Need help explaining tying boat to 4 Wood Pylons

[NewBoater]

I have rails similar to this on the 2 wood ones further out in the water. They are a little different than this pics but it gives you and idea. There is a really old rope attached to each one of them and of the rope is just hanging down in the water. Have never used any of it. I think my neighbor has something similar set up but his slides up and down the grab rail on the wood.

Again I'm newbie to all of this and I don't understand how all of this works or what parts to get. Your help is much appreciated!

 

[tdonoughue]

The whole idea is to allow the boat to move up and down without binding up the lines. There are three primary ways to do this: 1) make the lines slide on whatever you tie them to (using the bar you attached above, optimally with a ring on it and the line attached to the ring); 2) spring the lines (if you make the line go across the boat, as @Murf'n'surf suggested for the aft, that uses a longer line at a more shallow angle, which means that mathematically you get more up/down movement before you stress the lines); 3) leave some slack in the lines. Most people tying up here or there will use a combination of 2 and 3. Since this is your home base, you could do 1 as well with the bar you have there. That said, I would still learn how to do it with 2 and 3--you won't always be at your home dock.

 

[Floyd]

After you tie your boat roughly in the middle of the tie-offs can you still get out of the boat onto the dock? If not, then perhaps you could install rings or eyes on the outer poles and run the lines through them and back to the dock to tie off. That way you could disembark and then tighten them up enough to keep you off of the dock. If your tidal maximum is large, then you need some sliders.

 

[NewBoater]

Awesome guys, thanks for all the tips and ideas!