Docking Question

General Boats and Motors
1

Hi! My friend just bought a 19’ Carolina Skiff and wants to keep it in the water at all times (or at least until we make his ramp usable again). He has a private dock up the Ashley River. However, the tide difference there is about 7-8’. What options do we have to tie it off to allow for the change in tide, but also keep it from moving too much forward and aft?

2

cross your lines (like spring lines). That’ll limit your forward-aft range but allow boat to drop with tide.

3

It sounds like you do not have a floating dock.

You have no options unless you have an automatic retracting/extending line system.

I wouldn’t keep it in the water without a floating dock.

Why do you have a 7-8’ tide when everywhere else in Charleston it is 6’?

4

It might be about 6’, I was just guessing based on the water line on the dock. I am bad at estimating. Anyway, it is not a floating dock. Any suggestions where to get one of those line systems?

5

BTW, he wants to keep the boat in the water because he owns land up the Ashley and this will make it easier for him to get over there and do work. Driving, it takes about 30 minutes. By boat, it takes 2 minutes.

6

be careful tieing to the stationary dock. if the wind is blowing the boat toward the fixed dock and the tide is dropping and the boat gets caught on something on the dock and then the boat does not drop but tilts down as the tide goes down the boat will sink.

so maybe a mooring bouy out from the dock or a line from the dock to boat and then another from the boat to the land (possible use a pulley) or add a floating dock or a dock lift. jan

7

i do marine construction. i can install a system on his permanant dock that allows his moored boat to rise and fall with the tides, while remaining securely tied. contact me through pm if interested.

Jeff Davis is my President

8

Get a pair of these, problem solved in a do it yourself project.

http://www.tideslide.com/indexr.htm

The more we just complain…the more things stay the same.

9
quote:
Why do you have a 7-8' tide when everywhere else in Charleston it is 6'?
While the average high tide in Charleston is 5'-2" above mean low water, the swing between extreme highs and extreme lows can easily be over 8 ft. Also there are areas of Charleston, like the upper Wando, where the tides are typically a foot higher than the rest of the Charleston area.
10
quote:
Originally posted by jan

be careful tieing to the stationary dock. if the wind is blowing the boat toward the fixed dock and the tide is dropping and the boat gets caught on something on the dock and then the boat does not drop but tilts down as the tide goes down the boat will sink.

so maybe a mooring bouy out from the dock or a line from the dock to boat and then another from the boat to the land (possible use a pulley) or add a floating dock or a dock lift. jan

I thought about the mooring idea. However, adding a floating dock or lift is out of the question. He is located on a protected area of the Ashley across from the plantations. I may try Big Wes’ idea.

11

thanks alot big wes. i was tryin for a little christmas money. Tideslides was the system i was referring to and they work very well.

Jeff Davis is my President

12
quote:
Originally posted by Big Wes

Get a pair of these, problem solved in a do it yourself project.

http://www.tideslide.com/indexr.htm

The more we just complain…the more things stay the same.

I’ve seen these at work…very nice…

CAUTION:

You are about to exceed the limits of my medications...

13

Etiwan,

I am intimately familiar with variations in tide in the upper reaches of the Wando.

I was not talking extremes, and it is quite obvious that the author of this thread wasn’t either.

Jeesh…

14
quote:
Originally posted by Bad Habit

thanks alot big wes. i was tryin for a little christmas money. Tideslides was the system i was referring to and they work very well.

Jeff Davis is my President

I was just being transparently helpful giving him an idea. I had no ulterior motive. Maybe he’d rather have you do the work. Contact him yourself and make him an offer.

The more we just complain…the more things stay the same.

15

IM4USC, hmmmm seems like if you had known that, you wouldn’t have questioned his statement to start with. You were nit picking his post and he was correct that he had to deal with a 7 -8’ tide difference.

16

It’s OK, Etiwan.

It’s called sarcasm.

Thanks for the trial offer mind reading session.