On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:14:15 -0400, Sunny wrote:
In the end I found a supplier who stocked 6" black nylon cleats. They
have nicely rounded ends (hard to see how kids could injure themselves),
snow and ice don't adhere very well to nylon, and they seem fairly solid
when mounted with two #14 x 4" stainless steel screws (which go right
through the cedar decking and just over an inch into the fir beams).
================================================== ==

How heavy is your boat, and how much wind and wave action is it
exposed to?

Wayne.B wrote:

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:14:15 -0400, Sunny wrote:

In the end I found a supplier who stocked 6" black nylon cleats. They
have nicely rounded ends (hard to see how kids could injure themselves),
snow and ice don't adhere very well to nylon, and they seem fairly solid
when mounted with two #14 x 4" stainless steel screws (which go right
through the cedar decking and just over an inch into the fir beams).

================================================== ==

How heavy is your boat, and how much wind and wave action is it
exposed to?

We have too many boats, all small. The heaviest is a 16' aluminum
Starcraft with a 120HP outboard, I'd guess no more than 3000lbs.

The lake is only a mile wide at our location, and we rarely experience
onshore winds. Heaviest wave action is due to inconsiderate wakes from
similar craft to ours. I doubt the cleat screws will break - is that
your concern?

Sunny

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:44:02 -0400, Sunny wrote:

I doubt the cleat screws will break - is that
your concern?

=========================================

That, and working loose from not being thru bolted. The shock loads
imposed by a heavy boat bouncing around are considerable - well into
thousands of pounds. Would you be comfortable if your heaviest boat
dropped vertically by a foor or two and was caught by the cleats?
That sort of loading is fairly routine in rough water.

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 23:02:49 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

Would you be comfortable if your heaviest boat
dropped vertically by a foor or two and was caught by the cleats?
That sort of loading is fairly routine in rough water.

Make that "a foot or two" .....

Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 23:02:49 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:


Would you be comfortable if your heaviest boat
dropped vertically by a foor or two and was caught by the cleats?
That sort of loading is fairly routine in rough water.


Make that "a foot or two" .....

The previous dock had mooring rings secured with one 3/8 x 1 1/4" lag
screw, i.e. they didn't even fully penetrate the decking and weren't a
lot thicker than the #14 screws. We didn't have any problems with boats
breaking from their moorings, but I will be keeping a close eye on the
new cleats for the first few months in case they aren't as secure as I
think they are.

Sunny