Infinite Dock Line Possibilities!

[brainstormers]

Last fall at the Annapolis show, I found a whole 300'' spool of gorgeous brand-new royal blue double-braided 1" diameter dockline at Bacon''s for a price I couldn''t pass up (60 cents/foot!). I do my own eye splices, and am now looking at all this virginal line and trying to decide exactly how I want to carve it up.

I wouldn''t mind some opinions of veteren Caribbean heavy-displacement folks as to what they''ve found most useful when docking down there. Of course, I will anchor or moor more often than dock, but when the time comes I hope not to say, "damn, if only I had left another ten feet on this thing!"

Of course part of the equation will be Diva''s length and girth: 59 LOA, 53 LOD, 15 beam, and her decks sit 5-6 feet above the waterline.

Whaddaya think? Simply go with (6) 50-footers (probably more like 48s after the splices)? Or leave two longer for spring lines and make (4) equal-length shorter ones? Or three pairs of graduated-length? Or...two great honkin'' 150 footers?? Hell, I could leave it alone, whip the ends and have one helluva hawser too!

I suppose this could have more to do with various tying-up philosophies, which I wouldn''t mind hearing also.

[WHOOSH]

We did just about the entire Caribbean using 50'' docklines (for our 42''/13M boat) altho'', as you point out, docking was not the norm. More recently, when replacing these lines this winter, I chose to move up to 2 x 50'' and 2 x 60'' lines because some of the lock & docking scenarios we''ve found in Europe (where one docks much more often) have been more demanding of the occasional l-o-n-g dockline.

Given your longer deck but also presuming heavy spring cleats, my rec would be 60'' +/-.

Jack

[elhanley]

Firstly, I am sold on a standard arrangement comprising fore and aft breast lines, each about the boat''s loa, plus bow and stern lines each about your max beam. I can''t remember this ever being too short. Springs running the length of the boat or more are awkward and a waste of rope. Keep the balance in one piece for towline or anchor rode. Laid nylon is better for all these purposes, but I would not have passed up the deal you got, either.