the cleats....they work loose pretty quick all too often.

 

[koliver]

You say the boat's lines stay with the dock.
Therefore, your cleats are for other lines, as those ones will be attached permanently in some other fashion, with the free end to be tied on the boat or if you splice eyes in them, dropped over cleats on the boat.
For visitors, you will need a cleat at each end of the dock and one or two more, evenly spaced to accept their lines.

 

[cappy208]

You have to take into account several issues.

The First is: The strength of the dock.

Second: The Length of the boat in relation to the available dock mooring area.

Third: the range of tide. (this has to include the amount of time you WON'T be there to tend lines in a storm)


Your Lines must be made fast to substantial dock fixtures. Whether it is cleats, bollards or Pilings is up to you. The more substantial the fixture the more serenely you sleep as the wind howls.

From a practical aspect: The boat has three ranges of motion you have to account for.

These types of movement require two distinct types of lines.

Spring lines and Breast lines.

Spring lines are almost parallel to the boat. These prevent 'ranging' up and down the length of the dock.


Breast lines are almost sideways. These prevent 'surging' on and off the dock.

But in NO case are these lines simply straight across to the dock.

They all must be led at an angle to allow for the tide height as well as the wind/current.

From my experience NO line (with a 2' tide range) should have less than a 6' length from boat to dock. Probably more like 8'!

I would also heavily consider an offshore line (to prevent dock side damage) from either an anchor or another fixture to pull the boat away from the dock.

 

[markpierce]

Have three cleats in each side of the berth. Works OK but I'd prefer four.

 

[FF]

Fasten to what is under the deck boards , use BOLTS not screwes.

Extra cleats are fine as it gives a place for extra fenders , useful even on a fully faced dock.

Your boat is there now , in a few years the next owner will love the ability to tie his .

We have almost 200ft of dock, no cleats just tie to the posts every 8 ft or so.

Other folks in the area bolt cleats to the pilings as many visitors no longer know how to tie to a piling.

 

[jleonard]

I like my bow and stern cleats to be even with the boat's cleats or hawse holes, whichever applies. Then fore and aft spring cleats perhaps 1/3 to 1/2 the boat length.
Long lags into the dock supports (2x10 etc) will be fine. That's how our marina is built and they are dock builders. That's their business.

 

[Donsan]

Have seen a lot of docks destroyed by tropical storms including my own. The pilings usually survive but not always. I would suggest putting the cleats on the pilings. They won't save your boat but likely will be there when you bring it back.

 

[psneeld]

There are many ways to tie up a vessel adequately.

Some using just lines, even ways where the number of lines vary .

Using devices other than just lines like tide sliders also can alter the equation.

I find some have very specific concepts of how it should be done and others much more relaxed about it yet the vessel rides fine both ways.

Picking your line use will probably determine the cleat placement rather than the other way around.

A good example would be the stern line. In many situations the vessel may use the near bulkhead cleat yet in other situations or vessel layouts, the outboard stern cleat may do a better job.

A lot of variables to consider.

 

[psneeld]

Straight bulkhead no pilings, fixed, tide 2ft, very well protected behind my house. My question is should dock cleats be even with boat cleats, or how far from back and front of boat should they be.

Just to refresh the basic info.....

And as a final for me.... I stand by my first suggestion and it is similar to cappy's so placing the cleats further out to 8 feet beyond the boats cleats/hawseholes/ends is great too. For a 2 foot tide, the shape of the vessel could easily increase or decrease those lengths by a bit, but around there.....probably fine. Yet too far and the angles make it more difficult to keep the vessel nearer the bulkhead.

 

[FF]

In our Hurricane Hole location we still try to relieve the dock loads in season.

This is done by using "pins" ,,6 or 7 ft long 8 inch piling cut offs located on shore about 20-30 ft from the water edge.

These are dug in till only about a foot is visible.

By securing to the pins fore and aft , and crossing extra lines much of the gust loading can be absorbed.

Old anchor line is used as many line lengths are boat long , plus the land poerton.

About 4 100ft lines are the norm , heavy being better for less initial stretch.