Dock line silencing

[tonyiiiafl]

We spent a rough night aboard last night. Was pretty stormy. The only issue was the noise of the dock lines. Any ideas or solutions to silencing these? Should we use woven instead of braided? Something under them where it meets the fiberglass?

Thanks for the suggestions and the Admiral will also thank you,

[Midnightsun]

I use standard braided lines and honestly have never heard noise from them. Noisy anchor chain, noisy fenders and such however not from lines. What kind of noise are you referring to? Maybe they are so old and dry they are squeaking? That being the case a new set of lines and you will be a happy camper once more.

[tonyiiiafl]

New lines. I am hearing them where they go from clear to fiberglass.

[Midnightsun]

Ooops, for some reason I originally wrote woven lines when I use braided. Changed this on the post above.

What noise are you hearing? Must be something to do with the lines you bought, maybe a cheap Chinese knock off made with recycled materials? Just find it odd that I have never heard dock line noise in my entire boating life.

[bud37]

There are leather chafe guards you can put around the dock line between the cleat and the glass......do you have a pic of how your lines go on the boat cleats and what size lines do you have.

Also if the lines are old and stretched under very heavy wind load they will creak........are your lines stiff ??

Dock lines can be recovered a bit by washing and soaking in fabric softener, but it only works for a while. I always liked three strand and not too big as to not allow some stretch, very important to keep the biggest part of the shock load off the boat cleat.....line snubbers come in handy for this if your dock is open to wind and boat wakes.

[Viper]

Ya braided is good as it absorbs some load and sudden jerks due to wind gusts will be less compared to a weave that doesn't stretch like a good quality braid. The leather chafe guards are a good option, I just don't know if they'll be quieter. Yet another option would be to to keep the rope off you glass with a stainless steel half moon strip. They sell them specifically for this purpose so the line rides on the strip and you don't chafe your gelcoat. I suspect riding on the stainless steel might make it quieter.

Tony, do you tie off to cleats on the dock or to piles? If it's piles, tying off higher on the pile would keep the line off the deck.

[tonyiiiafl]

I have new lines I bought from DEFENDER. They are 3/4", soft and pliable. They get tied to cleats on the dock. I am going to check out the leather Anti Chaffe

[RobGunn]

How do you have your line attached to your cleats? Just placing the loop over the cleat will allow rubbing and noise. The correct way is slid the rope loop thru the center of the cleat and then loop over the ears of cleat (see attached). Ive had the noise that you are talking about and it was due to not having the rope attached to the cleat correctly. [image][/image]

[vineyardgray]

I get 'scronk' noises from the lines but I was certain it is the cleats on the boat making that noise as tension is placed/released from them.

[Carpediem]

I have a side tie which is broadside to the prevailing wind. The noise from the line rubbing on the fiberglass at the cleats will drive us nuts. I finally started letting out about ten feet od anchor, attaching a line to the anchor and cleating off well forward of the bow for a spring line. Then pulling taught with the windlass. Noise disappears! I only do that on windy nights so we can sleep then relax it when the noise is not an issue. Worked like magic. You might try using snubbers on the lines so the lines themselves don't tighten and squeak.