"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote
The only time any real sailboat is bothered by a wake is when it's
motoring along in a channel.

I'm mostly bothered when I'm parked. Hard to "stay away from where the big
boys play" when they play in my back yard.
http://blizzard.zmm.com/whips/movie.wmv
(Strictly speaking, if it that's as bad as it ever got, I'd have no
complaints. I don't have any video of my nemesis in the big blue SeaRay
plowing by.)

On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:21:27 -0500, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

I'm mostly bothered when I'm parked. Hard to "stay away from where the big
boys play" when they play in my back yard.
http://blizzard.zmm.com/whips/movie.wmv
(Strictly speaking, if it that's as bad as it ever got, I'd have no
complaints. I don't have any video of my nemesis in the big blue SeaRay
plowing by.)

Ouch. Nice location but you're in a difficult situation there with
wakes. There are some alternatives to the mooring whips which I've
seen used elsewhere and would be more effective:

- A boat lift, also keeps the bottom clean and makes the boat easier
to work on.

- An anchor to the channel side with a bow and stern bridle, allowing
you to pull the boat further away from the dock.

- A mooring with or without a "haul out" system. A mooring is
essentially a big anchor with chain and a floating ball on the
surface. Unless you rig a "haul out" system you will need to take a
dinghy out to the boat. A "haul out" is essentially a continuous
pulley system like an old fashioned clothes line that allows you to
retrieve the boat from shore.

"Wayne.B" wrote
http://blizzard.zmm.com/whips/movie.wmv

There are some alternatives to the mooring whips which I've
seen used elsewhere and would be more effective:

Thanks for the suggestions. A lift would be great, but I just can't justify
the expense. A lot of people here use floating lifts, the kind with a pair
of pontoons that you sink under the boat and then inflate with an air pump
to raise it. They look a little precarious to me, with their relatively high
center of gravity. Fixed lifts are a bit of a problem in most places here
because the slope of the bank make it difficult to get a good footing on the
bottom. The water is about 12 feet deep at the edge of my dock, and
continues at that angle for quite some distance. A mooring ball would be
handy, but I'd probably need some kind of dispensation from the Corpse of
Engineers to put something that far out toward the channel, and again I'd
have the problem of anchoring it on the slope. The mooring whips are doing
the job well enough for now.

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:29:08 -0500, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

Fixed lifts are a bit of a problem in most places here
because the slope of the bank make it difficult to get a good footing on the
bottom.

The best type of lift is installed on driven pilings. It makes the
bottom contour irrelevant and there is no metal in the water.

http://www.dolphinboatlifts.com/Cradle.htm

In my area of Florida everyone uses this type, power or sail.