Boat Whips - Requesting advice from the experienced

[rgilfert]

Reading through the responses posted on another item in this forum (i.e. Boat Whips versus Boat Lift) has me wondering/worrying about my own situation and so I'd like to solicit some input from the experienced. This is my first summer on the Broads side of Rattlesnake. The place that we bought has a 45' breakwater (with cantilevered dock) positioned to protect against the predominant NNW winds & 14' Whips (I own a 20' Four Winns Horizon bowrider....hopefully the whips are sized adequately?). While opening camp a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the whips are currently set up with old, over-sized (i.e. over-sized for the pulley) stranded manila line. Reading on the whip manufacturer's site I learned that the correct line for my whips is 5/16" solid braid nylon line and so I have ordered some of that. My question however is about the type of connector to use to attach the whips to the boat. I have absolutely no idea about the amount of stress that will be applied to these fasteners but I suspect that it could be pretty significant. Per the included picture, my plan had been as follows: 1) becasue of the ease of use I planned to use the 5/16" Stainless Spring Link for day to day (i.e. non heavy winds) use. I noticed however that the safe working load of these connectors is only 280 lbs and that doesn't sound like a lot to me (???) 2) When winds picked up...I was going to switch the connectors to the more time consuming to apply ones on the right side of the picture because they have a working load of 1200 lbs. Am I over thinking this? Please help me out so I can sleep at night when the winds are howling. Also...the lateral stress that was mentioned in the other posts is a concern....I currently only tie the boat up with a single bow & stern line...do I really need to add the two spring lines as well??

[SAB1]

The stress should not be that bad. When you travel around the lake and see some folks with their whips bowed over like a fishing rod in a down rigger they either didnt read the directions for proper use or just have no idea how they are supposed to work. I tie off to my bow to the trailer eye (winch eye) and the stern tie down (the Eye for hooking up waterski line) I do not directly clip the metal to the eye. I dont like anything metal that can move that close to my fiberglass. I make up a rope loop in the bow that I clip to above the level of the glass. Same for stern. I take the bow loop when I upclip and wrap around the bow cleat.

[LIforrelaxin]

I would not use a clip....

I have been using whips on boats for well over 20 years now... I connect the whips directly to the cleats on the boat. Just like they where meant to be.

As previously mentioned here, when the boat is at rest, there should be very little tension in the system. The dock lines should be tight, and the whips should have a very slight bend to them.

Most people believe that with the whips their boat should never never hit the dock, hence they put a ton of tension on the whips. Whips when used properly, keep the boat off the dock, in most conditions, however in times of heavy waves or wind, the boat should find its way over to the dock, the whips lesson the severity of the blow to the dock and boat.

[Just Wonderin]

We too have used whips for our boats for many years. We always tie a bowline knot at the end of each line and attach them to the cleats of the boat. That's always worked for us. Don't over think all of this. You've got the right whips and you want to make it easy to take your boat on and off the whips. In addition to the whips, the only other line you will need is to create the springline. Just do this and you'll be good to go.

[DRH]

I agree with the other posters. I've been using whips for many years and an "eye" loop tied in the end of the lines using a bowline knot will work well for you. Just connect the "eyes" to your boat's bow and stern cleats in the same way you attach your dock lines. As for the whip lines themselves, always use braided nylon line. The more common three-strand line will twist as it goes through the pulleys at the end of the whips.

As Just Wonderin suggested, when using whips it is a good idea to use "spring lines" in an "X" manner to keep your boat from moving fore and aft.

[dippasan]

Reading through the responses posted on another item in this forum (i.e. Boat Whips versus Boat Lift) has me wondering/worrying about my own situation and so I'd like to solicit some input from the experienced. This is my first summer on the Broads side of Rattlesnake. The place that we bought has a 45' breakwater (with cantilevered dock) positioned to protect against the predominant NNW winds & 14' Whips (I own a 20' Four Winns Horizon bowrider....hopefully the whips are sized adequately?). While opening camp a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the whips are currently set up with old, over-sized (i.e. over-sized for the pulley) stranded manila line. Reading on the whip manufacturer's site I learned that the correct line for my whips is 5/16" solid braid nylon line and so I have ordered some of that. My question however is about the type of connector to use to attach the whips to the boat. I have absolutely no idea about the amount of stress that will be applied to these fasteners but I suspect that it could be pretty significant. Per the included picture, my plan had been as follows: 1) becasue of the ease of use I planned to use the 5/16" Stainless Spring Link for day to day (i.e. non heavy winds) use. I noticed however that the safe working load of these connectors is only 280 lbs and that doesn't sound like a lot to me (???) 2) When winds picked up...I was going to switch the connectors to the more time consuming to apply ones on the right side of the picture because they have a working load of 1200 lbs. Am I over thinking this? Please help me out so I can sleep at night when the winds are howling. Also...the lateral stress that was mentioned in the other posts is a concern....I currently only tie the boat up with a single bow & stern line...do I really need to add the two spring lines as well??

I have 2 boats on whips and love them! I have a 19' Four Winns and a 28' Formula. The Four Winns is driven by my sons mostly, so I wanted it to be easy for them and their guests to attach the whips so I used the spring clips in your photo. Works great, easy on, easy off.
For the Formula...no clips just a loop in the rope I can slip through the cleat. a slight bend in the whip is all that is needed to keep it away from the dock but I still hang a bumper or two for those times the lake gets rollin'.

Also, I remove the rear whips completely from the mounts when I take the boats out, to ease docking when I return. Otherwise they get hung up on bimini tops, windshields etc and people have to maneuver around them getting on and off the boats. They do make a spring loaded base that holds the whip strait up for just those reasons but they are very expensive so I just simply remove the whip.