I should be a spokesperson for Tide Slides

[JeremyD]

Hurricane Helene gave us quite the storm surge

[Tony Meola]

Jeremy

Do you have the extensions on the Slides or just attached to the Pilings?

I looked at them several years ago because I thought they were a great idea and would solve my problem of giving me more of height to the piling. The only thing is, they tell me that I would have to add cleats to the boat since the standard Bertram cleat set up would not work.

Did you have to add cleats in order to get them to work?

[JeremyD]

Normal standard cleats - you can see a better shot from here





I picked these up used on facebook market place and they are designed for a bigger boat - but I figured I live in Hurricane country so what the hell.

[Tony Meola]

When I talked with them at the AC Boat Show, they told me the boat is supposed to be tied as tight as you can get the lines. Basically, the rub rail is just about on the slide so there is not any back and forth movement of the boat. It just rides up and down like it is on rails.

I just took a look at their website, and it looks like they made some changes to the way you can Moore the boat. I may need to talk with them again. Cheaper than putting in taller pilings.

[JeremyD]

If you are tying to a dock with two - yes you should be tight with little slack. Besides the spring lines - mine is fairly tight - I have some slack so I can get the lines off the cleats. Of course, hey might have stretched after this storm too.

[Sheer Folly]

For our docks we installed Pilemates (pilemate.com).

They rise and fall with the tide and even give secured tie ups during a tide surge like we had here with super storm Sandy.

They are relatively inexpensive, last for ever and require no maintenance. They effectively extend the height of the piles during those high tides.

[JeremyD]

I have not seen the pilemate solution before - pretty interesting

[Sheer Folly]

Jeremy,

We have some very long dock fingers that before the Pilemates you had all you could do to walk to the end of them. After I installed the Pilemates they were as steady as a rock.

I also put Pilemates on some of the piles between the boats in the slip so the boats could be tied to the pile as well as the dock finger. The Pilemates on the piles have flotation rings and the ones on the fingers are attached with brackets.

The boat owners wives (First Mates) love them. They can tie the bow lines without fear of the rocking dock finger tossing them in the water.

Richard

[Tony Meola]

Pilemates are an interesting concept. Unfortunately, in my situation they will not solve my problem of wanting to extend my pilings. The Tide Slides offer an extension above the current piling height.

I will say it would eliminate the need to put my bubble system in every year. One less thing to worry about.

[Sheer Folly]

Tony,

The Pilemates do effectively extend the pile.

During Super Storm Sandy, or docks came within three inches of going over the tops of the pilings. If it wasn’t for a change of wind and tide at the last minute our docks, and boats, would have floated away.

I installed the Pilemate tubes (they are nothing but 10 ft. drainage pipes) three feet below the pile holding rings, which essentially adds three feet more tidal rise before the docks go over the piles. You could even go deeper than 3 ft., but you’d have less hight above the water for tie-up.

I think the drainage pipe comes in 20 Ft. Lengths, so you could go crazy and have any combination of above and below the water, within the 20 feet of pipe.

If you would like to see them first hand, give me a shout. They are at The Mianus River Boat & Yacht Club, the first marina off I95, exit 4 (Indian Field Road) in Greenwich CT.

Richard

[Tony Meola]

That's interesting that the Pile Mates extend the piling. I will have to look into them a little further. The issue I have is that during the summer the boat is docked behind the house. I tie up beam to the dock and the pilings help support the dock so I am not sure they would work in that situation since they have to slide all the way down the piling and the dock would block them. At least I think it would.

During Sandy we had a 7-foot rise in the tide mostly due to the breakthrough North of us at Mantoloking. That allowed the water to flood in from the North end of Barnegat Bay as well as through Barnegat Inlet. I am always worried about another breach like that causing a repeat of Sandy.