A large powerboat is moored to a concrete floating dock in a storm. The boat’s considerable “sail area,” the currents in the marina, and the pulse of waves against the boat are all transmitted through its mooring lines into the floating concrete dock. These forces translate through the dock and are felt as shear forces at the module connections. In our example, the resultant shear force at the connection points between the floats is 10,000 pounds. In an actual marina in an actual storm, it could be more or less, but 10,000 lbs. gives us a round number to work with.