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Gould 0738
 
Posts: n/a
Default All chain rode is for old men

just for kicks, ask yourself what happens to a boat that is *chained* to a
dock.


Eventually the repo man shows up and tows it away? :-)

Seriously, If you use a long enough, and heavy enough chain here's what will
happen..............

The wind or current might set the boat off the dock, beginning a process that
will attempt to pull the chain into a horizontal position between the dock and
the boat. The unsupported weight in the middle of the chain is exerting equal
lateral force on the boat and the dock. The dock isn't going anyhwhere (hope
hope hope) so something has to give in response to that force. What gives, is
before the limit of the chain is reached the increasing weight of the belly in
the chain either stabilizes the set off of the boat or causes it to drift back
toward the fixed end at the dock.