Have You Checked for Chafe?

If you’ve been praying for more rain, please stop. Seriously, enough already.

Thanks to the nearly nonstop succession of deluges that has been drenching Northern California lately, many boats are leaking in places they’ve never leaked before, cockpit drains are becoming overwhelmed, and an assortment of unattended boats have washed up on the rip-rap that protects multi-million-dollar waterside homes. 

And there’s another whopper storm heading our way tomorrow. So allow us to remind you that the worst storm-related boat damage or loss is often the result of docklines or mooring lines chafing through. You might have to see it to believe it, but even beefy, 3/4-inch nylon anchor rode can chafe through in a matter of hours if not protected during a strong blow.

How do you protect such all-important lines? In addition to commercially available products such as pre-cut leather wraps, a short length of spare hose or tubing works fine when secured in position. Even rags or an old T-shirt will help in a pinch. The point is to take some sort of precaution to guard your lines against chafe — especially tomorrow, when winds of 40 knots or more are expected to hammer the Bay Area and beyond yet again.