Quote:
Originally Posted by uschisk
We looked out at our dock in the middle of summer to see our own boat apparently untied at the stern. I ran down and the cleat had come detached on the boat! Pretty scary, at least we noticed it before there was any damage; but how often does that happen?
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That IS a scary thing to have happen. We rent a cabin for a couple of weeks with no rub protection at all on the dock. We were up Labor Day week and there were several extremely rough days with the wind coming from the northwest. The fetch were we are, off of Smith Point, produced some potentially damaging waves for a docked boat. I had planned for this trip and had purchased a 12" mooring ball to cushion the boat off the dock and used "dock buddies" bow and stern to prevent that punishing jerking of the lines to the cleats. I found they worked great relieving the strain and I backed them up with the regular lines because they could break. (see picture) That Thursday night after Labor Day the boat was bucking up and down like Gallopin' Gertie, but rode it out with no damage at all. If you don't have a lift, whips or a mooring, they could be a good alternative.