All I want is a decent lenght!

[Nostrodamus]

So, recently we were tied up alongside a pontoon in ways that a Japanese bondage expert could only dream of.

When I say pontoon it is debatable. If it was 3m longer Tom Daley would no doubt be using it to do a double pike and two half hitches.

The wind was howling and no matter how much we tried it was almost impossible to stop the stern wandering into the French boat next door. Luckily we have an abundance of fenders which unfortunately seem to be limited to one per boat in France.

Anyway the point is that why make pontoons so short, thin and springy that they are almost useless?

I have jumped onto a pontoon only to go right through it, bounced on them like a female jogger without a bra and nearly stepped off into water as they are either to thin or short. Some are covered with so much slime and bird **** it is easier to skate along than walk.

Don’t even get me onto cleats which they put in the most amazing places, that is, if they have more than two.

Hoses never fit on the water outlet which dribbles out slower than an Italian full back.

For what they charge us a night I could build my own marina and I wouldn’t put the piles just where your bow wants to sit.

The pilot books I am using very rarely indicate pontoon lengths which would be very useful when deciding on where to go.

All I dream of is a good, clean, decent length and girth and I know my better half agrees as she was muttering something similar in her sleep last night.

 

[outtametree]

Glad to see you're back, sir. Perhaps it's a european thing this lack of length, girth & rigidity.

 

[Baggy]

Your just bragging cos you're got a big one...

 

[Nostrodamus]

Glad to see you're back, sir. Perhaps it's a european thing this lack of length, girth & rigidity.

This may well be true as I have heard American pontoons have 15 ton lifts attached to each one to get the occupants off the boat. Is that why we don't see many Americans across here?

 

[Liz_I]

Welcome back Nostrodamus

 

[Ional]

After years of cruising Western France and trying to remember, as we steamed in, how bad the pontoons/cleats were in each marina, I decided to keep a sketch plus notes in an exercise book!

All you need is a description.....diving board/ solid/short/long. A walk around often indicates wider pontoons on some fingers, eg Ars en Re. Plus a sletch of cleats and how many! Oh and how high the fenders should be! Plus maybe X currents!!!

How I hate those D rings at the end of a bouncy pontoon, with one cleat at the end, esp if short and downwind.....no easy way of stopping. Now we keep a boathook ready, its what some French couples do!

Perhaps we should pool our knowledge and write that book!!!Or isn't that allowed on here. I am just a newby too.

 

[lisilou]

'All I want is a decent lenght!'

Don't we all Nostro...don't we all.
I shall return to the Lounge now
L

 

[jimi]

'All I want is a decent lenght!'

Don't we all Nostro...don't we all.
I shall return to the Lounge now
L

I'm sure there's a few old codgers there that would club together to give you one.

 

[Blue5]

Seem to recall on our trip we went into Lexioies, Portugal and the pontoons were so short SWMBO could not get off the boat.............

There were a couple of marineros quickly on hand to take the lines but they insisted on tying up the boat themselves...................then took another ten minutes for me to redo the way we wanted so the bow was closer to the finger and herself could reach the pontoon.

 

[Litotes]

How I hate those D rings at the end of a bouncy pontoon, with one cleat at the end, esp if short and downwind.....

Try short, downwind, across (strong) tide and D ring underneath the pontoon! That's how it is in one place I occasionally have to use. Add in a heavy old boat, designed and built before boats lived in marinas, and you have a recipe for much innocent entertainment.

I now have a Talon hook attached to a dedicated spring line with a rubber snubber on it. The Talon will easily grab a cleat or a ring on the end of a pontoon as we come in and the spring will hold the boat alongside quite effectively in almost any conditions.

Google will find Talon, no doubt, if anyone wants more information. No connection with the company, but I like mine.

 

[lenseman]

I'm sure there's a few old codgers there that would club together to give you one.

She has already gone back to The Lounge looking for a better length!

 

[KristiferColumbus]

So, recently we were tied up alongside a pontoon in ways that a Japanese bondage expert could only dream of.

When I say pontoon it is debatable. If it was 3m longer Tom Daley would no doubt be using it to do a double pike and two half hitches.

The wind was howling and no matter how much we tried it was almost impossible to stop the stern wandering into the French boat next door. Luckily we have an abundance of fenders which unfortunately seem to be limited to one per boat in France.

Anyway the point is that why make pontoons so short, thin and springy that they are almost useless?

I have jumped onto a pontoon only to go right through it, bounced on them like a female jogger without a bra and nearly stepped off into water as they are either to thin or short. Some are covered with so much slime and bird **** it is easier to skate along than walk.

Don’t even get me onto cleats which they put in the most amazing places, that is, if they have more than two.

Hoses never fit on the water outlet which dribbles out slower than an Italian full back.

For what they charge us a night I could build my own marina and I wouldn’t put the piles just where your bow wants to sit.

The pilot books I am using very rarely indicate pontoon lengths which would be very useful when deciding on where to go.

All I dream of is a good, clean, decent length and girth and I know my better half agrees as she was muttering something similar in her sleep last night.

lol I shall read your blog with pleasure.

 

[Liz_I]

I now have a Talon hook attached to a dedicated spring line with a rubber snubber on it. The Talon will easily grab a cleat or a ring on the end of a pontoon as we come in and the spring will hold the boat alongside quite effectively in almost any conditions.

I have a 'Happy Hooker' !!

 

[Seajet]

I had a Happy Hooker once, but it latched onto a good looking rich bloke and vanished at warp speed.

For narrow short pontoons try Emsworth Marina; it's a lovely place, but if there isn't a boat tied the other side, it's like playing 'It's a Knockout' as one wobbles, they ought to play a soundtrack of Stuart Hall laughing himself silly...

 

[saltylegs]

don't worry about the lenght so long as you can use it properly

Welcome back.

 

[Ripster]

For narrow short pontoons try Emsworth Marina; it's a lovely place, but if there isn't a boat tied the other side, it's like playing 'It's a Knockout' as one wobbles, they ought to play a soundtrack of Stuart Hall laughing himself silly...

Yep, not seen any skinnier ones than Emsworth. Like walking along a scaffold plank. Anyone wondering up to take a line from an incoming boat with no boats either side needs the balancing skills of a uni-cyclist.

 

[Nostrodamus]

We were recently moored for a couple of weeks to a pretty decent pontoon that had plenty of space.
We then moved for a few days and came back (it was free) and moored on the other side of the pontoon.
Without thinking I started to get off on the wrong side and it so nearly ended in an "early bath".

 

[martyn78]

Without thinking I started to get off on the wrong side and it so nearly ended in an "early bath".

Simply an age thing.
At least you tied up first!!

 

[Poignard]

For narrow short pontoons try Emsworth Marina; it's a lovely place, but if there isn't a boat tied the other side, it's like playing 'It's a Knockout' as one wobbles, they ought to play a soundtrack of Stuart Hall laughing himself silly...

I helped someone with a long-keeler leave from one of those pontoons by holding the bow and walking out to the end of the pontoon. Then I found myself all alone on the end of a very wobbly pontoon desperately trying to keep my balance. I wouldn't want to come into close contact with the water in that marina .

 

[Litotes]

I have a 'Happy Hooker' !!

We have one of those on board as well. However, the nice thing about the Talon is that it is built to take the weight of the boat. You can hook on to a mooring ring, D ring, cleat etc. and you are immediately attached, without having to haul through a line etc. It is also easy to hook with, as it has wide open jaws (the widest I have seen on this kind of device) It closes on whatever you have hooked, so it can't slip off, but can be opened again from the boat. Thus you can use it on a mooring buoy, for example, and haul it up to fix a permanent line, or use the hooker to put on a slip line. The only real downside is that it is a bit heavy.

The Talon has certainly made a big difference when going alongside a pontoon or quay singlehanded, or "as good as". And it's great for the accursed D rings.