Piling Protection

[MicroKap]

My boat is on the Shrewsbury River in New Jersey, off Sandy Hook Bay. We currently have about a 4-4.5 foot tide change with little current running through our yacht club. The docking situation is fixed docks with a 30 foot port side finger with a mid piling and an end piling on the finger and then another piling about 65 feet from the dock. Being conservative, I have about 6 inches on either side of my boat at its widest point which is also just about where there are pilings located. I'd like to put something on the pilings that is more substantial than firehose to keep me from rubbing on the pilings. Fenders on the boat don't work well because of size limitations and boat movement. I'd like something that affixes to the pilings on the sides so no hardware is exposed to scrape my fiberglass. Any suggestions would be really helpful as I'm sick of repairing my fiberglass and rubrail.

Also, if anyone has any ideas for docklines so that there is no movement port or starboard in windy conditions would be helpful, such as Tideslide.

Thanks.
Larry K.
1980 60' Sportfish
Monmouth Beach, NJ

 

[jim rosenthal]

Larry, there are some vinyl products made by TaylorMade which are intended for this. I just some on the dock, although the product I used went on the horizontal edge of the finger pier, because sometimes when I am docking alone the boat bumps the edge of the dock.
They have some other products that look like they could be put on a wooden piling and hold the rubrail off the piling. They seem to come in ten foot lengths, they are made of white vinyl. You might look at those. I got the piece I used at WM.

 

[Pascal]

6" on each side isn't enough to keep teh boat off the pilings... but of course, you have no choice, do you ?

i wonder if screwing a vertical strip of starboard to the piling woulnd't make the rubrail slide more easily than against wood preventing damage to the rub rail. the damage is probably coming from teh vertical motion, not the lateral (hatt's are too tough for that...). helping the rub rail slide up and down should help...

 

[Beckytek]

Here is something I saw at The Atlantic City Boat Show that might work for you. It's called Polemate. These are corregated tubes that fit over the pilings and float up and down with the tide. You tie your boat to them leaving no slack and your boat stays put no matter the tide. Take a look >www.polemate.com< Ron

 

[Walter P]

Larry,

Have you considered fender boards? When I was at Lockwoods' I had a similar problem and fender boards did the job.

Walt

 

[MicroKap]

I've thought of fender board, but as this is a sportfish with a non-standard bowrail (comes only as far back as 3' from the "windshield" there's no place to tie off the fender boards without affixing them to the two spring cleats. That leaves a lot of room for movement.

Would starboard work? How would you mount it to a piling and not have any hardware sticking out? Would the edge of the stainless rub rail "plane" off the starboard over time?

The "pole slides" are a good idea, but my pilings are "common" with the boats on either side of me and they have their own setup that they like. Also, hooks in the pilings for hanging lines would get in the way.

I've seen something at some gas docks that looks like layers of 1/4" foam material that is coated, that with multiple layers it forms a "piling bumper". They are bolted into the piling and wrap the facing side of the piling. I've found the Taylor products to be less than durable, especially for their cost. Firehose with foam seems to flatten within days. I'm looking for something that will not be an annual replacement item.

Thank you for all of your ideas.

Larry K.
1980 60' Sportfish
Monmouth Beach, NJ

 

[Tom Ipock]

Larry,
Not sure of the size of your pilings, but what has worked great for me in a similar situation is PVC pipe. You can buy the pipe in diameters well on up above 12" at most pipe supply houses. Slide it down over the piling. It comes in 20' lengths, so you can cut a piece in half. Drill and lag bolt it to the piling at the optimal height so it doesn't slide down. This will give you a 10' range up or down. You may even want to cut it into 3 pieces to save a few bucks, depending upon your requirements. The boat slides nicely on the PVC - no need for bumpers, and it takes up none of your minimal space. Oh, and where your dock is attached to the piling, just cut the back half off of the PVC pipe from point it will set on the dock from there down. It will just wrap the front of the piling below the dock.
Tom

 

[Tom Ipock]

Larry, forgot one other thing. If you do the PVC, you can make up your dock lines with new loops to go over the pilings. On the section that will be the loop, thread about a dozen 1" PVC couplings over the line - or just a bit larger than the rope. Then weave your loop. When you toss this over the piling, the PVC couplings will act like rollers and the loop will rise and fall as needed.
Tom

 

[bobk]

The coupling idea sounds neat, especially if it's a tight slip. But will they chafe and wear the line? Could the loop portion be changed to wire rope with PVC couplings and then tie to the loop?

Bob

 

[Tom Ipock]

Bob,
That's not a bad idea! You could make up the wire rope loop with the couplings woven into a shackle or clip that you attach your dock line to. Just install some type of stop on the piling to keep the loop from dropping too low, or coming up over the top when the tide gets really high.
Tom