"The cleat pulled out of the rotten wood on the dock"

During last Saturday's "Docks Fun Day" we responded to a member's complaint. He said, "The wood on my dock is so rotten that the cleat pulled right out of the plank!"

Upon investigation, we discovered that the lag bolted lock ring (not a cleat at all) did not pull out of the plank. Actually, the lag bolt held, and the plank split in response to stress.

This particular member owns an aft cabin boat. The design of the boat places the aft mooring cleat many feet above the dock. As a result, when the member moors his boat his stern line is aligned almost perfectly vertically with the cleat below. This presented a problem for the member in question, and will present the same problem for any other member with a vertical tie to a cleat or mooring ring. (Fortunately, there is a solution, see below).

When there's some angle on a mooring line, either athwart or fore and aft, wakes and other disturbances are absorbed by changes to the angle. The line can stay taut to the cleat, while the cleat on the boat rises and falls in relatinship to the fixed location of the cleat on the dock. When the mooring line drops vertically down to a cleat on the dock, every time the boat is affected by a wake the line pulls directly upward on the cleat or mooring ring. There's none of the natural "give" that would be present in a mooring line connected at an angle.

In cases where the design of the boat and the location of cleats on the dock make a dead vertical connection necessary, the inclusion of a "snubber" on the mooring line will allow the vertical line to absorb the stress of wakes, etc- while still keeping the line taut and the boat well controlled in the slip. Using a snubber will reduce or eliminate the risk of pulling a mooring bit out of a plank, or (as in the case of this week's issue) actually splitting the underlying plank.

The Docks Committee rebuilt the members finger pier, with new cleats mounted through tigerwood planking. The club has made a large investment in making sure the member's boat will be securely moored. Installing a snubber would let us know that the morning's work was appreciated, rather than taken for granted.