Stern tie - I need your opinion

Capt Dan wrote:

Only book better would be London's* "Sea Wolf",* But no dog in that one that I remember

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Have to go to "The Call Of The Wild" for the canine.

*

We also have a grapping hook?* The shop made them for use as we keep dropping things in the water.* )-;* *Maybe throw a grapping hook as a temporary bases?* It would seem if you*spliced a line with a loop at each end that went around the tree, the long main line went through, you could pull the main line in and leave the one around the tree for others or future use.*

We usually grandchildren with us and they are easier to train/teach than a dog!* (0:* ******


-- Edited by Phil Fill on Monday 29th of November 2010 12:32:10 PM

Marin wrote:

If you read Farley Mowat's The Boat Who Wouldn't Float you'll find that there is a breed of dog that will do just that for you. I forget the name of the breed--- it's not the Portugese Water Dog--- but it's unique in the Canadian Maritimes. Among other things they would jump into the water after a boat launching and retrieve all the wooden blocks and wedges that had been used to keep the boat level in its cradle that floated free when the hull lifted off the cradle. From Farley's description, they are pretty remarkable dogs.

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A PWD will retrieve many*items in the water and bring them back to the boat.* In fact one of the exercises being considered for the upper most title in their water work is to retrieve a floating boat oar and swim it back to the boat that lost it.

They*presently retrieve float lines from shore and bring them back to the boat as well as retrieving float balls and float lines with nets attached.* All of these are presently*done in their working dog title exercises.*

So swimming a line to shore and taking it around a tree and*then returning the bitter end to the boat*may not be*beyond their capabilities.*The trick will be to get the dog to pick the correct*size tree.

When we start to training again this spring I'll suggest it to a couple of the trainers and see what they can come up with.*

My first choice would be the Mermaid.* Wonder if she hires out.* Won't make any difference the Admiral wouldn't allow it anyway.* Better train the Portie.


-- Edited by JD on Tuesday 30th of November 2010 09:44:53 AM

The Chesapeake Bay Retriever comes to mind. The purpose they were bread for was for line handling. Maybe this is the dog y'all speak of....very smart and very eager to work!!!

-- Edited by Baker on Tuesday 30th of November 2010 10:10:38 AM

I'm from Newfoundland and as a kid I had a st Johns dog.

Couldn't take a dory out without o'l Caplin. One of my chors was to feed the sled dogs . We did this by using a trident on a long pole that we used to stab flounders on the bottom. We would toss them into the dog pen and the sled dogs would eat them. Caplin would swim round and round the dory as we worked.
If you dropped something in the water he would jump right*off the warf*and get it for you. He also became quite adept at retreving the errant flounder that got off the trident sometimes diving to the bottom in 6 or 8 ft of water to get them.

He came to a sad end as a Mountie shot him for running loose.
He didn't have to do that he shot him beside the front porch.
Haven't had much respect for the RCMP since then.

SD*

-- Edited by skipperdude on Tuesday 30th of November 2010 12:16:29 PM

I thought you might be interested in a*product that totally simplifies stern tying. Check out www.clearmarine.com and look for stern tie systems (there is a video). These guys also manufacture*an anti-chafing device, that may address your initial concern (not sure if its on the website or not). Hope you enjoy it!

Now if Clear Marine could find some sea-going cowboy who knew the proper way to make a line off on a cleat,* they might have something.

Waterdogs wrote:

I thought you might be interested in a*product that totally simplifies stern tying. Check out www.clearmarine.com and look for stern tie systems (there is a video). These guys also manufacture*an anti-chafing device, that may address your initial concern (not sure if its on the website or not). Hope you enjoy it!* (my bold)

*

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From the site newsletter..."Jeff Fehr, the new CEO of Clear Marine".* Coincidence that Waterdogs lists his name as Jeff Fehr?* I'm not knocking the product, although it seems a little overkill, but I detest dishonesty.

*

Okay, so somebody 'splain to me what the big whoop is with this "Clearmarine" stern-tie thing. You still have to go ashore with the line. You still have to run it through the ring or around the rock or whatever. You still have to get the bitter end of the line back to the boat.

The only advantage I see is that dinghy person doesn't have to take the end of the line back to the boat. Boat person (assuming there is one) can reel the end of the line back to the boat him/herself. But since dinghy person still has to go back to the boat anyway, why not simply take the bitter end of the stern line back with them?

I've rigged stern lines several times and to date I have not found it particulary challenging to take the end of the line back to the boat in the dinghy. But perhaps I've been leading a sheltered life. Perhaps taking the bitter end of the line back to the boat in the dinghy is in fact frought with dangers-- sudden, dinghy-sucking whirlpools or attacks by furious river otters for example.

But let's say a boater is totally enamored of the notion of pulling the bitter end of the stern line back to the boat from the boat. Fine, all you need is a light line--- string even--- long enough to reach the shore. Dinghy person takes the ends of the stern line and the string ashore, fastens them togeher, and boat person pulls the string in and hence the bitter end of the stern line.

This business of stacked reels on a stainless frame is just silly in my mind. Talk about technology for technology's sake. I'm surprised it doesn't have the Microsoft logo on it since Microsoft is the company that has perfected the art of dumping all sorts of useless crap on its users under the motto, "Because we can."

I'm sure there are boaters out there who will hock up the several hundred dollars this thing probably costs. Mr. Fehr probably laughs all the way to the bank every time he gets an order.

And in the time it took the two people in the video to deploy and use this rig, I suspect most boaters on this forum could have designed and constructed a dock complete with driven piles and a nice bullrail and so wouldn't need a stern line anyway.

Marin,

I love you man!** You hit the nail on the head,* drove it home with one hit.*** WOW

LOL,** laughing out loud!

I don't think there is much market for that rig,* ie,* not much banking.

Dan

I do see one advantage to this dual reel setup, and that is bringing the bitter end back to the mothership. Usually our stern ties are around rough trees or barnacled rocks, and when the bitter end is being pulled back to the boat via the dinghy, if you haven't coiled enough slack to get you back, those last few feet will give more entertainment to your neighbours than you can possibly imagine! Especially if you are rowing.

Be nonchalant and act like nothing is unusual/unexpected.* Tie the bitter end to the boat/shore line, proceed to the boat, let out more anchor rode (or get more rope), then return to take the bitter end to the boat.* Deny observors any ranting and raving.

Better yet,**

While you are having trouble getting back to the stern of the boat,* stop and chat with a neighboring boat,** maybe even have a cocktail with them,** further backing your non-challance.**

All the while your boat,* partially anchored swings wildly away from shore.

Carry a pen with you , as when you do get back to the boat,* partially inebriated,* you will probably be met with divorce papers.

Once aboard,* follow with more drink.

Dan

Now you're getting to part of the reason that I started this thread - the chafe gear. I'm one of those who take the stern tie to shore and back so that I can simply release the tie from the cleat on the ship and just stay aboard and real it all back in.

My question regarding the chafe gear was in finding something that would slide on the stern tie rope while staying in position on the rock or tree. Rings I have no problem with as the rope slides fine on its own. Most trees are the same but I like to position a chafe guard more for the tree bark protection. Rocks and logs with barnacles are my concern here.

I use to use a old piece of (white) ~1 1/2 hose. It worked great - with regard to sliding the line. I would get ashore and coil what I thought I'd need to get back and if I was short I could easily pull some extra line through it to get back to the boat in my old dink (rowing). Problem was that If I put something at the bitter end to get the hose home it caused the end to sink, often times catching on something. So my question to all here was if anyone came across a hose material that has (on the inside of the hose) a very low viscosity material that would allow for a "slightly smaller diameter rope" to pass through easily?

The bitter end of the rope is whipped without a thimble - into the size of a small loop so that I can pass a carabineer through the loop and also use the shore tie line as the dingy painter. Then when I do the stern tie I remove the carabineer so that it doesn't snag. My goal is to find a hose small enough that the whipping would not pass through.

For those who don't stern tie, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into the world you're missing!

Here it is GA style!


boat furthest to port is our previous sedan....little bit different style boat than our trawler!

Great image Woodsong! Was the raft also hanging off a single anchor?*

I failed to mention that my photo was taken in Pendrell Sound while I was searching for Keith's elusive mermaid. Just have to go back next summer I guess.