CLEATS: What size you got? How strong, what fasteners, etc.

[BigBeakie]

Decided on our new cat to go with Vetus Taurus07 with the 3 x 10mm 316 bolts through fibre solids deck re-enforcement & backed with SS plates.


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[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I think this is a good point often overlooked. Cleats should be strong enough to allow the boat to be pulled off a grounding in an emergency. It is not enough just to design them for anchoring loads. Occasionally boats need to be dragged with a great deal of force. Even if this causes damage to the hull, rudder prop etc. It can sometimes be a better option than leaving the boat in place, perhaps to be destroyed completely.

Many modern boats do not have an attachment point strong enough for this. It may be possible to rig up a bridle distributing the load between several cleats and perhaps the winches, and even the mast, itself but this would take some time. It would also be very hard to distribute the load evenly so the strength may still be inadequate.

I am in violent agreement with you and Uncivilized, and this is actually one of my boat design pet peeves.

And I think that inadequate cleats are the tip of the iceberg with structures which are basically inadequate to deal with unusual or even usual loads. I have seen modern production boats sagging or hogging in the slings of a travel lift -- horrifying. How many cleats have we seen which are attached just to the deck (not the hull-deck joint) and backed by nothing but washers. Awful.

In my opinion, you should be able to lift the whole boat out of the water by the cleats without a second thought. In my opinion, an equally strong samson post, tied into the main structure of the boat, is also a must. All this of course is much easier to realize on a metal boat, but no excuse for designers of plastic boats -- they just have to try a little harder.


As to my present boat -- like other structural features of this boat, the cleats are pretty good for a plastic boat. They are bolted through the hull-deck joint with quite massive bolts and big backing plates. Cleats themselves, and there are 8 of them, are 12" long, and they are fabricated from heavy stainless tubing. The designer confirmed that the stern cleats are strong enough for a Jordan series drogue and so no special chainplates are needed.

The cleats are just a little small for the size dock lines I use, but the biggest problem is the lack of decent fairleads. My next boat will have really good roller fairleads, including fairleads aft for stern anchor or drogue, and fairleads at the primary winches for warping with them (something I do often). I also want a windlass with a warping drum on it for warping at the bow.

On the plus side, the cleats are shaped perfectly to use as fairleads for preventers, barber haulers, etc., and there are 8 of them, so two sets of midship cleats, which is really useful.