Dock Rash

[scottiecoach]

For those of you who a fortunate enough to live on a lake, what do you use to prevent dock rash on your boat (the rubbing of your boat against the dock)? I am going to have a fairly new boat on a dock for the summer and need to know what I need to do to keep it in good shape.

[smartguy]

There are rubber bumpers you can nail/screw to the end of your dock. They vary in width from 4 to 8 inches or so. These are pretty costly, however.

What we do is take old tires and cut a hole through the tread. Then we find an old, extra large shirt and cover thr tire (this prevents black marks on your boat). Then slide the dock post through the hole in yhe tire. This is waaaaaay cheaper, though you have to study the spacing between tires to make sure your boat doesn't rub the dock.

[Guest]

boat lift

[MT Net]

Buy some sedar 2x6's, cut them down to about 2 and a half feet in length. bolt them to the side of the dock so the board extends above and below the dock.

[fivebucks]

About the only sure way is a boat lift. I have places on my boat were the paint has started to rub off from the boat rubbing alot against the bumpers. You need to have the boat not rub at all to avoid this I believe.

[Slugo]

They also make stand offs that look like heavey duty fishing poles. I don't know what they are called but I've seen them used.

[Guest]

I have a Trophy 190 I/O 19' boat that can actually MOVE a dock if tied to it in high waves.
Here is what I do most all of the time...
I tie the rear of the boat to the deep end of the dock with a couple to five feet of slack. Then I walk the front anchor & rope down the shoreline a several yards. I take up all slack, put the anchor round a tree or secure it to another dock.
This pulls the boat away from the dock it is next to so that it is not going to touch it at all. The boat rides the waves FREE from a dock.
When you are teady to go out, un-hook the front rope & anchor and walk it to you boat. Your boat is easy to board by pulling on the back rope.
This works with the front of your boat facing out fron the shore also... but puts your motor into the shallows and works best for boats with a low transom (no water over the back from waves). Not a prob if you have a deep enough dock.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

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For Bass, Walleye, Pike, Lakers, Trout, Panfish
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[This message has been edited by Catch'n (edited 05-24-2004).]

[Animal]

I was up at Kabetogama on the MN opener. A guy up there had this bumper on the link below. It looked like it would work well.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/horizontal-item.jhtml?id=0018969012760a&navAction=jump&navCount=0&indexId=&podId=0018969&catalogCode=IE&parentId=&parentType=&ri d=&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fcatalog%2Fitem-link.jhtml.1_A&_DAV=search&hasJS=true

[GRfisher]

We use the plastic things that hang down off the side of your dock. Ours were not very expensive at all. We just tied them up to each pole with a piece of rope and that works wonders.

However the best bet is to just get a boat dock! well the are alot more money but to protect it alot more and are easier to use