Mooring Whips are the devil

• I'll let you all know how Skisafe handles claims
• Sharing in my misery
• Think I'm the first person here who totally fucked up their rudder, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyhoo - rented a house on Seneca Lake in NY, dragged my boat all the way up there, launched it and tied to the dock on Thursday. All was well Thursday. All was well Friday. Overnight Friday the winds really kicked up coming across the lake to our house, and seem to have overwhelmed the capacity of the whips, pushing the boat closer to shore, where it proceeded to slam down on some rocks. Woke up Saturday morning to 2-3' whitecaps on the lake, and a bilge pump running every three minutes - no bueno.

Before things went bad. Looking back at it, maybe the boat was too far away from the dock, or not enough tension, etc. Was my first time using whips, and everything I read only said "Have some tension, but not too much". OK - Whatever TF that means.



By the next morning, the stern of my boat would be about even with the first piling.



Better idea of scale, stern moved from just behind the rear whip, INTO the dock, and about even where it was getting splashed by waves on the seawall.



See those white marks on the rocks? Yeah, that's my gelcoat.

Brought this bastard home.



At least the dog enjoyed swimming where the boat once was.




Anyway, on to the carnage.









That's a straight on opening into the bilge, caused by the rudder moving upward, and the bolt on the steering bar impacting it. Lets an alarming amount of water into the boat. I had only plugged it in the night before (and didnt even really feel like doing it when I did, since it involved digging extension cords out of the truck and running them down the dock). Glad I did, the amount of time that pump was running probably could have easily exhausted the battery. Also, I had put off adding a secondary bilge pump with float switch - I'll be doing that first thing this spring.

This weekend I'll be emptying the boat out, changing the oil and winterizing, then off for repairs. Gal certainly lives up to her name.



Oh well. Had a great season, though would have liked to use it a few more weeks (and maybe a bit on the lakehouse vacation. Grr.). She saw all of 6 miles of use on the trip, three miles down to the dock, and three miles back to the ramp hoping not to sink.

Oddly - there was zero suggestion of an issue with my rudder or steering on the way back, running on plane in some pretty serious chop.

Or, more than likely, the idiot using them improperly. Thought I would share this story for a few reasonsAnyhoo - rented a house on Seneca Lake in NY, dragged my boat all the way up there, launched it and tied to the dock on Thursday. All was well Thursday. All was well Friday. Overnight Friday the winds really kicked up coming across the lake to our house, and seem to have overwhelmed the capacity of the whips, pushing the boat closer to shore, where it proceeded to slam down on some rocks. Woke up Saturday morning to 2-3' whitecaps on the lake, and a bilge pump running every three minutes - no bueno.Before things went bad. Looking back at it, maybe the boat was too far away from the dock, or not enough tension, etc. Was my first time using whips, and everything I read only said "Have some tension, but not too much". OK - Whatever TF that means.By the next morning, the stern of my boat would be about even with the first piling.Better idea of scale, stern moved from just behind the rear whip, INTO the dock, and about even where it was getting splashed by waves on the seawall.See those white marks on the rocks? Yeah, that's my gelcoat.Brought this bastard home.At least the dog enjoyed swimming where the boat once was.Anyway, on to the carnage.That's a straight on opening into the bilge, caused by the rudder moving upward, and the bolt on the steering bar impacting it. Lets an alarming amount of water into the boat. I had only plugged it in the night before (and didnt even really feel like doing it when I did, since it involved digging extension cords out of the truck and running them down the dock). Glad I did, the amount of time that pump was running probably could have easily exhausted the battery. Also, I had put off adding a secondary bilge pump with float switch - I'll be doing that first thing this spring.This weekend I'll be emptying the boat out, changing the oil and winterizing, then off for repairs. Gal certainly lives up to her name.Oh well. Had a great season, though would have liked to use it a few more weeks (and maybe a bit on the lakehouse vacation. Grr.). She saw all of 6 miles of use on the trip, three miles down to the dock, and three miles back to the ramp hoping not to sink.Oddly - there was zero suggestion of an issue with my rudder or steering on the way back, running on plane in some pretty serious chop.

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