Mooring whips are important since they pull boats a safe distance away from docks and seawalls, preventing serious damage that can be caused by waves, wind, tides and wakes. Mooring whips are an economical and safe way to protect boats against dockside and seawall damage. Dock contact can be due to passing water traffic, adverse weather conditions, tides and winds. Installing mooring whips is a good idea because, besides fenders, mooring whips can protect your boat while allowing it to move naturally with the water. Mooring whips apply continuous variable pressure between boat and dock, while spring lines keep the boat from moving out of position. The mooring whip that you install depends on the size of your boat. For example mooring whips are available in 8-18 ft. lengths for boats ranging from 12-56 ft. and weights up to 48,000 lbs. Usually models are sold in pairs and include hardware and mooring lines. When installing mooring whips you should consider that they are designed for fresh and/or salt water use.

Tips to install mooring whips:
1. Tie-up boat in preferred location.
2. Position the front-end of the base 2Ó-4Ó from the edge of the dock, directly across from the identified attachment area on the boat, which could be the bow and/or stern cleats. The high side of the base goes toward the boat.
3. Mark the location of the holes to be drilled in dock. Used the base as a template.
4. Bases have to be mounted to hold poles perpendicular to the boat and dock.
5. Drill holes in the dock and bolt down using provided 3/8Ó lag bolts.
6. Use stainless steel connecting bracket to connect the fiberglass rods together.
7. Thread the 5/16Ó lines through the rollers at the upper end of the whips.
8. Insert whips into bases and secure in place with 3/8Ó clevis pin then secure clevis with cotter key.
9. Install 5/16Ó clevis pins to position whips in docking position.

How to dock and board:
1. When you board the boat, simply release one of the mooring whips, just unfasten one of the whip lines. If you pull on the breast line under that whip, that will bring that end of the boat to the dock.
2. When you finish boarding, start the engine and then release the second whip line and all the dock lines.
3. You can know leave the dock.
4. To dock the boat, just pull up to dock and attach spring, breast and whip lines. When disembarking is complete tighten the whip lines to pull the boat away from the dock.
SETTING THE DOCK LINES AND WHIP LINES:

¥ Tie your boat up with a standard spring and breast line arrangement.
¥ Use the full set of lines in conjunction with your mooring whips.
¥ Attach lines from the mooring whips to the inboard cleats.
¥ From the dock pull down on the lines, this will pull the boat away from the dock arch the whip poles and tighten dock lines.
¥ The boat should be parallel to the dock and be 3-5 feet away from the dock.
¥ The whips should be parallel to each other and perpendicular to the dock.

HELPFUL HINTS:

¥ Read the manual and the instructions carefully to assure you are doing everything the right way.
¥ Spring lines will keep the boat from moving fore and aft along the dock and should be the length of the boat.
¥ Breast lines determine the distance the boat will ride from the dock. That is why they should be long enough to keep the boat 3-5 ft. away from the dock. Never less than 1_ times the tidal change.
¥ It is important that all dock lines have equal tension with no slack when the boat is moored.