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How long should my spring lines be on a 26X? First time out and I bought two 25' docking lines, but my slip cleats are right about 26' apart, and I can't reach the opposite cleat on the boat. So for tonite I attached the forward spring line to the jib uh... friction holder thingy (still learning obviously) and the aft to a stanchion about 3/4 forward on the boat. Obviously neither of those attach points are ideal. I do have a bow and stern docking line attached also, and using mooring whips to standoff from the dock so there's not a lot of tension on these lines.

I'm thinking of seeing if West Marine will take the 25 footers back and I'll get the next length, I probably need at least 30', maybe more. Wish there was more than just a bow and stern cleat on the boat, maybe a mod for the near future.

Hi there,

I was taught the rule of thumb that spring lines ought to be the length of a vessel, whereas your bow and stern lines should be two thirds of it. 1/2 inch thickness should be sufficient for the size of our boats. Interested to hear what other Maccers think.

Fair winds,

Immo

My boat came with a couple of extra cleats that mount on the jib, or genny tracks. I don't use the cabin-top jib tracks, so I have mounted them there and use them for spring lines. I'm not sure where they can be purchased, but they are handy.



~Rich

Rich, that track mounted cleat is very cool. If you ever remember where you got one to fit the Macgregor size, I'd like to hear....

Doesn't the spring line you use there rub heavily on the top cabin edge?

R

Your winches are better places to attach dock lines than stanchions. They are designed for higher loads. The stanchions will bend or pull from deck if heavily loaded, which will be a mess to fix.

According to BoatUS, Spring lines should be 1.5X boat length. That seems a little long from my experience but longer will handle a few more situations. Somewhere between boat length + 5' and 1.5X boat length should do just fine.

You want a little longer than boat length for those "parallel parking" situations at fuel, restaurant, CG and harbor police docks so that you can go bow to a bit past stern or stern to a bit past bow to get your boat rotated to perpendicular by the spring line.

1/2" nylon is more than enough for a Mac--they aren't heavy boats. And ditto the advice to use the winches amidships especially when springing as it is the highest load that dock lines will ever place on a boat. I would not recommend powering against cleats mounted on tracks, but the winches will handle that stuff just fine (presuming that they've been replaced with wenches that aren't crap).

mastreb wrote:(presuming that they've been replaced with wenches that aren't crap).

Spring Lines are used in tidel waters and the amout of rise and drop determans the length. For a 3-5ft. drop in tide a line tied to bow cleat to a cleat on dock 25 ft. aft and stearn cleat to 25ft. to bow dock is plenty,just make sure your dock lines are loose enough for the drop or rise. Spring lines can also be used in rafting up with another boat and close quarters on a long Dock with boats very close togeather 3 strand rope 3/8 inch is best for streach as you don't want a low strech line.
Dave

ginks wrote:How long should my spring lines be on a 26X? First time out and I bought two 25' docking lines, but my slip cleats are right about 26' apart, and I can't reach the opposite cleat on the boat. So for tonite I attached the forward spring line to the jib uh... friction holder thingy (still learning obviously) and the aft to a stanchion about 3/4 forward on the boat. Obviously neither of those attach points are ideal. I do have a bow and stern docking line attached also, and using mooring whips to standoff from the dock so there's not a lot of tension on these lines.

I'm thinking of seeing if West Marine will take the 25 footers back and I'll get the next length, I probably need at least 30', maybe more. Wish there was more than just a bow and stern cleat on the boat, maybe a mod for the near future.

Crikey wrote:

mastreb wrote:(presuming that they've been replaced with wenches that aren't crap).

Yeah, I saw that too, but wasn't gonna say anything!