Anyone used this "friendly" yachty grappling hook?

[DanTribe]

I use a rope anchor warp and on 3 occasions in 20 years the warp has wrapped around the fin keel at tide change.
I have used the dinghy folding grapnel to hook the warp and disentangle it. Hardly worth keeping a specialised gadget though.

 

[smallplasticboat]

I use a rope anchor warp and on 3 occasions in 20 years the warp has wrapped around the fin keel at tide change.
I have used the dinghy folding grapnel to hook the warp and disentangle it. Hardly worth keeping a specialised gadget though.

Thank you for this input - very interesting and clearly sensible.

So nobody in the forum (yet!) really seems to have used a "thrown" grapnel hook as a mooring aid?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I have found the conventional metal grapnel not worth owning, at least for mud.

You could I suppose, throw this composite grapnel far enough to possibly scale the sides of a ship should it be necessary to do so.

 

[LadyInBed]

I have found the conventional metal grapnel not worth owning, at least for mud.

I have a mini Danforth for mud, using a grapnel on mud would be like shovelling sand with a fork!

 

[CURIOUS2]

Well I have a Line - a- sure and have owned it for about five years. I use it successfully for coming alongside a pontoon when being blown off. My bow thruster takes care of the bow but the potential to lose the stern is negated by throwing the Line- a-sure across the pontoon and making its line fast before getting the stern warp secured. Especially useful when coming alongside short or single handed in a blow.

 

[smallplasticboat]

Thank you for this, Curious2! That's a really valuable bit of commentary: and it speaks to precisely the kind of thing for which I would be buying a grappling hook. Seems like there is little or no competition. I don't think something metallic - although probably much cheaper and more secure - would be any use, given the risks around it being thrown. It sounds like there is maybe nobody else in the forum who has any experience of using a grappling hook to pull a boat alongside a mooring ... but I would love to be proven wrong!

 

[doug748]

When these things appeared in the yachting press the advert said they would be useful coming alongside other vessels. I can't imagine asking to raft up and then slinging a grappling iron across. I don't think some of our senior members would be very entertained ?

 

[smallplasticboat]

When these things appeared in the yachting press the advert said they would be useful coming alongside other vessels. I can't imagine asking to raft up and then slinging a grappling iron across. I don't think some of our senior members would be very entertained ?

I've not seen the advert - but the thing is NOT made of iron! I would agree that flinging an iron hook would be idiotic - but that's not what this appears to be. A relatively light (and non damaging) strikes me as a potentially useful aid to coming alongside a pontoon - or I suppose another yacht where there's nobody on board to receive a warp which has been heaved. I am not sure anyone - senior or not - would welcome an iron hook!!!

 

[Boathook]

I've not seen the advert - but the thing is NOT made of iron! I would agree that flinging an iron hook would be idiotic - but that's not what this appears to be. A relatively light (and non damaging) strikes me as a potentially useful aid to coming alongside a pontoon - or I suppose another yacht where there's nobody on board to receive a warp which has been heaved. I am not sure anyone - senior or not - would welcome an iron hook!!!

I wouldn't like someone to throw that on to my boat to help them come along side. It might grab something that isn't designed for pulling against.

 

[DanTribe]

I've not seen the advert - but the thing is NOT made of iron! I would agree that flinging an iron hook would be idiotic - but that's not what this appears to be. A relatively light (and non damaging) strikes me as a potentially useful aid to coming alongside a pontoon - or I suppose another yacht where there's nobody on board to receive a warp which has been heaved. I am not sure anyone - senior or not - would welcome an iron hook!!!

Even though they are made of plastic, I don't want to be on the receiving end of one if thrown with gusto. Presumably you would need to anticipate the need for one and have it flaked out ready, not fumbling in a locker trying to find it.

 

[fisherman]

I user to lower 20kg end weights, bait, spare pots, down onto the deck. Single handed, bit of a fiddle, if you lower it straight down it goes between boat and quay. Chuck a grapnel across the deck and catch the landing derrick rigging, or the opposite rail. Thread that rope through the eye of a hookrope, lower away, the weight runs out across the deck, drop it, jangle the hook out, repeat.
In the outer harbour we saw a moped on the bottom, got it back. Can happen to anyone......
I would keep hookropes on the quay and on the boat, lost without. Different needs from you lot.

 

[SaltyC]

Even though they are made of plastic, I don't want to be on the receiving end of one if thrown with gusto. Presumably you would need to anticipate the need for one and have it flaked out ready, not fumbling in a locker trying to find it.

Hmmmm, think I'm falling into the 'older' category here. If you are going alongside a yacht, throw a grappling hook it will (with or without Gusto?) hook onto the upper guardrail, you then haul your boat alongside putting all the strain on the top guardrail. A recipe for some serious damage with a heavy boat and tide running. Perhaps it is time I got my mobility scooter and gave up sailing.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Having read the various comments here, I'm considering getting one. I can see why there are naysayers; I sympathize with some of their comments - especially those about using it on another boat. It's clearly not the right approach when coming alongside another yacht except perhaps on a boat with sturdy bulwarks, like a Fisher or Colvic Watson. But on the average pontoon when single-handed on a boat with a high freeboard, I can see it having uses, and it doubles as a throwing line. I see it as an addition to the range of options, not a cure-all, but seen as an extra option, it makes sense. I can't see it being useful when there are crew, except in very rare circumstances.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Hmmmm, think I'm falling into the 'older' category here. If you are going alongside a yacht, throw a grappling hook it will (with or without Gusto?) hook onto the upper guardrail, you then haul your boat alongside putting all the strain on the top guardrail. A recipe for some serious damage with a heavy boat and tide running. Perhaps it is time I got my mobility scooter and gave up sailing.

All boats should have aluminium toe rails . Stanchions can be bolted to them as well as through the deck for strength. Easy to use a shepherds crook type boat hook or similar to grab a fellow boat owner's side without damage or attach a line to. On the other hand, why would you want a boat full of practicalities ? There's too much of that in normal life anyway.

 

[savageseadog]

Might work well for pulling bikini tops off

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Might work well for pulling bikini tops off

There will never be another Benny Hill

 

[savageseadog]

There will never be another Benny Hill

Bet they're selling fast now.