Mooring Lines & Accessories

In this OUTMAR category, you’ll find a carefully selected range of mooring lines to keep your boat safely secured at the dock and on the move.

Choosing the “Right” Mooring Line

Mooring lines are meant to keep your boat firmly in place. It sounds simple, but choosing the right line depends on many factors: the length and weight of your boat, the specific docking situation – especially with wind and waves – and the quality of existing mooring rings, cleats, bollards, and other fittings.

At almost every dock, a boat is exposed to movement from wind and waves. These forces act suddenly on cleats and fittings. Such load changes aren’t just uncomfortable for you on board—they also generate significant forces that stress both the boat and the mooring line.

This leads to a key requirement for a good mooring line:

Elasticity and Elongation (“Stretch”)

Mooring lines should have enough stretch to absorb sudden loads and protect both the line and your fittings.

Typical elongation values*:

• Polyamide (PA) / Nylon: approx. 20–25%
• Polyester (PET / PES), e.g. Dacron or Diolen: approx. 10–15%
• Polypropylene (PP): approx. 20–25%

* Source: Teufelberger / Robline, 2026

In addition, the following properties are essential for safe and durable use:

• high abrasion and chafe resistance, especially at rough edges or rusty metal parts
• sufficiently high breaking load
• good UV resistance for long-term outdoor use

Guidelines for Line Diameter

As a practical guideline (for boats and yachts up to approx. 18 m / 60 ft), the following approach can be used when selecting mooring line diameter*:

Polyester and Polyamide Lines

Rule of thumb:
Boat length in meters + 2 = recommended line diameter in millimeters

Example:
10 m boat length + 2 = 12 mm mooring line

Polypropylene Lines

Due to lower abrasion resistance and strength, a 2–4 mm larger diameter should be selected.

Example:
For a 10 m boat, the recommended diameter is 14–16 mm.

These guidelines are intended as orientation only and should always be applied taking into account the specific berth conditions, expected loads, boat displacement, and the quality of existing deck fittings.

* Source: Gleistein / Marlow, 2026

Recommended Lengths and Quantity of Mooring Lines

The appropriate length of mooring lines depends on boat length, berth layout, and mooring method. As a proven basic setup, it is recommended by us to carry at least five mooring lines on board in the following configuration:

• 2 mooring lines approx. 1.5 × boat length
• 2 mooring lines approx. 1.0 × boat length
• 1 long line approx. 3.0–5.0 × boat length, suitable for use as a towing line, heavy-weather emergency line, or shore line

Example

For a 10 m boat, the recommended setup is:

• 2 lines of 15 m / Ø 12 mm
• 2 lines of 10 m / Ø 12 mm
• 1 line of 50 m / Ø 12 mm