John MacDougall, Annie Laurie, #26
After Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne (both direct hits on my "Annie Laurie", in Sept 2004), I had no dock to tie up to for quite a while, so I rigged up a temporary "mooring"……which was a 60 lb CQR w/ 150' 5/16" HT Chain, a 30lb lead kellet, misc. lengths of BIG chain, and some concrete blocks……I had a mooring ball at the end, with two 3/4" nylon mooring lines……I was able to secure my boat, and protect the lines from chafe, but after I got the new Awl-Grip, I found the rubber chafe guards were leaving marks on the sides of the bow, immediately behind the bow stemhead plate (below the bow rollers). After waiting many months for the dock repairs to be completed, I got the boat back to the dock and did a little touch-up to the Awl-Grip……But I wanted to prevent any future problems, and also thought that I could kill 2 birds with one stone, and add some sort of bow protection plate that would prevent "anchor dings" as well.Well, after the quotes I got ($3000 - $4500), I decided to try a different route……And here's what I did:
(Click on picture for full size)
I bought 4 Stainless Rub Strakes……(but, as of now, I've only installed 2 of them). They are screwed and 5200ed in place, and look very nice……and do their job very well. Their primary purpose is for chafe protection for mooring lines, etc. that can get under the bow rollers… (Chafe of both the nylon line, and the Awl-Grip)
I'm thinking of placing the other 2, directly on the very front of the bow, just below the stemhead plate, not on the sides as the present ones are……and their primary purpose will be for "anchor ding" protection……even though I've not had either anchor (88 lb Delta / 44 lb Bruce) hit the bow, it's a fairly cheap way to keep from having to touch-up the Awl-Grip. These are not a perfect solution, but they look great and do the job very well……and since I only spent about $50, I'd say it's a pretty good solution.