T-H Marine 4-1/2" Nylon Dock Cleat, Black

The T-H Marine 4-1/2 inch nylon cleat is about as honest a piece of deck hardware as you'll find. It's a small black tie-up cleat built for boats, docks, kayaks, and canoes, and it does one job well: give you a solid point to wrap a line around. No moving parts. No fuss. Just a clean 4-1/2 inch cleat you fasten down and use for years.

The body is molded nylon, and that matters more than it sounds. Nylon doesn't corrode, so salt spray and freshwater both leave it alone. It won't streak rust down the side of your hull or dock post, and it won't pit or seize the way bare metal can after a few seasons outside. It's light, it's quiet when a line slides across it, and it's a lot kinder to gelcoat and kayak hulls if a loose line or a bumped cleat ever meets the deck. For a tie-up point that lives outdoors year round, that's exactly the trade you want.

This is a versatile size. Four and a half inches is the sweet spot for smaller craft and light-duty tie-ups. We see these go on kayaks and canoes for rigging and painter lines, on dock edges and posts for tying off a dinghy or a PWC, and on small boats where a big metal cleat would just be overkill. If you're rigging a kayak and want a clean place to secure a tow line or a bit of gear, this is the kind of hardware that gets the job done without adding weight up top.

It's UV resistant, which is the spec that quietly keeps a plastic cleat from turning chalky and brittle. Parts that sit in direct sun all summer take a beating, and cheaper plastics go gray and crack within a season or two. The UV-resistant nylon here is made to shrug that off and stay black and solid. Speaking of black, the color is easy to live with. It disappears against most dark decks, dock boards, and hulls, and it won't clash with the rest of your rigging.

Mounting is straightforward. Pick the spot, mark your holes, and fasten it down with stainless screws or bolts sized for your deck or dock thickness. On a thin kayak or canoe deck, back it with a washer or a small backing plate so the load spreads out instead of pulling through the plastic. A dab of marine sealant in each hole keeps water out of the core, especially on a cored deck. Standard hand tools are all you need, and the whole job takes a few minutes.

A word on where this cleat belongs, because we'd rather you buy the right part than the wrong one. This is a light to medium duty tie-up cleat. It's great for painter lines, fender lines, kayak and canoe rigging, dinghy tie-ups, and dock edges on smaller craft. It isn't the cleat for taking the full mooring load of a large, heavy boat in a blow. If you're cleating off something big and heavy under real strain, step up to a larger metal cleat rated for that job. For the everyday small-boat and dock duty it's made for, this one holds just fine.

T-H Marine has been making boat rigging and deck hardware for a long time, and their accessories show up on everything from bass boats to pontoons to kayaks. This cleat fits that mold. It isn't fancy, but it's the kind of part you install once and forget about, which is exactly what you want from tie-up hardware.

Care is basically nothing. Rinse it with fresh water when you rinse the rest of the boat, and check the fasteners a couple times a season to make sure nothing has backed out from vibration or load. Because it's nylon, there's no metal to polish and no corrosion to chase. If a line ever frets a groove into it over many years, swapping it out is a five minute job and a few dollars.

One thing to note on quantity: this is sold as a single cleat. Most rigging jobs need them in pairs or sets, so count up what your project actually needs and order accordingly. The part number is BE-HA-54036-DP if you want to match more of the same down the line. It's a small, inexpensive part that earns its keep, and it's the sort of thing worth keeping a spare of in the gear bag.