Sea Dog Marine Double Braid Dock Line 3/8" x 20ft - Black

The 20-footer is the line that saves the day. Ten-foot lines are fine at your own slip where you know the cleat spacing, but the moment you're at a fuel dock with the cleats in the wrong place, tying to a piling instead of a cleat, or rafting to another boat, a short line simply doesn't reach — and you end up doing something improvised and unsafe.

3/8" double braid nylon is the standard working size for pontoons and boats under about 25'. Double braid stays supple instead of going stiff and prickly the way cheap three-strand does after a season, so it coils flat, runs cleanly through your hands, and doesn't chew up the eye. The nylon stretch is doing real work too — it absorbs wake surge so your cleats and rail hardware don't take the shock.

At 20 feet this is also your spring line, your anchor snubber, and the line you loop around a piling and bring back to the boat so you can cast off without getting off. Black hides dock grime.

How many: most boats want four lines minimum plus a spare. Two 20-footers and two 10-footers covers almost every tie-up you'll actually encounter.