Chafe gear

[Gene T]

Twice in the last few months I have had to re-tie a boat on our dock that had a dock line chafe through. I am surprised how few boaters use them. I will admit I never used them much before but the marina I am in now has quite a bit of surge and heavy finger piers that float but don't move with the boat. There are also some stress points on this boat that will wear a line faster than it should.

I found an old dockline with 2 leather chafe guards on it. The line was chafed through and unusable but the areas with chafe gear was fine. I salvaged the leather chafe pieces and used them on my bow lines.


I found these on ebay and at $10/pr they are cheap, versatile and easy to install. Extending the life of dock lines makes sense to me to. LINE ARMOR™ Removable Chafe Guards



There are lots of other options, hose being used by many. I like the above options; leather for fixed locations and removable for temporary or just lazy use (much easier than stitching on the leather.)

What do you guys use and why?

Gene

[remetau]

I found that the canvas covers you got from eBay only last about 3 to 4 years down here in the Florida sun. I like to use old fire hose. Many fire stations have old hoses lying around and many are willing to give up some for free. About two years ago, I got around 40 feet of 4 inch hose for free. This is bigger than I would prefer, but it works great.

[pdqaltair]

Fire hose is free, but it's generally too big and stiff and doesn't fit chocks well. Rubber hose can wear the line.

I've used this for nearly 20 years:
Sail+Delmarva+chafe+gear+on+dock+line.jpg (image)
2-inch tubular webbing. Very smooth, and by that virtue, out-wears anything I've found. I've never gotten less than 12 years out of a dock line so protected.

There is more info on my blog.

[sailingdog]

I'd second using tubular webbing. IIRC, the second most common mode of failure for mooring, anchor and dock lines is internal friction/melting—the first is chafe.

If you use rubber or plastic hose, fire hose, or leather, the chafe protection can prevent water from getting to the line, allow heat to build up by trapping it. Using a woven chafe protector, like tubular webbing, will often allow water to get to the line, lubricating and cooling it.

[mawm]

The heat from stretching is important especially with nylon rode. I have home-made chafe guards from old sail cover canvas and velcro (similar to those illustrated above0, but switch to several layers of mutton cloth, wrapped around the anchor rode and held in place with cable ties, for the big blows as there is usaully accompanying rain to cool the line. Seems to work.

[LakePirate]

Originally Posted by pdqaltair

Fire hose is free, but it's generally too big and stiff and doesn't fit chocks well. Rubber hose can wear the line.

I've used this for nearly 20 years:
Sail+Delmarva+chafe+gear+on+dock+line.jpg (image)
2-inch tubular webbing. Very smooth, and by that virtue, out-wears anything I've found. I've never gotten less than 12 years out of a dock line so protected.

There is more info on my blog.

Where do you find these?

[sailingfool]

This stuff is real good:
Chafe Pro

Remember that any gear put on a line subject to movement needs to be secured in place or the movement will push the chafing gear out of the chock. I found that 2-3 cable ties on both ends did a good job.

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by sailingfool

This stuff is real good:
Chafe Pro

Remember that any gear put on a line subject to movement needs to be secured in place or the movement will push the chafing gear out of the chock. I found that 2-3 cable ties on both ends did a good job.

True.

* If the chafe gear is near a cleat, trapping it in the last turn of the cleat hitch is reliable.
* If the chafe gear is near a spliced eye, a small hole and a cable tie through the base of the eye is good.

I both cases, let the free end float - that will reduce wear.

Otherwise, 2-3 cables ties on each end, as stated.

[pdqaltair]

Originally Posted by LakePirate

Where do you find these?

I suggested looking on my blog. Also rock climbing stores.
Sail Delmarva: Anti-Chafe Gear