ProStar 190 doesn't like to be parked by our new Aluminum/Plastic dock - materials conflict

[swbca]

In another life I had Ski Nautiques and Master Crafts for decades and always tied our boats to our dock platform with a 5 foot rope that we tossed on the ski pylon. If we were using the boat off & on all day, the boat was at the end of the dock all day and could take any kind of waves from passing boats. (that was before Wake Boats)

 

Its been a while, so my last boat was a 1986 Prostar with a wide aluminum rub rail. That worked with any dock except steel pipes.

 

Our ProStar 197TT and our new dock met yesterday. The dock came with 3" plastic bumpers covering steel posts. The ProStar rubber rail and the plastic bumpers are sticky against each other and end up swapping materials with each other. It not just cosmetic . . in a few hours of wind the boat caused abrasion to the plastic bumpers.

 

Can't use anything that contacts the side of the boat because the ProStar TT has Raised Letters for "MASTER CRAFT" and they cost $100's to replace.

 

So what should we do with the dock posts that are spaced 4 feet apart that the ProStar rub rail can work against?

 

Our Dock and Boat in 1982

 

[BraceMaker]

Wax the pipes?

[Horton]

dock bumpers???

[thager]

Dock whips.

[Jmoski]

I have a “day” position for my boat as well - but I put it nose out on the side where you bench is so the waves from wake boats don’t send the boat banging into the dock.

[rbuss4]

Mooring whips are your answer along with BAB(Big Ass Balls) between the boat and dock

[oldjeep]

Remove the puffy stickers?

[swbca]

@Horton The 3" plastic bumpers came with the dock. They have sprung load mounts to the pipe inside. The previous boat owner had to replace some of the boat's side graphics because of loose-hanging dock bumpers working against the "Master Craft" raised letters.

 

Like @BraceMaker I was thinking of a silicone spray or similar on the bumper. Otherwise we will need to add some other fixed-position bumper compatible with the boat.

 

Do carpeted vertical 2 x 4's work with the rubber Master Craft rub rail, or is the rubber too sticky for carpet ?

 

[DW]

It can be challenging to find materials that don't leave a residue or resist a material transfer from the side rail moulding (if rubber). Carpet can deteriorate from the weather and at that point leaves a mess, many of the dock bumpers due seem to leave a sticky mess. Perhaps a PVC pipe over the top of the existing plastic tubes?

[loeweb]

Mooring whips, or possibly anchor away from dock and run 2 lines (bow eye and stern eye) to keep boat away along with tying the boat off from the dock.

 

As @Jmoski said, nosing the boat out towards the traffic will help as well.

[6balls]

I can't remember my brand, they are really hard smooth plastic the boat just slides up and down on them. My brother has them, too, had many boats including his tied up with waves coming in parallel and no issues.

Will try to remember to see if they have brand markings I've had 'em so long I can't remember.

 

[Jmoski]

I have guardian vertical plastic bumpers I use that work well (I can’t seem to upload a picture for some reason). They are 36” tall, 4” wide and are mounted on a rigid backing. Question is how much buffer does your run rail give you before the letters hit? If there isn’t much, whips as other mentioned is probably the best option.

[MDB1056]

cross tie it just as you have it in the above pic. Nothing touches anything . Is that not an easy option?

[klindy]

@swbca Had a dock similar to that in Michigan. I had some 16gage galvanized sheet metal horizontal pieces made and fastened a treated 2x8 to them and finally covered them with indoor/outdoor carpet. While we didn't just tie up the boat there all day long, it was enough to avoid damage. It may be a lot of extra work but that longer horizontal piece spread the load out and prevent damage.

[chrislandy]

I use something similar to this, 12" dia 6ft long (x2) inflatable tubes on the side of our dock

 

5ft bungee on the pole and one to the rear d-ring

 

 

[loeweb]

What about this

Attach some shower suction cups to the other side. As long as its a trapezoid shape it shouldn't come into the dock

[6balls]

https://www.harborware.com/harborware-3-vertical-post-dock-bumper/

 

like this only mine are white. Jim had a MC prostar like yours for a long time and we had no issue tieing up to his dock and taking waves. I think he had 4 of them spaced and then we simply had a line over the pylon to keep it snug there. Lots of his friends docked that way too and was no problem on a busy weekend day with the wakeboarders throwing surf at us.

 

They are about 3 feet tall which is key so the rail can't go over or below em if mounted at the right height.

 

 

[Jmoski]

If you zoom in you can see the vertical bumpers

 

 

[DoubleD]

My favorite idea are the wips. Love them.

 

[APB]

are the plastic pipes free floating on the steel posts? allowing them to "roll" with the waves? i have the vertical bumpers that shore master makes.... they are awesome when my boat isnt on the lift.

[LakeOneSkier]

Muffler pipe, a few eye hooks and a few bungies. $40 total. May not look the greatest but works very well.

 

 

[MDB1056]

@LakeOneSkier - I love seeing simple ingenuity! Well done!

[BraceMaker]

IMO I would take the transfer to have the best tie up ever.

[swbca]

@Jmoski Looks Great. I see your CC also has a rubber rail. Do you see any wear and tear on your bumpers or the boat's rubber ? We would position them on the lake side of the platform. We would have to be watchful for the worst behavior of wake boaters. What brand are your bumpers ?

 

For many of the other suggestions above . . . We are stuck on the simple single rope to Pylon for our day time tie up. We have a stream of visiting boats that also use the same tie up. Often visitors tie up and just hang out in their boat, so the lake facing side of the platform is the only natural place for visitors and needs a simple universal tie up. The single rope to the ski pylon works for most visitors. Thanks for your suggestions

[swbca]

@6balls Thanks for the link to Harbor Ware. What color do you have . . do you think White would end with black rubbers streaks ?

[6balls]

Never seen any marks on the white. I’ve had a centurion and a Nautique. My brother had a 2006 pro star tournament team, a 2014 ProStar, and we had countless Malibu’s tied up to the dock as well as a supra that had a metal based rub rail.

I’m not sure what I sent you are exactly the same as mine but they sure look similar. A friend of mine has them for his Mastercraft surf boat as well

[BraceMaker]

A few options - maybe swap for gray pvc conduit or black ABS sewer pipe?

 

You could also try clear flexible pvc hose.

 

Or you could do a marine carpet on a treated board instead of the PVC?

[Jmoski]

@swbca - the bumper itself is air filled and the material is softer than my boats rub rail, so there is a little scuffing on the bumper, nothing noticeable on the rail.

 

If you expect to get big rollers that will send the boat banging into the docks sideways these bumpers don’t offer enough cushion. In my case if I get wind down the lake that will cause this I put the boat back on the lift. But for rollers from surf boats with the nose out orientation it works great.

 

The brand is Guardian, you can get them without the backing plate, I bought mine as is with the mount for steel poles from Great Northern Docks in Naples, ME

[ironhorse]

 

Whips work great. The boat doesn't contact anything.

[BraceMaker]

@ironhorse whips are great for storage - but if you've ever had a good dock with vertical PVC like he has you know how great it is to just have a 5' section of rope looped over the pylon and cleated off. You can pull up and tie up in a second. Hop out of the boat and leave it for hours.

 

This is a very common set up at ski schools at places like Bennett's and works great. Mooring whips are also awesome but the convenience isn't there you have to connect ~4 different lines to deploy them and disconnect them. And when not connected you need to be ready to fend off the dock and handle the boat.

[Broussard]

@BraceMaker This is common at school schools with only one boat running per lake. The boats would get beat to hell if there was another boat on the lake.

[6balls]

@broussard not with the right bumpers--this is public lake stuff I'm talking about on a weekend there are all kinds of boats out there and if you have ever seen one of brother Jim's used boats for sale or mine--you know they are not beat up at the end of the dock in this scenario.

[Broussard]

@6balls I am specifically referring to the setup at Tri-Lakes (Bennetts Water Ski School) that was mentioned in this thread. When another boat is in the lake turning at the end of the lake where a boat is docked, that boat gets beat to hell.

[BraceMaker]

@Broussard obviously you're well experienced. But it depends too if that is like the start dock at your first lake with a broadside wave or if you have the boat mostly perpendicular to oncoming waves. Adding whips or tossing on a lift is a great alternative but if he can have less transfer for his mid morning tie ups - that'd be great.

[Broussard]

@BraceMaker Correct, it depends on the orientation of the boat. If the boat is parallel to the direction of travel you really need whips or a lift.

 

If the dock allows the boat to sit perpendicular to the direction of travel you have many more options.

 

There is a bumper system in rails that allows the bumper to move up and down with the boat. It seems like this would be an effective system, but I have no experience with it.