The MARY KATHRYN sits in the largest transient marine in downtown
Annapolis.  It is snowbird season and the parade of boats is
wonderful...and scary at times.  The marina does not have floating docks,
rather fixed docks with (mostly) tall pilings.  Tidal movement is less than
2.5 feet.

I have a few personal observations and opinions for docking with pilings:

1. Do not hang your fenders until after you are docked.  Your rub rail is
   there for a purpose...let it hit the pilings as you slide in.  If the
   fenders are hung before docking, I often see crew hurrying to adjust a
   fender that is caught on a piling.  Very dangerous.  One lady went to the
   hospital with a crushed wrist caught between a piling and the boat as she
   tried to rescue a hung up fender.  (My Krogen 42 was delivered
   personally by Jim Krogen in 1981 (not his day job, but Art Kadey had been
   murdered a couple of months before).  As I grabbed a fender approaching the
   fuel barge in Government Cut, Miami, Jim said not to bother.  The fuel
   barge was grubby and my fender was brand new.  Krogen said the rub rail is
   the strongest part of the boat.  Use it.  Fenders are for the comfort of
   the folks on board. This was a single-screw, no bow thruster boat.  Pilings
   and spring lines became my friends...quickly!)

2. Spring lines need to be super tight to keep fenders in place on
   pilings.  After cleating one spring line, come ahead (or astern) to make
   that line super tight.  Leave the boat in gear as you cleat the other
   spring line. Then take the boat out of gear.  Viola!  Your boat will now
   have rock tight spring lines and will not move fore or aft more than an
   inch or two.  Tidal range will not be an issue if the spring lines are long
   enough...especially with the small tidal range we have in Annapolis.  Then
   hang your fenders against the pilings knowing they will not get out of
   position.

3. If the finger pier is long enough, dock bow in.  Much easier than
   backing in.  And when you leave, you have the wide fairway to back into.
   And, the view is usually better from the aft deck!  (And as pointed out by
   others:  everyone walking the dock is not looking into your salon!)

Personal bias:  Give me pilings over floating docks anyday.  I can dock
MARY KATHRYN single-handed without any dockside assistance with pilings.  I
just need that first spring line, leave the engine in gear and
leisurely cleat the other lines.  An impossible feat with floating docks.

I appreciate your indulgence as I got this off my chest!

Stay safe everyone!

Bob

Robert Calhoun Smith, Jr.
M/V MARY KATHRYN
Hatteras 58 LRC    MTOA #4861
Annapolis, Maryland

Bob,

Great advice on two of the most common mistakes that boaters make. It
distresses me to see slack spring lines and a fender hanging uselessly to
the side of the piling. I'm reluctant to adjust anyone's dock lines but I
have when I see damage being done. I have also seen owners suffer damage
repeatedly simply because they wouldn't tie their spring lines tight - nice
big fenders doing nothing.

I find it interesting that basic boat handling skills are seldom discussed
on this forum, probably because so many members have those skills. But most
of the boaters that I assist when they are coming in to a dock don't know
how to use a spring line, either for docking (or undocking) or for keeping
their boat in position.

I'm trying to figure out why you say that it is impossible to put out a
spring line, leave the engine in gear, and leisurely cleat the other lines
with a floating dock.

Richard Allen
Bristol 42 "Sunshine Girl"

Bob,

I thought it might be a freeboard issue. Another thing about springing into a floating dock is that your spring cleat must be fairly far aft to avoid having the bow swing in over the dock. The flare of the hull and the fact that the hull curves in toward the bow combine to make the point where the forces balance out further forward and inboard of the rub rail when you are springing forward on a low floating dock, depending on your boat design and the position of your spring cleat. I hadn’t thought about that until the first time I tried to spring “Sunshine Girl” against a floating dock. I had to put another cleat further aft.

Richard Allen

Another approach to fixed docks is to hang your fenders sidewise.  In the
PNW, fuel docks are often fixed and can be 20 feet above your deck.  We
prepare for tying up by putting a second line (or slipping a longer line
through the middle) on each fender so we have a row of sideways fenders to
the pilings.  Once tied to the dock we adjust each fender as best we can to
meet the pilings at the widest part of our boat.  Not always perfect.
Fueling can take 2 to 3 hours (during which the tide can change several
feet)  so we "keep a sharp lookout" as the Coasties say and adjust the
fenders frequently.  If you have ever had a finger "pinched" between your
fender line and boat rail (usually due to the roll of your boat caused by a
passing boat wake) you won't let that happen again...

Stay healthy.

Eric Thoman
Abyssinia

-----Original Message-----
From: Trawlers-and-Trawlering [mailto:trawlers-bounces@lists.trawlering.com]
On Behalf Of R C Smith Jr via Trawlers-and-Trawlering
Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2020 12:51 PM
To: MTOA-ListServ; T&T LIST
Subject: T&T: For the love of pilings...

The MARY KATHRYN sits in the largest transient marine in downtown
Annapolis.  It is snowbird season and the parade of boats is
wonderful...and scary at times.  The marina does not have floating docks,
rather fixed docks with (mostly) tall pilings.  Tidal movement is less than
2.5 feet.