Charles T. Low wrote:
I had some interesting discussions here a year or two ago about using spring
lines with power, and I have perhaps the same dilemma as then, but at a more
advanced stage of resolution now.
I don't have time to make or post a diagram, so bear with me.
I'm in a very tight slip. I can fit in with fenders down on both sides, but
barely. The bow is tied up to pilings, and I back in and tie the stern up to
a wall. There's a humble photo at www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26/C-T002.JPG (not my
present slip, but similar). I have a finger dock about half the length of
the boat on the starboard side, and another boat tied up to port, close
enough that I can reach out and touch it.
The prevailing wind blows from the SW, and that means over the starboard
quarter. So, as soon as I untie, I drift down towards the boat to port. Then
I have to make a sharp turn to starboard upon leaving my slip - the width
across to the next dock is perhaps only about 30-35 feet, so it's tight. I
can't start the turn until almost beyond the pilings, or I crang the boat to
port with my port quarter - and start to occupy too much width between the
piles. I have a single IB, which fortunately(!?) pulls to port quite
strongly in reverse. The whole maneuver is not much of a problem until the
winds are in the 20 knot range, which happily is the exception here, but I
still want to go boating, and once out of the marina the boat handles the
local waters under those conditions with aplomb.
I often single-hand - which is where the "power spring" technique requires
thorough advance organization. With crew, this goes very smoothly, with
someone handling a bow line or even an amidships line, and we warp
effortlessly around the starboard piling, casting off and pulling in the
line when adequately yawed to starboard; engage transmission, rudder to
starboard, open throttle a bit - no problem!
Without crew, however, it gets a bit more sticky ... I did it once last year
and managed fine, leading the line circuitously back to the cockpit, and
then pulling it in with another line looped around it - a variation of a
technique described on rec.boats before. It left a bit of a mess of line to
coil and hang, once out of the harbour, which is a nuisance when trying to
pilot the boat safely in "heavy" conditions - but doable. My big fear is
having that long spring line out of control, in the water, around the prop
shaft...
So, trying to keep it as simple as possible, does anyone think the following
will or will not work:
I will start with a loop around the boat's bow cleat. That line will lead
around the starboard piling, then around the boat's amidships cleat, and
from there aft to the boat's starboard quarter cleat (from where I can
control it while manning the helm). So far, so good. As the boat moves
forward, I'll have to pay out more line, snubbing it when the transom has
cleared the pilings, causing the bow to swing around the piling. The "pivot
point" will be somewhere between the bow cleat and the amidships cleat,
which works well.
But how to get that line back aboard? It's a busy time for the helmsman,
steering and throttling authoritatively out of a tight spot. It would be
nice just to be able to flip the long spring line over the top of the
piling, bit I can't, because i) it's too far forward and ii) it's too far
away (with the wind and the vectors not allowing me to hold the boat tightly
into the piling). So I have to pull it in by brute force, hand over hand,
but without someone on the bow, how to get at the standing part to do that?
What if I just had the line retrace its path, so that I'm working with a
loop? The course of the line would now be: from the bow cleat, around the
piling, around the amidships cleat, aft to the stern cleat, forward to the
amidships cleat, around the piling, and from there back to the cockpit -
from where, once ready to cast off (and having released the loop of line
around the stern cleat), I could probably get it in quite quickly and
smartly. If nothing snagged...
See? Nothing to it! (I'll let you know.) Any objections or better ideas?
Thanks.
====
Charles T. Low
- remove "UN"
www.boatdocking.com/BDPhoto.html - Photo Contest
www.boatdocking.com
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat
====
Not an objection as such, but you might also give thought to just having
a bowline loop around this spring on a line led back to where ever
it's convenient for you to get at, so;
(i) The loop is up at the bow cleat,
(ii) This looped line doesn't go outboard at all but straight back to
where ever you are, possibly even down the port side deck?? (Steering
station is port?? can't see too well but appears so in the pic)
(ii) Once you cast off the spring from the stern quarter you can then
retrieve it but pulling on the extra looped line.
That way the spring will be returning via it's original route, but you
won't have two lines nor a potentially catchy loop outside the boat,
also the spring should finish up back inboard with you.
K