Dr. Shrink TideMinders - Set of 9 Black Balls

We moor our 47' sailboat in a creek with 8' tides and can't tie directly to pilings. The TideMinders, as shipped and installed per the instructions, did not work at all with my boat on my dock. They tended to bind on the pilings as the tide changed and dragged the bow down before jumping loose, especially with a constant load and no wave action to periodically release tension. However, with some simple and cheap modifications, they work perfectly. First, install a spreader bar to hold the lines leading from the balls to the boat at the same width as the piling. This keeps the lines from pulling the balls tght against the piling under load. I used a treated 2x2 about 18" long, with holes spaced at 15" to pass the lines. On top of the spreader I mounted a 15" section of 2" PVC pipe, capped at each end to act as a float. This floats the balls, lines, and spreader up on rising tides, and provides some weight to drop everything on a falling tide. Prior to these mods, the TideMinders constantly bound up, and after the mods thay never bound up. It's simple, inexpensive, quick, effective, and preferable to extremely expensive stainless steel sliders.

Works great for the piling dock lines. The boat now stays centered in the slip. The other 2 dock lines are on dock cleats, and long spring lines are still tied on the pilings. Bought 3 sets of 9 between 2 large pilings. This is a 41' ketch sailboat with 5/8" dock lines. Using the double figure 8 is a stronger knot than a bowline.

This is a great product that will save your boat in stormy conditions - especially if you are on a fixed dock. Take the time to rig your Tideminder correctly and it will be the best investment you ever made in your boat's safety. I recently ordered four boxes of nine balls each, to replace some balls that had been in service for many years. One of the boxes was missing a ball. I only got eight balls in one box instead of nine. I contacted customer service and had the missing ball in my hands two days later. Great customer service and a top notch product that won't let you down.

Using these as on bow lines, on the Potomac River where current and tides are supplemented by "go fasts" going too fast in a No Wake zone. They work very well to ease shock from sudden wave actions. Very easy to install using 5/8 double braid lines bought separately at WM. Highly recommended.

I recently purchased two sets (9 balls each) of Tideminders for fore and aft mooring to pilings. The issue we were having was that our gunnels are very high and the cleats on our boat are 5' and 6' respectively, above the level of the cleats on the dock, so the "pull" was more vertical than horizontal. The Tideminders alleviated that issue well, only necessitating cleaning the pilings of large amounts of marine growth to allow the balls to roll well. The main issue I ran into is that 9 balls/piling IS NOT SUFFICIENT to prevent chaffing of the mooring line against the piling in the vicinity of the figure 8 knots. I had to purchase a third set of Tideminder balls in order to adequately protect the mooring line from rubbing against the pilings. 9 balls may well work with really small pilings, but I ended up using up using 13 and 14 balls respectively to adequately protect two mooring lines used on two pilings. The sets should be sold in a MINIMUM quantity of 12 balls for the smallest of pilings I can find in my area. Other than that, I have been pleased with my purchase.

Highly recommend for larger boats. Ours is 38’ and we have a mid ship piling that we use these on. Keeps the bow and aft centered parallel with the finger. Rescued the stress on the bow cleat and keeps the boat right where it needs to be even during strong winds and dramatic high and low tides. Wish I bought them sooner.

These floating balls are the answer for mooring to pilings There can be problems when the piles are too covered with marine growth, as this may cause to tideminder balls to get stuck below the surface as the tide rises. Some maintenance of both the piling and the Tideminders is necessary from time to time. I am happy to say that Dr. Shrink takes care of its customers. After I had a small problem with the product I contacted the Amazon retailer who told me that they would not help as the product was out of it's warrantee period (though under a year old). Dr. Shrink was terrific. They fixed my problem at no cost and I was back in business in time to make sure that my boat is well moored as hurricane Darien approaches. Good product and good people,

Balls work as advertised: we never worry about wind and tide conditions when tied off to our marina pilings on the Chesapeake (Middle River). It’s the next best thing to having a floating dock. At issue, though, is that these balls sink. If your kids or grandkids untie your mooring lines and let them fall in the water at the start of your trip, you better have some extra docking lines on the boat for when you come back, because you won’t see your dock balls again until you go for a swim and pick them up out of the mud at the bottom of the piling. I’ve removed a half a star for each time it happened to me last season. There is no reason these balls can’t be made with a floating core at this price point.