Rafting Up

[kaydano]

Two of my poker friends (and neighbors) both bought bow riders within the last week!

Last season, I tried to raft up with some other friends that had a bow rider. But wakes from other boats made it extremely hard to place bumpers where they would stay/work. What we ended up doing was anchoring in parallel with each other, 30 feet apart, such that our bows were even with each other as our boats pointed into the wind, then we tied a long line to the back cleat on each of our boats. When someone wanted to go from one boat to the other, we just pulled the line and brought the boats close at the stern end (stern to stern). We had to watch to make sure the wind didn't shift and the boats rotate into each other, but it worked fine.

But, my question is, is there a "right" way to raft up with a bow rider? There was absolutely nothing in common about the shape of the sides of our boats, as you might guess. It might work in calm water, but there are always occasional wakes a couple feet high.

Or, does everyone just not tie up unless it's with another pontoon?

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

Pfffftttttt...... Bow riders don't touch my Benni ..... Lol !!!!!

 

[Rockie69]

Did you dub them "poker friends" because they the the ones you "poke" fun at for not having a Benni?

 

[sunedog]

We do it all the time on reasonably calm water (i.e no wake zones). Big fenders strategically placed work well. I usually prefer to tie tight so, if you do get a wake, all boats rise and fall in unison without the fenders moving. We tie pontoons in the opposite direction of pointy boats so our front porch lines up with their sunpad or stern.

 

[Link]

I am interested in hearing others opinions on this, where do you place your fenders? I want to go to Aquapalooza on our lake; would like to tie up with others for the party but don't want to dent my toons or panels

 

[BigKahuna]

To be honest I never like tying up to anybody. I'm not trying to be unsociable. I would rather anchor away bit and swim over to the sand bar or the other boats.........

 

[Geewest]

It's hard to keep the toons nice if you raft up. But in calm water it not Impossible. But your best bet is to anchor your self away and then pull your self jn

 

[jfluhr18]

interesting topic. I have a benni on order that will be here in 2 weeks. I have always had a bowrider and really never wanted a pontoon to tie up to me for fear of damage. Now I will be on the oposite side with the toon. We usually tie up in an area that is pretty calm so I hope we dont have issues with rafting together!

 

[sunedog]

We hang with lots of high dollar performance pointy boats. Most of my friends welcome me to tie up to them because 1) they know I know how to handle my boat 2) they know I have large fenders with covers to protect their expensive paint jobs and, most importantly, 3) they love my beautiful and very social wife (they tolerate me). I do have one friend with a gorgeous twin engine Donzi who is fanatical about his boat. I don't even ask to tie up to him.

Large fenders with covers are important. I thought the covers were overkill, but evidently vinyl fenders, even if they're large, can mar the paint.

 

[BulldogsCadillac]

Do you have any pictures? Of the covers I mean, I've never seen covers for bumpers. There aren't a lot of people rafting up on our little lake.

 

[TomS]

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Dockmate-Fender-Cover-Fits-10-x-25-10-x-30-Fenders&i=73337

 

[BulldogsCadillac]

Well look at that! Thanks Tom, guess I was being lazy! I never have seen them, I could get a couple for my fenders, but I actually have yet to use them!

 

[TomS]

Or you can get custom red ones that say "My Last Boat" and just keep switching them.

http://www.overtons....-5-x-30&i=96619

 

[kaydano]

When we met up this weekend, there was no way I was going to raft up with one of the two pointy boats. The upper lip on the side of his boat where his rub rail was, was half way up my fence, and the side of his boat tapered in way to quickly for bumpers to work. Bumpers spread out the force of an impact, but you still have to have something solid behind the bumper. I would have had to have the bumpers above my rub rail and each bumper would have dented my fence in big time.

The other boat had a much lower profile and looked like it would match up pretty closely with my bumpers in the "normal" position, but I still didn't try it. Too busy, too windy, too many wakes, too rough.