Mooring Whips, Pros/Cons and Best Brand?

[WakeDoc 471]

Been looking at mooring whips, wanted to hear from members that use them, pros/cons and best brand.

[Bobby Elite 6]

If your dock is beating up your boat they are great...until your wakeboard rack rips one off the dock.

I had used 14' heavy duty whips for 2 years, they go brittle and snap after a few years.

 

I have heard good things about the mooring arms and they probably last longer

 

Now I have floating dock and boat moored perpendicular to the shore, they all move together only needing a fender

[Cdifranco 463]

Have had whips on my dock for 3 years. Use your head and you won't hit them on your racks, (not saying I didn't the first few in and outs) they do make ones that lift verical out of the way. To me a lift was the best option but these were much cheaper to get me by for the 3 seasons to save some cash. What size boat? I've used undersized 12' ones from my first boat no issues also (again I know not smart)

[ReSession 165]

@Cdifranco - What model and size did you go with? I want to add some whips this year!

[Cdifranco 463]

DOCKMATE DELUXE MOORING WHIPS, 12'.. they cost me I think 290$ a few years ago.

[ReSession 165]

Right on, they get lots of good reviews for the Dockmates - I'm likely going with the 14' (up to 28' / 10,000 lbs) for $375 including shipping @ http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Dockmate-Deluxe-Mooring-Whips-14&i=74609&from=grid

[Cdifranco 463]

I would go with the 14s.. your boats bigger than mine, I have the runt of the centurion line. For 375$ how can you go wrong, can't even buy a board for that these days.

[WakeDoc 471]

I have been leaning towards THESE, simple design, think the bases might hold up better over time in a brackish environment.

[RhuntIII 555]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you just tie up bow and stern on the pier and throw an anchor off the opposite side and pull tight? Use a buoy to mark your anchor while out on the river and in the boat. Just leave the anchor in the water while at the cabin and take it out when you head home.

[WakeDoc 471]

Want something easy and fool proof if the wind blows up at night and works with the tide. This will be the solution for awhile until I have a lot of $$$$$$$ laying around I can use to build a boat house.

[ReSession 165]

I picked up a set of the 14' whips from Overton's...curious (maybe @Cdifranco can answer) if you have any tips and tricks for a first-time owner of whips. They're going to be used for my neighbor's 20' Chaparral open bow most of the time, but I'm sure I'll tie up to them a few times too.

[Cdifranco 463]

I picked up a set of the 14' whips from Overton's...curious (maybe @Cdifranco can answer) if you have any tips and tricks for a first-time owner of whips. They're going to be used for my neighbor's 20' Chaparral open bow most of the time, but I'm sure I'll tie up to them a few times too.

I remember a thread where you got a huge dock. Cant remember if it was wood or not though. My recommendations are make sure the cast base pieces that hold the fiberglass whip are secured well. My dock is old and rotted out so I drilled through the dock and into a piece of pressure treated wood so it the whip comes off its taking 3-4 deck boards with it. Also what I do since I am on a busy wavy part of the lake is I stagger the cleats. The whips will only hold the boat away from the dock but does limited from forward and backwards movement. I use 5 lines total: The 2 ropes attached to the whips, two bungee lines to keep the boat pulled towards the dock to counter act the whips pulling it out and then one rope just keeping the stern cleat from letting the waves push the boat forward. Honestly I spent a summer playing around with it and its no longer rocket science, first summer i was nervous this summer its tie it up and let the hurricane roll through. Ill find some pics of how I have mine hooked up.

 

One thing I did have to cut which wasnt a big deal was cut a hole in the front of the cover and sewed up nice to make a hole for the whips to go through and attach to the cleat. one other tip, in one of the photos you can see where the mooring base where, I had to move it significantly when I got my SV, so if your trying to kill the two birds with one stone maybe split the difference and mount it in the middle of the two. My bayliner was way up front, the SV more to the middle of the boat. You can tell too as the season progressed ropes were eliminated and now its bare minimum. On stormy stormy days I might throw a line to the tower for the just in case but that is rare. Being in VT you know the storms we get! my first boat, probably similar to what you'll have right? And my SV

Edited March 29, 2017 by Cdifranco

[ReSession 165]

Right on, thanks for the info! And yes, I picked up 110' of 6' wide floating dock last year - we had the 2nd lowest lake levels on record so we had to push the dock out a good amount just to keep it deep enough for the lift to operate, which meant wading out in knee-high water about 100' to just get to my floating dock. I have four 4' auger anchors that I connect to, along with a 3000 lb concrete anchor at the end.

 

This year I'm combining forces with the neighbor...he has 80' of rolling docks (which basically went out to about 1' of water at the end of the season) and we'll use it to connect from shore to my floating docks. I'm not anticipating having to move out anywhere near as far as last year with the amount of precipitation we already got...not to mention all the snowpack in the mountains! Your old boat is pretty much right on-par with what he has.

 

My lift is going to be placed on the left side of the dock this year (see attached thumbnail with my crude sketch) and then I'm planning on installing the whips on the second to last section of floating dock on the right side...this way, I can pull my boat off the lift and pull in and tie up real quick on the right side of dock if needed without having to worry about the other boat. Plus, his boat is an I/O and can be in much shallower water. Already moved the battery box over to the other leg, and the lift is also mounted on wheels this year to make moving it from the beach to the lake easier.

 

The wood planks are pressure-treated and in very good condition (new last year), but may end up putting some additional lumber/support below the whip mounts. Ideally I'm thinking a couple of metal plates on the backside of the mounts under the decking would do the trick, but maybe that's overkill? His boat is probably around 2500 lbs and these 14' whips are rated for 10,000 lbs.

Your 5-line system seems like a good solution, as I'm also on a busy part of the lake - guessing the 2 shorter ones are the 'snubber' lines you can buy on Overtons?

Edited March 29, 2017 by ReSession

[Cdifranco 463]

Right on, thanks for the info! And yes, I picked up 110' of 6' wide floating dock last year - we had the 2nd lowest lake levels on record so we had to push the dock out a good amount just to keep it deep enough for the lift to operate, which meant wading out in knee-high water about 100' to just get to my floating dock. I have four 4' auger anchors that I connect to, along with a 3000 lb concrete anchor at the end.

 

This year I'm combining forces with the neighbor...he has 80' of rolling docks (which basically went out to about 1' of water at the end of the season) and we'll use it to connect from shore to my floating docks. I'm not anticipating having to move out anywhere near as far as last year with the amount of precipitation we already got...not to mention all the snowpack in the mountains! Your old boat is pretty much right on-par with what he has.

 

My lift is going to be placed on the left side of the dock this year (see attached thumbnail with my crude sketch) and then I'm planning on installing the whips on the second to last section of floating dock on the right side...this way, I can pull my boat off the lift and pull in and tie up real quick on the right side of dock if needed without having to worry about the other boat. Plus, his boat is an I/O and can be in much shallower water. Already moved the battery box over to the other leg, and the lift is also mounted on wheels this year to make moving it from the beach to the lake easier.

 

The wood planks are pressure-treated and in very good condition (new last year), but may end up putting some additional lumber/support below the whip mounts. Ideally I'm thinking a couple of metal plates on the backside of the mounts under the decking would do the trick, but maybe that's overkill? His boat is probably around 2500 lbs and these 14' whips are rated for 10,000 lbs.

Your 5-line system seems like a good solution, as I'm also on a busy part of the lake - guessing the 2 shorter ones are the 'snubber' lines you can buy on Overtons?

 

 

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Dockmate-Snubber-Dock-Line-5&i=87063

 

Plate seems like overkill if your docks sturdy. Only reason why I used pressured treated is because as you can tell my dock is a piece of garbage. Yessir, I got them off amazon though. They are short money and I usually replace them once a year but honestly could get away with reusing them. I used the 4' ones as I found 5' left a big gap for us to jump on the boat. I usually just grab the snubber line pull it for a second the boat comes towards the dock and hop on, then the whips do their job and pull you back out. Its a beautiful thing!