Dock Whips on a Rinker Cruiser

[dspan]

Hi Guys,

Hope everyone is doing well.  My 260 just splashed down today for the season.  It is a great time of year in Boston.

Anyway, I have a 2008 with the dark blue hull option.  I was inspecting the hull closely on land while prepping her and noticed a lot of scratches where my fenders are.  This has happened with previous boats but since this is my first dark hull, it is really driving me crazy.  I waxed up the scratches and they look fine now but I don't want this to keep happening.  I have tried every type of fender and fender cover of the years, but I think it is time for me to keep the boat away from the dock.

I have seen people using the whips successfully, but on a cruiser it really sucks to have a whip screwing up access to the swim platform.  I have a radar arch and I keep the canvas on at the dock to protect from weather.

So.... I was thinking of maybe just using one whip in the middile of the boat just in front of the windshield.  It might work but I am not sure.  Anyone try a single center whip on a cruiser?  

I dock in a tidal river with a 2 knot bidirectional current.  My boat is dock parallel to the current flow.


Anyone have any better ideas?  Maybe some new dock hardware technology I haven't seen yet?

Thanks in advance, and happy boating,

Jay

[HALL'N]

Buy a lift.

[fmrosell]

There are consequences to everything you do....

It sounds like you are never going to be happy at the dock.

I suggest you go boating...

[dspan]

Buy a lift.

That would be awesome, but my marina does not allow them.  I visited Lake Travis in Austin this winter and was surprised to see that 90% of the boats on the lake had lifts.  I am not sure why they are so popular there, but it was pretty cool to see all the different types of lifts.  Most looked like submergible pontoon boats with hoses connected to the pontoons, they would pump water in, sink the pontoon platform, then pump air in to displace the water and float the whole rig up.  I saw a 33' Rinker Cruiser get lifted 3 feet out of the water with ease.

[HALL'N]

My 342 is on a Hydrohoist lift. The reason is I don't like bottom coating or electrolisis problems that accompany the BravoIII drives. We are in a covered slip and leave boat year around with a winter cover.
Too bad you marina doesn't allow them as you sound like a man who would appreciate one.

[AlexisandChad]

We have most of the residents of Grosse Ile using lifts.  There is even a 108' Larraza on a lift.

As for whips, depending on how you have your cleats and posts laid out you could start with the cleat where the swim platform and end on the other side.  Although it may are may not accomplish the desired effect of keeping the fenders off your pretty blue hull.   

[raybo3]

What part of Boston are you from??????

[Benalisa]

I had a 250 that I kept at a slip that was exposed directly to the lake, so the boat would end up seeing lots of wave action while moored. The dock was concrete and I worried about the fenders getting pushed up from between the dock and boat leaving the boat rubbing against the concrete. I found this product,  http://www.dock-calm.com/products.htm. I used it for a full season and it worked great, I only needed one in the middle of the boat. Sold the boat (and the dock shock) and moved to a different marina the second season. Hope this helps. You can also try fender socks, but you have to keep them clean or they will become worse than a bare fender.

[jmeyers278]

Sorry about the old reply to this post but I use bungee dock lines on both sides of the boat and they keep the boat in the center of the slip.....works great....no bumpers required