Houseboat Tie-Up Stern to Stern (Transom)

We are planning to tie up regularly to this 1989 Summerset Houseboat white it is at dock with our 2021 AR250. As you can see there is not much meat for the Yamaha to push against which is my concern.



I was thinking 2 or 3 Taylormade Transom Fenders to push against the houseboat stern steps. Then tie off the mid cleat on the Yamaha to the Houseboat railing keep it from spinning.

I have also conserved using one of the stiff docking rods or tethers to keep the boat 12” away from the houseboat. These would be tied off to the rear cleats or transom eyes but would need to be triangulated to keep the boat from spinning.

There are houseboats on each side of us that are longer so this is the only way we can boat to boat tie up.

Surely one of you have done this…probably a thousand times.

haven't done it, but one of these help?


one of these? have seen them with a notch for a jet ski. what's the beam of the houseboat. see multiple of these hooked together on some yacht pics

So you’re thinking you are going to tie a 25’ boat to the stern of a docked house boat, won’t that be sticking out and in the way of boat traffic?

FSH 210 Sport said:

So you’re thinking you are going to tie a 25’ boat to the stern of a docked house boat, won’t that be sticking out and in the way of boat traffic?

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This is the last row. We wouldn't block anyone. Everyone else ties their boat up on the stern of their boat, but they tie up port/starboard to stern of houseboat.

Maybe this is a bad idea...I'll add that some of the neighboring boats are 30' longer than the one we would be in....

sastocky said:

This is the last row. We wouldn't block anyone. Everyone else ties their boat up on the stern of their boat, but they tie up port/starboard to stern of houseboat.

Maybe this is a bad idea...

View attachment 237749

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I think tying up like those boat pictured, is a much better idea…

With a stern to stern tie up there is a lot of leverage port / starboard and you’d have very oblique, almost straight back dock line angles.

jthackman said:

haven't done it, but one of these help?

Amazon.com

one of these? have seen them with a notch for a jet ski. what's the beam of the houseboat. see multiple of these hooked together on some yacht pics

Amazon.com

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Yeah, I considered one of these, but if you look at the houseboat....there are lots of edges. May not fair well with the inflatable. It is definitely on the table...

FSH 210 Sport said:

I think tying up like those boat pictured, is a much better idea…

With a stern to stern tie up there is a lot of leverage port / starboard and you’d have very oblique, almost straight back dock line angles.

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I agree with you completely, however, with two longer houseboats on each side of us, I'm not sure we can tie up like that. We will be there for the first time in a few weeks. I might have to wait it out and see in person. I just figured that someone had done this.

sastocky said:

I agree with you completely, however, with two longer houseboats on each side of us, I'm not sure we can tie up like that. We will be there for the first time in a few weeks. I might have to wait it out and see in person. I just figured that someone had done this.

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Right on…. Usually the beam on those houseboats is 14’ or greater… what’s the story on the grey Yamaha in the picture? Size?

FSH 210 Sport said:

Right on…. Usually the beam on those houseboats is 14’ or greater… what’s the story on the grey Yamaha in the picture? Size?

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I think it was an AR230. It's sharp. I thought it was teal at first...then pulled up closer.

sastocky said:

I think it was an AR230. It's sharp. I thought it was teal at first...then pulled up closer.

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Okay, so it is 2’ shorter than your boat, and it looks like he is good on tying up that way, based on that, do you think you’ll have room to tie up the same way?

FSH 210 Sport said:

Okay, so it is 2’ shorter than your boat, and it looks like he is good on tying up that way, based on that, do you think you’ll have room to tie up the same way?

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Possibly....just trying to make a plan B so when the neighbors both have their boats tied up too.

right on.. luck favors those that are prepared.

I have done a stern tie up at a dock; not at a houseboat. And when I did it there was basically no traffic and I was nearby. And not even for overnight. For overnight, I moved it so I could get a third line, more normal.

But, when I did, the tie up was pretty secure (I was able to spread the lines a bit, but not much). Main thing about which to worry is when you leave leeway on the lines, that will leverage your stern corners into your houseboat. I tied up more taught to the tiedown loops, fenders on line (see below).

For fenders, consider also something like the Mission Sentry ones. They are pricey, but one feature is that they have a hole in them through which you can run the dockline (while also attaching the fender to the cleat or whatever). Basically ensures that the fender is always between the boat and the tie up point. Lots of other things I like about them, but may be handy here.

Hopefully this helps a little?

If you tie up stern to stern, would crossing your dock lines from onside of the house boat to the opposite side of your AR provide a more secure tie off?

TeeNGee said:

If you tie up stern to stern, would crossing your dock lines from onside of the house boat to the opposite side of your AR provide a more secure tie off?

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Crossing the lines (essentially trying to get them to 'spring' to the port/starboard) would make it so that the boat would be less prone to move port/starboard (but would not help you much fore/aft). Lines straight back (of course) would make it less apt to move fore/aft, but do little laterally. So a good suggestion, but I would do that still with a straight line added. Problem is that the relatively small distance across the beam will limit the effectiveness of the springs.

Frequently at a dock where I am tied up on portside and worried about forward/aft movement, I will do spring lines from the aft cleat forward and the forward cleat aft, then also a third line from mid cleat directly over, so I cover both directions.