Centre rope length...

[Tina]

Can anyone tell me what the minimum centre rope length should be for handling a 61 foot boat alone? Mine are way too short at around 40 foot and am not sure what length to purchase. Thanks, in advance, for any advice you can offer.

[Odana]

Long enough to go from centre to a bollard top-of-a-lock distance away and back to be held comfortably by you on the back deck would be my rough estimate. (Whatever your locking technique, before the thread disappears in that direction). Mine is, I think, about 1.5 times the distance from the centre attachment or a bit more.

[carlt]

3' shorter than the distance from the fixing point, to your prop.

 

40' sounds either about right or a bit too long.

 

If it can reach your prop, one day, it most surely will.

 

Long enough to go from centre to a bollard top-of-a-lock distance away and back to be held comfortably by you on the back deck would be my rough estimate. (Whatever your locking technique, before the thread disappears in that direction). Mine is, I think, about 1.5 times the distance from the centre attachment or a bit more.

This is too long and you risk wrapping it round your prop.

[PhilR]

Can anyone tell me what the minimum centre rope length should be for handling a 61 foot boat alone? Mine are way too short at around 40 foot and am not sure what length to purchase. Thanks, in advance, for any advice you can offer.

 

Hi Tina

It all depends how you will be using the centre line. If it is just to be used to step off the boat, from either bow or stern, and hold the boat whilst mooring lines are fixed I would think 40 feet would be ideal for a 61 footer.

 

However, I note you mention handling alone. Will you be using it to pull the boat through locks and secure it whilst you close gates and paddles? If so I would have thought a minimum of 50 feet and a maximum of 60 feet.

 

Everyone has their own techniques when single-handing. Whatever works for you and you feel comfortable with is usually the best!

 

Phil

[carlt]

Everyone has their own techniques when single-handing. Whatever works for you and you feel comfortable with is usually the best!

That's fair enough but a rope that can reach the prop, with you in between prop and fixing point is, at best, a pain in the a*se, when it wraps, at worst, very dangerous.

[Arnot]

Can anyone tell me what the minimum centre rope length should be for handling a 61 foot boat alone? Mine are way too short at around 40 foot and am not sure what length to purchase. Thanks, in advance, for any advice you can offer.

I prefer a rope from about one third from the front to just short of the propeller.

 

The about one third (ish) from the front allows bow hauling the boat parallel to the tow path and a few feet away but it does have to be fine tuned. It also allows a longer rope whilst staying just short of the propeller to prevent it getting wrapped up.

 

Everyone seems to have a different preference on this one though.

 

Regards

 

Arnot

Edited September 19, 2009 by Arnot

[PhilR]

That's fair enough but a rope that can reach the prop, with you in between prop and fixing point is, at best, a pain in the a*se, when it wraps, at worst, very dangerous.

 

I take your point, but in over 40 years boating I have never had one of my own ropes wrapped around the prop.

[carlt]

I take your point, but in over 40 years boating I have never had one of my own ropes wrapped around the prop.

Me neither (though it's only 26 years) but I've helped several people out, who have.

[PhilR]

Me neither (though it's only 26 years) but I've helped several people out, who have.

 

They are probably the same people who leave paddles up and get their rudders grounded on top cills?

 

My point is: It isn't worth compromising on the length of ropes just in case someone might get their lines wrapped around the prop. I have often seen boats with ropes trailing in the water and with ropes wrapped around their props. On every occasion those people have also been making very basic boating errors which have compromised their own safety.

[Odana]

Surely the back rope is just as much as risk of going round the prop as the centre one? Nobody advocates cutting that down to 2ft long! I take the point about steerer being between the fixing point and prop in the event of an accident, but would rather rely on common sense to minimise the risk of that happening

I normally use my centre line for when I step off the boat and pull it in to moor when single handing. But at times I have needed the extra length to go to a point on the bank/lockside and back, where using two ropes ould have been pretty much impossible to sort singlehanded! I used a friend's boat recently with a much shorter centre rope and found it really strange. Each to their own.

 

To answer the original question, why not start with longer ropes - you can always cut them down if you feel you don't need the extra length.

[Chertsey]

Surely the back rope is just as much as risk of going round the prop as the centre one? Nobody advocates cutting that down to 2ft long! I take the point about steerer being between the fixing point and prop in the event of an accident, but would rather rely on common sense to minimise the risk of that happening

But the back rope wouldn't be attached while the prop is turning, but would be safely out of the way on the cabin slide.

Wouldn't it?

[carlt]

On every occasion those people have also been making very basic boating errors which have compromised their own safety.

Which is exactly why I wouldn't recommend having a rope long enough to cause a hazard, not knowing the experience or competence of everyone reading the forum.

 

To answer the original question, why not start with longer ropes - you can always cut them down if you feel you don't need the extra length....

.....and, if you need a longer rope than is safe to use, in normal practice, you can always join two together.

[furnessvale]

But the back rope wouldn't be attached while the prop is turning, but would be safely out of the way on the cabin slide.

Wouldn't it?

 

Definitely not! It will be hanging on the tiller pin like its supposed to be:-)

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[bargiepat]

you can always cut them down if you feel you don't need the extra length.

 

Or when you have to free them from the propeller !!!!!!!

[Byeckerslike]

3' shorter than the distance from the fixing point, to your prop.

 

40' sounds either about right or a bit too long.

 

If it can reach your prop, one day, it most surely will.

 

 

This is too long and you risk wrapping it round your prop.

 

Agreed!.... unless, of course, the rope is doubled around the centre fixing point, but apart from that I agree that it should equal the distance from the centre point fixing minus at least 3 foot, in order to avoid propellor entanglement.

 

Rob.

 

 

.

 

Rob.

[Chertsey]

Definitely not! It will be hanging on the tiller pin like its supposed to be:-)

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[nb Innisfree]

We have one long centre line each side, they each go round a non rotating s/s pulley, bolted on a board which is installed across the roof, through a large brass fairlead fixed near the roof edge and back to the stern. In normal use I take one line from the stern to use as a conventional centre line. If a strong wind is blowing boat away from mooring spot I can take both lines and fix one to a bollard or mooring pin and use the other line to pull boat in using the fixed pulley to give a 2:1 advantage. Also I can use this double line to quickly provide two spring lines.

 

Clear as mud?

[dor]

I recently helped out someone who, following a very load bang and a very expensive repair, discovered the wiseness of Carls advice about making sure your centre rope can't reach your prop.

[KenK]

Carl was right in post two, the only important thing with regard to the length is it can't reach the prop. Everything else is personal preferance.

 

Ken

[DHutch]

Horses four courses.

- Ive just replaced our centre rope and i tried made it 55ft just like the one before. As it turns out i miss judged how much it would increases in length after a few uses despite stopping the boat on it once and cutting a bit short. So the new line is about 60ft, the same lenght as the boat.

 

I often stop/hold the boat on the balance beam with me, throw it to people a long way away, or use it anywhere else i need a long line for somthine Ive never got the round the prop yet. Although i have got the stern line round once. Try having one of those short enough it cant reach the prop!

 

If you worried about it going into the prop (single handing, rushing, just learning, whatever) then why not make it 60ft but out of polyprop synthetic hemp. Polypropylene floats.

 

 

Daniel

[Chertsey]

Although i have got the stern line round once. Try having one of those short enough it cant reach the prop!

See post 11....

[journeyperson]

I prefer a rope from about one third from the front to just short of the propeller.

 

The about one third (ish) from the front allows bow hauling the boat parallel to the tow path and a few feet away but it does have to be fine tuned. It also allows a longer rope whilst staying just short of the propeller to prevent it getting wrapped up.

 

That's the arrangement I use. I also find it very handy for taking a turn around a bollard before a lock and tying to a point one third from the stern to keep the boat where I want it whilst I sort out the lock.

My boat is only 40ft though and it might nor work so well on a longer boat.

[johnjo]

We have one long centre line each side, they each go round a non rotating s/s pulley, bolted on a board which is installed across the roof, through a large brass fairlead fixed near the roof edge and back to the stern. In normal use I take one line from the stern to use as a conventional centre line. If a strong wind is blowing boat away from mooring spot I can take both lines and fix one to a bollard or mooring pin and use the other line to pull boat in using the fixed pulley to give a 2:1 advantage. Also I can use this double line to quickly provide two spring lines.

 

Clear as mud?

 

 

Yep!

[deletedaccount]

I got my stern rope chopped up by my prop on the second day of owning a boat so there's no way I'd want my centre line long enough to do so! It's currently about two fee short of the end.

 

The only time I wished my centre line was longer was single handing it through bath deep lock. I managed to get to the top with about two feet left to try and tie her up.

Edited September 20, 2009 by deletedaccount

[furnessvale]

I got my stern rope chopped up by my prop on the second day of owning a boat so there's no way I'd want my centre line long enough to do so! It's currently about two fee short of the end.

 

The only time I wished my centre line was longer was single handing it through bath deep lock. I managed to get to the top with about two feet left to try and tie her up.

 

You could always have an eye splice in the end of your standard centre line and carry a length of rope with a snap link attached so you could quickly lengthen, and reshorten, your centre line for such problems.

 

George ex nb Alton retired