10 Best Sailing Anchor/Dock Ropes/Lines for Mooring

All of these products are designed to provide optimal protection for boats and watercraft. Every item in this TOP-list has been carefully selected for its durability and performance in different conditions, whether you’re anchoring in river currents, mooring in coastal tides, or docking at your favorite lakeside restaurant. Most popular materials for ropes and lines are nylon and polypropylene. Nylon has great strength and shock load resistance, handles easily. Polyester doesn't lose strength when wet, stretches less than nylon and much more sunlight-resistant than nylon. Braided lines/ropes offer greater durability and excellent shock load reduction. And double braid provides minimal stretch, so mooring in an absolute stationary position is a great use for braided anchor lines. Multi-strand twisted design, compared to braided design, is less brutal on the hands and has a more flexible and soft structure. Also, multi-strand twisted lines and ropes can memorize position.

TOP Mooring Ropes/Lines Comparison Table

1. The Best Double Braid Nylon Anchor Line with Thimble [Extreme Max]

2. The Best Solid Braid Anchor Line with Thimble [Attwood]

3. The Best Polypropylene Hollow Braid Anchor Line [SeaSense]

4. The Best Anchor Bungee [Airhead]

5. The Best Braided Nylon Anchor Rope/Line with Thimble (Boat Rode) [Norestar]

6. The Best Nylon Anchor Line [Solid Braid]

7. The Best Anchor Rope [Trac]

8. The Best Braided Anchor Line [Rope USA]

9. The Best Double Braid Nylon Rope [Blue Ox Rope]

10. The Best Blue Double Braided Nylon Anchor/Dock Line Rope

Double Braid VS Twisted Nylon Rope

I'm going to go over dock lines, the difference between twisted nylon opposed to double braid. Also, I'll go over bungee dock lines and what those will do for you and the thickness of the rope you'll need depending on the size of your boat. So I've got an example of a twisted nylon rope and a double braid. Double braid is definitely the stronger of the two it'll be a little bit more durable you've got nice braids on the outside as well as one on the inside so it's going to be super strong. With the twisted nylon, it's basically twisted strands of nylon rope, so it is strong but if this ever comes unraveled that can be kind of a pain. Also, twisted nylon rope tends to stiffen up and yellow over time but twisted nylon tends to be a little less expensive opposed to the double braid. If you're getting a good doc line if you're getting one from us it's going to come with a pre-spliced loop in one end that comes in handy. When you're coming up to the dock very easy to throw that over the cleat and then you got a nice splice in there that you don't have to worry about coming undone. Our clients will come in different thicknesses so the smallest that we've got is 38. 38 I probably recommend for boats up to 20 feet. If you want to go bigger than that so you've got a 20 foot to 35-foot boat I'd probably go to half and then I'd go to five-eighths if you've got a 35 foot to about a 45-foot boat. And then when you go to 45 foot on up to about a 60-foot boat go with a three-quarter intro. Dock lines are going to come in different lengths as well 15 20 to 25 or common ones, I'd probably recommend, it's all personal preference so I know if you've got a cuddy cabin, if you've got the cleats on your boats, it really high I probably recommend getting a little longer dock line to be able to reach down to the cleats. Opposed to if you have a ski boat you know maybe the cleats on your boats it about the same level as the dock, you might not want quite as long the dock line. But it's one of those things that it's always nice to have, we've also got the bungee dock lines. Now, these are going to take a lot of shock out of the line. These have been really popular over the past few seasons because what they do is they'll actually take a lot of stress off the cleat and the fiberglass of your boat so it's not pulling as hard. We also have snubbers that you can get, these will feed your dock line will feed through the snubber. This will take a lot of shock out similar to the bungee dock line, but again if you have that wet slip or long period of time I probably recommend getting something like this. We have these in a bunch of different sizes that you can get.

How to Select and Maintain Dock Lines

We'll tell you how to spec out dock lines for your boat so you're all set come spring or any season. Once you get to the store you'll have a selection of kits to choose from as far as your dock lines are concerned. Or you can buy it off the spool by the foot and tie your own bowline. You've got three strand nylon and you've got braided line. The braided line and the three strand come with a loop in the end for making quick knots. Now when you get to the store you'll notice that the three strand nylon is much less expensive than the braid. The braid is not only stronger but it tends to stay flexible longer. The three strand tends to get stiff after time. When you're selecting your dock lines make sure that you're not buying Dacron sailboat lines. They don't stretch and they'll rip the cleats right off your boat. No matter what size boat you have you're going to need the following combination of lines. For your bow, you're gonna need two lines that are the length of the boat. For your stern you're gonna need another two lines that are the length of the boat. And for your spring lines you're gonna need two more. Each of these should be one and a half times the length of the boat. With this complement of lines, there's absolutely no way that you're gonna have a fire drill next time you go to dock your boat.

How to Set Your Boat's Lines for a Hurricane

We all know boats are safer ashore when there's a storm coming, but what do you do when you have to leave your boat in the slip? Today I'm going to walk you through the steps necessary to show you how to secure your boat so it has the best possible chance of surviving the storm. Let's start with the basics. We're going to need at least 12 lines, and they should be at least double the length of the boat. The lines need to be in excellent condition. I've just have two. One - three strand nylon, which has got lots of stretch, ideal for tying up the boat when there's a hurricane coming. Another - double strand rope. It's seen better days, and it's very frayed. This is something I should not be using. To tie up my boat, I'm going to be using three strand nylon. This is 5/8 diameter, but it's always better to use a thicker diameter than you think you might need. My boat's a 32 foot trawler, and this is ideal for that. If you have a smaller boat, you can go thinner, but I wouldn't really go under half an inch in diameter. So let's get started by making the lines off to the cleat. Some lines have a loop in the end ready. This one does not, so I'm going to have to pass this through the chalk and then make it off on the cleat. And then I've got a helper so I'm going to pass this ashore. So it's important to remember that whenever possible that we don't have more than two lines on a cleat. That reduces chafe and it also means that the cleat itself is not overloaded. I've added a line to the other side now, and they cross behind the boat. The reason for this is it gives better chafe protection and also gives me more shock absorbency. The other thing is that if I boat with outboards on the back, I probably wouldn't want to do this because the propeller would chew into the lines and cut through the rope. I've secured the bow in exactly the same way as I've secured to stern, except you'll notice two things: One is I've actually tied to a piling farther away from the boat. That gives me a chance to allow for the storm surge as the boat rises and also gives me more shock absorbency. The other thing that you'll notice is that I haven't crossed the lines at the bow. I've just run straight from the chock straight to the piling here. If I'd crossed them over, they would be round the front of the boat and actually the anchor would cut into them and they wouldn't last very long at all. So I've just finished tying off the boat now, and we've got two lines - they're just different colors and are actually both the same. The reason for that is if one chafes through, we'll make sure that we have a backup so the boat isn't free. And the other thing there is that you'll notice that they're quite slack, and that's to allow for the storm surge. So as the boat rises up, it's not going to go drum tight and gonna break something. Now that I've finished tying off the bow and the stern, it's time to add the spring lines. These are very important because they stop the boat from surging back and forth in the slip and damaging the side of the boat. Now that I've finished tying a boat up, one important step is chafe protection, because you might not think it but when the boat moves backwards and forwards it will saw through these ropes very quickly. There's a couple of ways of doing this. One I've used some old jeans, old blue jeans. They will need to be whipped to the line to hold it in place with some whipping twine, but much more convenient is these ready bought ones which have a hook-and-loop system and they grip the line. And that's all you need to do, and that holds it in place. That'll protect the line now. Now that I've secured the boat, I'm pretty confident it's not going to move and it's going to be as safe as I can possibly make it for the coming storm.

Don’t buy cheap mooring rope (line)

If you buy cheap products, you will end up buying twice. There are some very cheap mooring ropes/lines on the market, but these are the ones made from poor quality material and components, and they can break down after a few months. Buy more quality model as it will be worth price that you pay.

FAQ

Let's go over some frequently asked questions about mooring ropes/lines.