Docks with just posts - singlehanded

[thinwater]

Floating dock seems better, until you learn how to dock. Then you realize they are MUCH better with the weather turns rough or the ice comes. Too often they give you a long finger instead of a dolphin to tie to, which results in rubbing 24/7/365. No thank you. and when winter comes there is more trouble.

I single hand most of the time, and when I have crew, I'm still usually docking solo. Not a big deal after a while. In addition to all of the good advice, I suggest setting 30 minutes to just practice your next few visits. No body every learned anything well by doing it once every few weeks for 2 minutes. Focused practice will force you to focus on what you can do better.

[MarkJ]

Pole marinas are really only in the USA.

They are the only thing that sends a shudder up my spine and I have not heard a coherent method of getting in... Read Snores post: he says its easy but then speaks in hieroglyphics so I can't understand.

The worst thing for the singlehander is coming in for the first time, and for most cruisers each marina is a first time.

Certainly a single hander can't do 4 points at once so... try to ask for a slip with bow into the wind. Get your bow windward rope on (that should be a throw to a dockhand) and your stern windward pole on. Then you can sort out the rest.

But how you get the stern windward pole on is the trick. I have had the line running forward to amidships so when going forward to do the now I can drop it over the aft pole. But that supposes u still have way on.

Take it slow, plenty of fenders, and be prepared to cancel the booking and go anchor if the won't give you a good enough spot.

[Stu Jackson]

I've reread this twice. It appears most of the very good and helpful answers are essentially about how to set it up AFTER you "own" the slip.

I may have been mistaken, but I appreciated the OP to be more of "How do I tie up singlehanded for the first time and/or when I keep visiting other harbors than my own with this setup."

Call me clueless if it is in the answers somewhere.

But I'd love to learn how one does it singlehanded the first time, other than waiting for no wind, no current days.

Is it simply a matter of lassoing the lee aft piling and going from there?

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I've reread this twice. It appears most of the very good and helpful answers are essentially about how to set it up AFTER you "own" the slip.
But I'd love to learn how one does it singlehanded the first time, other than waiting for no wind, no current days.

Is it simply a matter of lassoing the lee aft piling and going from there?

I tried to spell it out. Use your engine to dead stop in the slip. The key is driving under power. Once you make your turn between the piles you only need minimum headway so quickly reverse to come to dead slow. Overcorrecting is no problem. If she starts backing goose it in forward to stop and reverse the movement. I think if you play a while you will find its easy. Prop walk is no issue for brief bursts and with practice you can get fine speed control. You may need the motor running to offset a tide or strong head or stern wind. Use your boat hook to drop a loop on the rear lee pile. Drop a bumper and pull tight to the nearest cockpit cleat. This is a temporary line you will remove after you set your spring lines. Now your boat can only swing. The rest is no pressure, kill your engine, take a line from a stern cleat to a forward pile and drop a loop or lasso. Take another line from a bow cleat back to the stern pile. Repeat on the up wind side, remove your initial line and adjust your spring lines to position your boat and allow for tidal movement. I find fenders hung sideways on piles work best for me and have sometimes driven a nail into the side of a pile to get the right fender height.

[JPA Cate]

never been in there before..... singlehanded.....

I'd try to work it out based on UNCIVILIZED's method. Set up all your lines first, then fenders (one for the bow where it might strike the dock would be good, too). Then go do a drive by, and look at it, and estimate the lengths needed, go back out, then come back in with everything ready to do. Set up both the port and starboard springs.

If it's a marina, they may have someone who can help you with your lines if you're singlehanded. It is reasonable to request this assistance. And they can help you with the problem of getting ashore. It may be tricky to attach the embarcation line to the dock from the boat. You might have to motor up to get close enough.

The spring from the bow cleat to the windward stern pole should be led aft to where you - at the helm - just step up and drop it over the stern windward pole as you enter. It is your "brakes." Now, slow the boat and put the transmission in neutral. Walk forward with your spring from the aft cleat and snag the windward forward pole, as the boat slows. It helps if the loops on the line are extra large.

Now, if it gets all messed up, first time, you know, and you shouldn't expect to be perfect, you could definitely use the lie against the leeward piling method, if you have rubbing strakes.

Now, personally, I consider lassoing to be an advanced method, you have to practice to get the loop to stay open, and generally, lasso rope is not well suited to dock lines, although dock lines can be made to behave like a lasso.

Ann

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

I tried to spell it out. Use your engine to dead stop in the slip. The key is driving under power. .....................
.........................................
...................................
Use your boat hook to drop a loop on the rear lee pile.

Dave, thanks, didn't mean to make you retype your earlier post. The bold seems to be the key.

Thanks.

[Lepke]

I solo often except on long voyages. It's planning. Having your lines ready and predicting weather and current effects on your boat. And when I was young, watching lots of other skippers dock. In some cases, learning what is the wrong way.

[Scaramanga F25]

You will learn. A SS capped rub rail was installed on my Freedom. Great!

[Capt_Flrp]

Many good ideas before. I had a "docking" spring line set to a snatch block at a mid-point on the upwind (pardon the "non-sailing term) side of the boat and led to a winch. As someone else said, have fenders and dock lines in place before attempting, base spring line placement based on windward side. On entering the slip at SLOW speed, go forward and place spring line loop over/on out most pile. Moving ahead by momentum or low engine speed, fix windward lines and then leeward lines. Set back and have a cold one (or hot coffee if, like me you are coming down the rivers in the late fall).
My "docking" line had a piece of clear plastic hose captured in a Bowline loop. That made it easy to quickly slip over piling or ever catch a cleat. You can even use a boat hook or paddle to get it up over a tall piling. Once captured by the spring line, all else can be nearly done by hand.
My experience with dock hands has not been especially pleasant. Other boaters, maybe OK, but frequently kids like to pull the bow around and you lose control.

[Steven UK]

Thanks all, one of the things I like about this type of forum Q&A is the varied responses that give a greater 'sample size' and a much clearer overall picture. I think even the small disagreements resulted in us all learning a bit more.

Again many thanks.

[sartorst]

No one tell my wife "How all that MUD gets on top of the post" please I need help when docking!

[a64pilot]

It's not hard, I most often back my full keel boat into my slip that has six poles, the trick if you can call it one, is to get most of the boat into the slip before the wind gets you up against a pole, from there it's just a matter of working her in, my boat will back straight at slow speeds so to kick the stern around I need to do that with a blast of forward with the rudder turned full, leave it that way, go into reverse to get just a tiny bit of movement, then forward again, but that is pretty basic isn't it?
But once in the slip , I much prefer the fact that my boat doesn't ever touch anything, nothing to chafe against, she is held in the middle of the six poles, and if weather gets really bad that is an advantage, and while my dock will go underwater, it won't float over its pilings and be an enormous mass that destroys boats.

Now I understand the desire for floating docks when the tidal change is significant, but where it's not, they are not needed.

[Snore]

Apparently "some" had a hard time reading my first post so I will try to be clearer. My first post targeted a regular slip.

If this is your regular slip, rig all lines such that the eye is placed on the boats cleat. If you enter bow first, rig stern line such that once it is placed on the stern cleat the bow will not touch the dock. If you enter stern first (see steps below) rig the aft spring line such that you can pick it up and drop it on the stern cleat easily and quickly. Obviously the stern spring should keep you from hitting the main dock.

If this is not your regular slip, I prefer backing in. The trick to backing in, is to turn with your prop walk. In my case this means going well past my slip, so I can turn to port, getting 1.5kts of stern way so the rudder "bites" and back in. Once the boat is in the slip I put the transmission into forward to stop the sternway. That works every time in my 33. The real challenge is getting a line on a piling or cleat. Once you get the first stern line, just "in gear" forward thrust will move the bow in line with the stern.

I have used this method on boats up to 50 feet single handed. Although the larger boats do have a bow thruster that makes turning easier and more finite. Another key on the is faking the bow and stern lines so they are ready for use.

Should any ambiguity exist feel free to ask.

[sck5]

when i started single handing a lot I went to the store and bought about a million fenders. I dont care if I look silly coming in to the dock. Well, maybe not a MILLION fenders, but way more than you would normally have. The thing is you WILL bump the pilings or the finger pier or both some (all?) of the time. If you have enough fenders it isnt so traumatic to you or the boat.

Also, tie lines between the pilings on each side. That will help too

[eastendsailor]

I have limited experience with docking generally -- J24 on a floating dock with fingers -- and none with pilings-only slips. The Bristol 31.1 I just closed on has no rubrail. The high teak toerail seems like it would be vulnerable to damage in a docking situation gone awry. The marina where I'm launching in April and staying the month has slips with four pilings. I am literally kept awake at night just thinking about having to dock for the first time with my new (to me) boat!

So, once I get a feel for the boat and practice low-speed maneuvers, I'm probably going to do the same as sck5 and use an abundance of fenders and hope for the best!

As to fenders, I'm curious to know people's preference for deploying them. Vertical or horizontal? Advantages, disadvantages to each? Also, what might be used to make 'bumpers' (forgive the nonnautical terminology!) to put on the pilings if it's a long-term slip. Would old fenders do the trick?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to provide thorough explanations. And to Steven UK for the post. Cheers, mate!