What they do 

Dock lines secure your boat to a dock, or to another boat when rafting, either temporarily or semi-permanently. These applications demand different types of dock lines. 

How they work

When your boat is away from its regular slip or mooring, you need to have some designated nylon lines aboard, preferably with spliced eyes, ready for use when you tie up somewhere. They call these transient dock lines. The eye in the end is easily passed around a cleat or piling by someone on the dock and the bitter end is adjusted on board. There are dozens of combinations of diameters and lengths. 

Permanent dock lines are also made of nylon, but differ from transient dock lines in several ways. First, they must be protected from chafe, the enemy of all lines in constant use. This calls for leather, rubber or fabric chafe gear where the line passes through the chocks, and possibly a chafe sleeve on the eye where it goes around the cleat on deck. At the dock, lines should be protected from chafe using eye splices and shackles if the dock has rings, or eye splices and short lengths of chain if the dock has cleats. Permanent dock lines should be cut to fit the particular boat in the slip. 

Dock Line Material and Application 

Material is a synthetic fiber that is recognized for its outstanding strength, high stretch and good abrasion resistance. It is ideal for applications where stretch and energy absorption are critical, such as in dock and anchor lines. Additionally, nylon suffers minimal strength loss when exposed to sunlight. 

Double Braid or 3-Strand? 

Nylon rope is available in both braided and three-strand twist construction. Each has its advantages. 

Double Braid: A braided cover surrounds a braided core, producing a rope designed for strength, durability, shape and easy handling. Construction is used in running rigging and dock lines. It has better abrasion resistance than three-strand, and typically it is slightly stronger. Braided line can be a good choice for tying up in your home dock, but have a tendency to snag on rough pilings when used as transient dock lines. Braided nylon lines look "dressy and has a nice feel and comes in a variety of colors. 

3-Strand: Four-stage, balanced construction leveraged with an advanced stabilization process produces a durable, long lasting and flexible rope that will harden with age.3-Strand rope is ideal for applications where grip, abrasion resistance and stretch are critical factors. Construction is ideal for anchor, dock, mooring and tow lines up to 1-1/8as well as running rigging on traditional cruising boats. The main advantages of three-strand nylon for dock lines are that it doesn't snag and it is considerably less costly than braided rope. Three-strand nylon lines are ideal for use as transient dock lines, for trailered boats, and for other applications that don't require maximum strength or heavy-duty abrasion resistance. 

Premium grade, high tenacity nylon fiber is treated with a proprietary Marine-Tech coating to improve fiber-to-fiber abrasion resistance. Construction is ideal for anchor, snubber dock lines and mooring lines. 

Tying off boats Length: Transient dock lines should be about 2/3 of the boat's length when used on the bow and stern. Spring lines should be equal to your boat's length. 

Spring lines are dock lines that run forward from the stern, or aft from the bow of the boat to the dock. They oppose the tension on the bow and stern lines and keep the boat from surging fore and aft. 

Mooring Snubbers absorb shock loads and reduce stressto protect boats, cleats and lines from the strain of windy conditions, waves or high traffic areas. They also create a cushion for your lines when docking. This helps keep your boat stable in less than ideal docking conditions. 

Line Handling When aboard a boat, ropes are no longer called ropes, they are called lines. At least three and preferably four lines should be carried aboard for docking:

• A bow line with a snubber to secure the bow;
• A stern line with a snubber to secure the stern, and
• At least one spring line to reduce fore-and-aft movement.

The diagram below shows four lines used. Although the stern line will keep the boat from moving forward too much, to be safe a fourth spring line running from the dock cleat forward could be used. 

Excellent quality,it is the choice of several foreign navies.
We provide different materials of excellent quality mooring rope for several foreign navies.
Such as we produce 12 strand UHMWPE braided rope , 3 strand and 8 strand nylon (polyamide multifilament) mooring rope for Chinese navy,Turkey navy and Bangladesh navy. We get a great reputation overseas.

Our company owns one sole set of unique 600-ton rope tension test machine in China and has a complete set of production equipment .The imported five -block wire drawing machine and magnetically levitated twisting machine are international high-end rope -producing equipment.