I have finished my Skerry and I’m about to sail it, at last!
I need to add cleats or hooks so that I can tie it up to a dock. Visually, I’d prefer adding something to the hull, probably a hook at each end. But both ends of a Skerry are pointed, so I’d need to attach them to the seam between panels. Cleats on the front and back rails might be more secure, but would look worse, I think.
Looking for pros and cons of these two approaches, and other ideas.
In the “other ideas” category, for me nothing says shipshape like a brass cleat on varnished wood, especially when the store shine has had a chance to turn to a lovely salty patina so that the boat looks like a happily-used boat instead of a coffee table. The runner up for me would be a home made wooden cleat. A brass padeye also does the same thing when a cleat would be too big.
The problem then becomes where to put the hardware. For the Skerry, the breasthook and crutch (stern breasthook, aft breasthook, etc.) are the obvious places. If for some reason (looks, interference with a cover, etc.) you don’t want them there, they could go on the seat tops, close to the ends so they’ll be out of the way.
There’s my thoughts, other than you might also want to scatter padeyes throughout the inside for securing gear. My philosophy is you can never have too many tie points, as long as they’re positioned so you don’t hit them if you fall.
Have fun with your new boat, congratulations on finishing it,
Laszlo
To be honest I wound up using spare or left over cleats from other projects so it’s a bit of a mix. A classic stainless horn cleat on the bow breast hook, a couple of small brass cleats amidship on each rail and a folding stainless Wichard padeye on the stern breast hook.
I have snagged the main sheet on the brass cleats but they are good for hanging a fender when I’m coming up to a dinghy dock. I tow the skerry behind the big boat using the bow cleat by tying the towline thru the base.
Just have good backing plates under the bow and stern cleat or padeye. In practice you can use washers in my view since the skerry is so light. Just use heavy washers not the standard ones from Lowe’s. I get most of my fasteners thru McMaster-Carr catalog.
Thanks for all the responses.
I like the idea of putting the cleats on the seat tops. That is better visually, for sure. But I think it is likely I will occasionally need to tow the boat, in which case, a cleat on the seat wouldn’t work well – the tow line would rub against the breasthook.
Robert_Whitehurst: Can you tell me more about the backing plate or washer? I’m looking at these cleats available from CLC ()), and it looks like they recommend bronze wood screws, so just screwed directly into the wood.
Sorry, coming into this thread late. On my Goat Island Skiff I added six small brass cleats to the seat support arms (one each side). This location provides handy attach points for bumpers and dock lines while being out of the way for other things. Looking at the Skerry, looks like there is a similar location that could be used above the seats.
Stbd mid-ship cleat shown here provides a handy location to temporarily cleat the mainsheet.
Here you can see the two aft cleats used to lash the tiller. These cleats are also used to secure the mast when trailering.
IMHO, every boat larger than a kayak should have a bow eye. They are easy to install and immensely strong when mounted properly. The bow eye is the primary means of attachment to the trailer and also bow line/tow line attachment afloat.
I wholeheartedly agree with Laszlo’s comment that you can never have enough attach points. An easy but VERY EXPENSIVE way to add additional attach points is with a product called Ropeye, seen in this picture with bungee holding a water bottle. Honestly, you can do the same thing buy using thickened epoxy to glue plastic eyestraps but they don’t look as nice.
The bow cleat and the stern padeye are designed for high loads, so rather than fastened w/ wood screws, they use #10 (bow) or #8 (stern) stainless flathead machine screws (bolts) through-bolted through holes drilled in the breasthooks with nuts on the underside and heavy washers to spread the loads. For best security, most larger applications will use a stainless plate cut to the whole footprint of the cleat with drilled holes. Many larger cleats include such a plate with the cleat. It allows more distribution of loads that washers. For a small craft like this that is overkill in many cases.
The brass cleats on the rails are smaller and not expected to be used for towing/lifting, so screwing into the wood is sufficient.
However, remember to recoat the drilled holes with neat epoxy to seal the wood before assembly.
The bow construction of the skerry isn’t really friendly to a bow eye like Mark has on his GIS and the skerry is rather smaller and lighter. It could be done, but I used what I had and it’s working.
