Thinking about docking my skis

[bwhite]

I've been thinking about docking our pair of 2013 GTI's at the lake. My only concern is it can be somewhat rough at times.

In the past we have attached the bow by rope to one of our dock posts and the tow hook to a cinder block anchored at a diagonal away from the dock. (See my profile picture for example).

I am considering getting 4 boat fenders (12" diameter x 36" height) and securing them on the dock posts (6"x6"). Then secure the ski to the dock by a short line attached to the tow hook and somewhere on the front. My only concern is giving the ski enough range of motion for waves but limiting it so it doesn't bump against the dock. Also not sure if I should secure the front of the ski with the bow hook alone.

Any thought or ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Ankeneyou]

I would never consider storing a ski in the water. I don't even keep mine floating overnight unless I can put them on a ski stand near shore.

Way too risky since seadoo uses the carbon seal which always has at least a slow leak. Even with a bilge pump installed, it wouldn't run for very long on a PWC battery.

On top of that they would likely get beaten up by storms/waves. I'd suggest finding a marina that rents the floating PWC docks if you really want to keep them on the water.

 

[bwhite]

A little back story. We have some land on a freshwater lake in Northern Florida. We would only keep these in the water overnight and any time we leave them overnight we check the hull for leaks after ~30 minutes of being docked minimum. Its not long term storage, rather garage kept since we don't live on the lake.

 

[Ankeneyou]

how deep is the water at the dock? both at shore and at the end of the dock.

 

[dothadoo]

On my Speedsters, I tied them diagonally. One end to the dock and the other end by the seawall as I put in a cleat over there. I put an elastic rope on one end to help with the waves as well. It works beautifully and you don’t worry about rough water. I have never had any leak issues either. I was more concerned about my SC blowing up on my 2007 than the boat sinking.

 

[Greg Moore]

Check into the stand off whips. Number of people locally dock their skis, the ones that use the whips seem to have zero problems and it can get really rough here.

 

[Ankeneyou]

I would probably just build something like these and not or have to worry about them.

 

[bwhite]

Check into the stand off whips. Number of people locally dock their skis, the ones that use the whips seem to have zero problems and it can get really rough here.

This is exactly what I was hoping to find! Just might be useful for us, and a little safer than docking the ski's. This is only something to keep them secured while we are nearby, and not a long-term storage option.

Also figured I'd mention the section of dock I displayed has at least 4' water always and depending on the time of year up to 5.5'. We actually have a lakehouse on the other side of the camera in that picture above and plenty of weeds at the shoreline.