Special Mooring Challenge

[like2sail]

We will be mooring our 22 foot sailboat 30 feet from the end of a dock. How can I run lines from the boat and the mooring ball so that I can pull the boat into the dock to board it. And then how should I leave the lines so that I can sail back to the mooring, tie up, and yet pull the boat back to the dock, get off, and pull the boat out to the mooring
again and leave it secured at the mooring but connected to the dock.

I'm thinking - run a line from the bow of boat through a pulley attached to the mooring ball and back to the dock with extra line length. Run a line from each side of the stern to the dock but crisscross them. Will this be enough to hold the boat securely ?

Then pull in on the stern lines as I let out the bow line which will pull the boat into the dock for boarding.

Any other ideas or comments? Thanks for your help.

[sailaway21]

While you're buying your "pulley", pick up a 10'-2"x6". (it's a sheave)

[sailingdog]

Chafe is going to be a huge problem with the boat on a rope going through a block. If you had photos or a diagram, it would be easier to make suggestions for your situation.

You will definitely want to get the 10' 2"x6" as sailaway suggests, to use as a gangplank.

(sailaway, it's technically a block, not a sheave.. a sheave is a pulley inside a mast or boom, when it is outside of a spar, it is a block.)

[chris_gee]

You can run a line through a block on the buoy to the bow, the other end back to a pulley on the dock then to the stern. Both bow and stern fixed points. However you cannot leave the lines there permanently unless weighted and on the bottom. Otherwise you have to motor into the dock to make that attachment which gives you cleaner lines to handle. You need around 90' of line to allow the boat to swing. It also depends how much wind you have and what other boats are around. The boat may not move in a straight line.

[resdog]

Cheap dingy - no ropes.

[TrueBlue]

That setup is commonly used on boats moored off Dutch Harbor, Jamestown, RI. Problem is, they placed the transient dinghy dock adjacent to them - makes for some interesting dinghy docking in high winds, when going ashore while anchoring out.

[sailaway21]

Dog, it's a sheave no matter where it's located. Pulleys are found in erector sets.

[sailingdog]

Sailaway— I'm not arguing that the wheel-like section is called a sheave...but when it is not in a spar, the entire unit is called a block. Without the casing, a sheave by itself is fairly useless.

Def: Block—A wooden or metal case enclosing one or more pulleys and having a hook, eye, or strap by which it may be attached.

And pulley is an alternate word that means sheave.

Define: Pulley—The common, or layman's term for a grooved wheel. See Sheave.

Duh...

[hellosailor]

This is the PERFECT application for one of those $50 PVC inflatable boats. Get in, paddle out, good enough for the purpose.

[sailingdog]

The real concern I have is what happens to the line where it passes through the sheave of the block, either at the mooring buoy or at the dock. The wind and wave motion of the boat will probably cause the line to chafe, even with the block, and there's really no good way to put any sort of chafe protection on the rope in a block.

I think a dinghy would probably be safer. If you don't want to have to carry the dinghy on the boat... tie it to the mooring while you're out sailing... and then when you've tied back up to the mooring, untie the dinghy and use it to get back to the dock.