Mooring Whips with narrow dock

[Tim in MD]

I normally keep my boat on a lift behind my house, but at low tide (plus/minus about an hour, sometimes more), I can't get the boat off the lift (that 18" of steel and 4x6 lumber supporting the boat means that 30" of water is not enough to float my boat). When I want to go boating at 2pm and low tide is at 2:30, that's a bummer. So...I want to invest in mooring whips. The idea is that I'll get the boat off the lift when it's not low tide, it spends the day either out on the river or on the whips, and then goes back on its lift sometime in the afternoon or evening when the tide is up.

I'm on a half-mile wide river, with about 2 feet of tidal range. If the weather is supposed to be stormy, the boat will stay on the lift (although of course worst case is an unforecasted storm blows through and the tide is too low to get back on the lift). I don't expect it to ever spend the night on the whips.

My problem is the end of my pier (the only place I can do this) is only 10' wide, and my boat is 21' long. What I want to do is secure the aft cleat to one whip, the midships cleat to the other whip (with a pair of spring lines to these same cleats along with a stern line), and leave the bow uncleated. I plan to buy 5000 lb whips for my 3500 lb boat.

I've seen one post where a number of jetboaters love their whips (of the mooring kind). What are your thoughts about securing only the back half of the boat?

 

[Ilmmct]

Went through similar consternation for my tidal situation. I opted for a non-whip configuration that is worth considering.

Purchased a single TaylorMade Big B fender (12”x34”) and a matching Polyform Elite polyester cover. The drawback is that this thing is big and takes up a lot of dock box space. But I’ve used it for 3 years w/out a rub or scratch when the boat is tied to the dock.

I toss the BigB over a middle dock cleat (a simple line running through the middle of the fender). When I tie the boat up this BigB is positioned amidship and its width and girth keeps the boat’s mass comfortably away from any potential dock marring.

I use my regular bow and stern fenders (which also have fender covers) that I keep on the boat for handing the remaining slop. But frankly the BigB is doing most of the work. The thin gelcoat of our boats require the fender covers.

Good luck with your approach, properly configured the whips work well. I see them used in some of the busiest and toniest waterfront marinas protecting the Grady-Whites, Contenders, Regulators and Whalers.

 

[Julian]

I normally keep my boat on a lift behind my house, but at low tide (plus/minus about an hour, sometimes more), I can't get the boat off the lift (that 18" of steel and 4x6 lumber supporting the boat means that 30" of water is not enough to float my boat). When I want to go boating at 2pm and low tide is at 2:30, that's a bummer. So...I want to invest in mooring whips. The idea is that I'll get the boat off the lift when it's not low tide, it spends the day either out on the river or on the whips, and then goes back on its lift sometime in the afternoon or evening when the tide is up.

I'm on a half-mile wide river, with about 2 feet of tidal range. If the weather is supposed to be stormy, the boat will stay on the lift (although of course worst case is an unforecasted storm blows through and the tide is too low to get back on the lift). I don't expect it to ever spend the night on the whips.

My problem is the end of my pier (the only place I can do this) is only 10' wide, and my boat is 21' long. What I want to do is secure the aft cleat to one whip, the midships cleat to the other whip (with a pair of spring lines to these same cleats along with a stern line), and leave the bow uncleated. I plan to buy 5000 lb whips for my 3500 lb boat.

I've seen one post where a number of jetboaters love their whips (of the mooring kind). What are your thoughts about securing only the back half of the boat?

Are you allowed to make the dock L shaped? That would be my first approach....money well spent to have the extra dock space.

What is on the other side of the dock from the lift?

 

[Tim in MD]

Thanks for the comments. @Ilmmct The "Big B" sounds interesting - that's a possibility (although I'd feel better about it if again the dock was as long as the boat, so I could tie the bow and stern).

@Julian The dock is already somewhat L-shaped - a 5' walkway out to a 10' square end (the boat lift is on the straight side). So, opposite the boat lift is another 10' side of the square (and further towards shore along the 5' walkway gets really shallow). I could make the 10' square bigger, but pile drivers get $700 per piling where I live, so I'd be looking at some bucks to accomplish that.

I called "Mooring Whip Sales" in South Carolina and talked to them - they thought what I'm suggesting would be fine, especially since the stern half of the boat is presumably a lot heavier. But of course, it's not their boat, and they want to sell those whips.

I'm still leaning toward the whips - any comments from a "whip-owner" about my tentative plan? Thanks!

 

[tdonoughue]

Meanwhile (and not at all responsive to your query about the whips--sorry), don't forget that you can use springing lines in this situation, too. Tie the line from the forward boat cleat to the aft dock cleat and the aft boat cleat to the forward dock cleat. That will more effectively keep the boat from going forward/aft than moving away from the dock (but you can fix that with one from midships cleat to either cleat).

 

[Liveto99]

There is constant pull on the whips, and there is no great force that is pulling your boat in to the dock. You can hook up on the front and center, or the back and center and it will keep your boat out from the dock. what type of bottom do you have? Mud? You can rent a 3" electric diaphragm pump and move the mud out into the currant and it will flow away. Do at night, use electric pump instead of gas it makes low amount of noise, only move 1/4 mud and 3/4 water so it flows. You can drop your whole bottom. If you have a not nice person next door do it when they are on vacation. This is dredging and otherwise you need a permit.

 

[galonuscct]

10 feet should be plenty of spacing for a mid cleat and rear cleat whip connection. You wouldn't need the bow cleat tied off to anything. The mooring whips should hold you boat just fine

 

[galonuscct]

You can even buy 12-15 foot whips and angle both out about 30 degrees to get around 15-18 spacing. On the 21 foot boat, I bet the bow and stern cleats are spaced around that.

 

[bumpy]

I used 8' earth anchors to substitute for pilings or 'U' shape dock and made a 4 way tie-up. About 2.5-3' of the earth anchor shaft is above the bottom, covered with a long enough PVC pipe to protect the boat in a cross wind. I don't know if you have a spot deep enough to float the boat and still get in to install the anchors. I definitely prefer the 4 way tie to my former whips.

 

[Don Shifflett]

We have a set of Moor Kings (Ultimate Mooring System from the Moor King Systems) and we have done just that with both our boats and others. We are right on the Chesapeake Bay so we get some rough water at our pier. Since the Moor Kings don't actually bend, we have never had a problem with the boats coming in contact with the pier pilings. Not cheap, but I highly recommend and we have had ours at least 10 years.

 

[Tim in MD]

Thanks to all! Great input and lots of good options to consider. The "not really dredging" idea from @Liveto99 is something I hadn't thought about. Hmmmm....