Anti-lassooing device

[JumbleDuck]

I am thinking of of making an anti-lassooing device for my mooring, lest some antisocial and incompetent person attempt to grab it that way. Some sort of arrangement of blades in a collar just below the buoy, I thought, to cut the lassooing rope before the mooring is damaged. However, no point in spending time re-inventing a wheel, so has anybody done this already?

 

[Georgio]

This is a joke right?

 

[Sandyman]

This is a joke right?

That was my first thought. Suggest the OP is somewhat antisocial in his attitude as well.
Has he ever considered that someone might need to use his mooring in an emergency situation ?
Just why would anyone want to do this.

 

[sailorman]

This is a joke right?

One would assume so

 

[aquaplane]

I never move my boat off it's mooring, this prevents folks stealing it.

Having said that, I turned up at dusk one evening this year to find another yacht rafted up alongside mine.

The interloper even had the cheek to chortle on overhearing the discussions while we launched our tender in the dark.

 

[doug748]

I spy with my little eye

something beginning with -


T

 

[Deleted member 36384]

It won’t do much good if the yacht has a dedicated mooring buoy line with a section of chain in the middle. I have see these used to lasso buoys. From threads on here some owners of mooring buoys are very anti lassoing as they claim that even a temporary lasso in order to secure the yacht correctly damages the buoy. As one who has lassoed in the past I would never have thought this, however I have also never owned a mooring. Anyway, as a result of these threads I don’t lasso anymore but if I had to, I would with my mooring buoy line and chain to secure the yacht until I got the correct mooring line on.

 

[nigelmercier]

Paint a notice on it: "£100 fine for unauthorised use"

 

[JumbleDuck]

This is a joke right?

No, it is not. Why would you think that?

That was my first thought. Suggest the OP is somewhat antisocial in his attitude as well.
Has he ever considered that someone might need to use his mooring in an emergency situation ?
Just why would anyone want to do this.

If someone needs to use my mooring in an emergency situation and they use it in a proper seamanlike manner, I will have no objection.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Paint a notice on it: "£100 fine for unauthorised use"

I don't particularly mind if people use it while I am away, as long as they use it properly. That means not putting too big or heavy a boat on it, and not taking wholly unnecessary risks of damaging it.

 

[Georgio]

My engine failed when just inside Portsmouth harbour a couple of weeks ago, I was singlehanded.

I was very pleased to be able to sail up to and use a spare swinging buoy (that was not fitted with your anti-lassoing device). Ended up getting a tow into the marina.

Fitting something like you are suggesting would, IMO, be AT BEST antisocial.

I’m still partly of the opinion that this is a joke/troll.

 

[chrisbitz]

I guess I'm misunderstanding somewhere, but how is lassoing a mooring buoy so damaging.

So instead of putting a rope through the eye at the top, they're lassoing the chain below the buoy or something. How does that cause such damage?

 

[Poignard]

I guess I'm misunderstanding somewhere, but how is lassoing a mooring buoy so damaging.

It isn't. It's just a temporary expedient to enable you to draw the buoy towards you so you can more easily attach a line to the top ring.

But, there are people on this forum who seem determined to find things to be annoyed about. Fulfils some deep-felt need, I suppose.

You're always welcome to use my mooring in my absence, provided you are willing to leave promptly if I return. Most people have the same attitude.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I guess I'm misunderstanding somewhere, but how is lassoing a mooring buoy so damaging.

So instead of putting a rope through the eye at the top, they're lassoing the chain below the buoy or something. How does that cause such damage?

What eye on the top? When you lassoo, you effectively attach your boat to the buoy, and rely on the connection between buoy and riser to hold you. There is absolutely no guarantee that that connection will be strong enough to take the loads you put on it. A friend of mine had his buoy lassooed by a visitor this year. The buoy pulled off the chain, the mooring sank to the bottom and the visitor disappeared over the horizon.

So yes, I am quite serious about the idea of and need for an anti-lassoo device. Of course not all moorings need it, and it would be sensible and courteous to put a "No Lassoo" sign on the buoy if the devide is installed, but when people abuse the property of others they have only themselves to blame if it doesn't turn out as they expect.

 

[JumbleDuck]

It isn't. It's just a temporary expedient to enable you to draw the buoy towards you so you can more easily attach a line to the top ring.

If only boats were fitted with some sort of "controls" to enable them to be manoeuvred up to mooring buoys, eh? For those who can't do it under sail, some form of "engine" could be fitted.

You are more than welcome to use my mooring when I am away, provided that (a) your boat isn't too big and (b) you don't attempt to tie on to either the float buoy or the pickup line.

 

[stevepick]

Would it have to be a blade? How about some kind of inverted cone ( a traffic cone perhaps?) threaded through the chain & wired in position underneath the buoy to force any lassoo to run up and back off the buoy if an attempt was made to lassoo it?

 

[jdc]

Lassoing is bad

I've got some sympathy with JumbleDuck's aversion to lassoing the mooring buoy, not that I'd resort to cutters nor think that they'd actually work after a few weeks of marine growth.

There are several real problems with lassoing:

1) As JumbleDuck mentions, the attachment between the float and the riser is specified only to be strong enough to support the weight of the riser, so maybe 70kg, whereas the mooring can probably take twenty times this.

2) The rope cuts into the buoy, and if it's a rigid buoy (as mine is) the rope will cut into and eventually puncture the bouy.

3) The rope puts horizontal load on the riser assembly just under the buoy: guess what's at this exact spot? The swivel: the weakest part and one which is emphatically not designed to be bent.

4) The riser chain, swivel, pick-up strop and buoy are joined by shackles. The largest cause of mooring failure is, I believe, shackles coming undone. To avoid this we all use mousing of some sort: electrical wire or stainless or Monel or cable ties. A rope put round this assembly of shackles and pulled horizontally will rub across the mousings, and vastly increase the chance of them falling off.

So lassoing someone's mooring is a complete no-no unless as an absolutely last ditch measure when the boat would otherwise founder or lives be lost. It is NOT a technique that any competent instructor would ever advocate. It's the equivalent to rafting with no fenders on either boat - better than sinking but still needs a note left with name and address and promises to pay for the inspection and probable damage.

 

[stevebrassett]

What eye on the top? When you lassoo, you effectively attach your boat to the buoy, and rely on the connection between buoy and riser to hold you. There is absolutely no guarantee that that connection will be strong enough to take the loads you put on it.

I understand what you are saying, but I am curious. How do you pick up your mooring? Do you have a pick-up buoy and line?

 

[stevebrassett]

I understand what you are saying, but I am curious. How do you pick up your mooring? Do you have a pick-up buoy and line?

Sorry - saw the answer in another post.

 

[stevebrassett]

You are more than welcome to use my mooring when I am away, provided that (a) your boat isn't too big and (b) you don't attempt to tie on to either the float buoy or the pickup line.

I wonder why, given there is a float buoy and pick-up line, people feel the need to lasso the main buoy? I would find the pick-up line much easier.