Cast Steel 9" Open Chock (Model #ICF-485)
The Model #ICF-485 is a heavy duty 9" cast steel open chock engineered to provide rapid line routing and dependable multi-angle alignment through a vessel's bulwarks. Featuring a convenient open-top cutout profile with heavily rounded upper lips, this structural line guide allows deck crews to rapidly throw or drop massive hawser lines straight into the chock slot without the need to thread long rigging lines from the end. Fabricated from premium marine-grade cast steel, it handles extreme lateral shear stresses and intense rope friction during heavy offshore towing and docking maneuvers.
Design & Function
This 9" open chock serves as a primary line-routing guide along high-traffic commercial bulwarks and cargo deck boundaries. Positioned between deck winches, capstans, and external dock bitts, it manages incoming line paths while eliminating sharp deck-edge corner catch-points. The thick, heavy-duty cast steel walls ensure that continuous rope friction will not score or wear down the structural core, providing reliable line tracking and vessel securement under intense surge currents, rising tides, and green water weather decks.
Intended Use Cases:
- Rapid-placement line-routing slots for bulwarks and cargo decks on commercial hulls.
- Primary line guides for temporary barge-to-barge lashings and push-fleet configurations.
- High-traffic lines-handling centers requiring rapid casting-off capability without rope binding.
- Structural main deck refits for heavy workboats requiring rugged, commercial-grade open chocks.
Primary Industries & Vessel Types:
- Inland waterway towboats, river pushers, and commercial harbor tugs.
- Flat-deck aggregate, oil transport, and split-hull dumping cargo barges.
- Ocean-going utility vessels, offshore supply vessels (OSVs), and crew boats.
- Commercial deep-sea fish-trawlers, processing barges, and marine dredges.
Key Features
- Open-Lip Rapid Placement Profile: Cutout upper lip design allows lines to be thrown into or cleared from the chock slot instantly, dramatically speeding up lines-handling operations during time-critical maneuvers.
- Premium Cast Steel Construction: Offers superior structural yield strength and high ductility compared to cast irons, preventing catastrophic fracture risks under sudden line shock loads or high-impact line snapback.
- Thick Radiused Contact Channel: Heavily radiused inner contact lips smoothly distribute high line tension, preventing dangerous line chafing, heat friction melting, and wire kinking under acute load angles.
Installation
- Bulwark Plating Layout and Prep: Flame-cut or plasma-cut the bulwark plating cutout precisely to accommodate the outer frame contour of the #ICF-485 open chock casing, grinding the attachment prep line down to clean white metal.
- Under-Flange Reinforcement Fitment: Ensure the surrounding bulwark framing or deck section contains the necessary structural insert plates or carling gussets required by the naval architect to handle localized multi-angle line stresses.
- Welding Execution & Metallurgical Pre-Heat: Pre-heat the heavy cast steel casing and matching hull steel plate to recommended shipyard temperatures, then complete a continuous, full-penetration multi-pass structural weld around the entire perimeter using low-hydrogen electrodes (AWS D1.1 standard).
- NDT Inspection Protocol: Allow the entire completed weldment to cool slowly and naturally under an insulating thermal blanket to prevent cold cracking, then complete visual and magnetic particle NDT checking to verify full weld integrity.
- Corrosion Protection Sealing: Wire-brush away all residual weld slag, clean the area, and immediately coat the raw weld lines with high-solids marine primer or epoxy barrier coatings to guard against saltwater rust.