dock tie off

Thanks for the info. any other tips for docking in a slip would be great!!!
regarding the bumper question.....I actually drilled in some small chrome loops to hold my bumpers , now Im wondering should I have water proofed them some how?

Do a quick search on Google for Bumper Buddy and Boat. Several sites come up. 6 or 7 dollars. BKH

BKH,
Although I like the looks of what DavidF has found, I wanted to see if there was a little less than permanent solution first. Where can I find these "bumper buddy" things???

Thanks
Moj'

I (and the PO) used these:

Perko Fender Locks

On my '93Sn they are mounted on the rise of the gunnell cutout (fore and aft). The forward ones double as the bimini anchor point.

I have two fenders with a short piece of rope and the loose anchor piece tied on for ready use at any time.

If you look at this picture of my boat,
you can barely make out a "dot" on the gunnell step rise (port side aft). That is the fender lock. The rear straps of the bimini are attached to the foreward fender locks.my boat diary

I use the lift rings also....
but I measured, then looped the ends of my lines, and used some old climbing carribeaners to simply clip into the lift rings.

works great......just pull in, clip it, and forget it.

just make sure to wrap the metal 'beaners so they don't scuff the gel coat. (I used electrical tape.)

Likewise. I sometimes even use the pylon to keep the boat from moving to far forward and striking hte bow on the front of slip when large waves come in.

Another thing I did when I had frequent use of a slip is make my own shock absorbing tie-offs. I used a heavy rubber tie down or two and tied each end within the length of rope, leaving enough slack for the rubber to stretch a bit. This helped absorb some of the shock from the big rollers coming in.

Any time that I needed to tie up my 88 up for the night in a covered slip I just used the lifting rings as cleats. Get 2 long ropes and tie off the center of each rope on each ring making sure that you have enough rope to tie off on the dock. You'll want enough slack in the rope to allow for water fluctuation and the rogue wave or two. Leave just enough so that the boat wont bash into the dock but "float" between all 4 tie offs. This takes a little time to do but I'd rather do that then the time it would take to do a gelcoat repair. Since your cover has holes in it for the lifting rings then your set!!

The previous owner of my '86 Nautique installed two cleats on the bow. When I tie-up, I use the front cleat and the rear lifting ring. The ski pylon doesn't keep the bow or stearn secure enough to the dock. You can see a picture of my Nautique if you click on my link below, Nautique2001. FYI, my custom cover has flaps that open over the cleats and rear lifting ring.