Calling Sherlock Holmes. Mystery of grounded boat

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Homer J

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So....

I left my boat on its mooring on Sunday. I have a rope with two ss caribiners at each end and in addition a length of ss chain as back up between the same caribiners. I clipped one to the morning buoy and the other end to the D ring on the bow.

This morning I had a call from the bosun to say that the boat had come adrift and was on the bank. The morning line and chain was still attached to the buoy and the other end still had a fully functioning caribiner. The D ring on the boat is fine.

so the question is, could the mooring line have twisted itself to undo the caribiner or has someone set my boat adrift?
 
Crabs can undo and should only be loaded in end-on position. Even screw gates come undone if rubbed onto ropes etc. Double warps much more secure in case one snaps or detaches.

Kids taking it for a spin might get it much further than nearest bank so probably OP finger trouble
 
Minerva said:
Most likely - carabiners should not be used to moor your boat.
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Is this a well known thing then? I’ve never heard anyone say that before. I was looking for something easy that was more secure than rope. It needs to attach to a D ring.
 
Homer J said:
Is this a well known thing then? I’ve never heard anyone say that before. I was looking for something easy that was more secure than rope. It needs to attach to a D ring.
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Play with a carabiner and a loop of rope for 5 mins and you'll figure out how it can come free by itself.

Perhaps splice a thimble into the end of the strop and soft-shackle the thimbled eye to the D ring? I use a soft shackle to secure the anchor chain to the snubber and have had no issues with it at all so far and the forces for your application must be similar.
 
roaringgirl said:
Play with a carabiner and a loop of rope for 5 mins and you'll figure out how it can come free by itself.
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Apparently it's a well known trick in the ROV industry. It's how they drop payload on the seabed. Given that, I wouldn't attach anything with an (un-locking) one that I needed to stay attached!
 
When I was a climbing instructor I used to demonstrate to pupils how easy it was to detach from a carabiner with a simple flick and twist. The expression on their faces at seeing something they thought secure to be not so was priceless. A knot or turns around a cleat with a rope is a much more secure way of mooring a boat.
 
Crabs are designed to be used while operator present. Ideally they should never be clipped to metal loops as these can cause them to be damaged.

Malions might be more suitable but really it should be shackles at mooring buoy end and loop of warp round cleat or suchlike at boat end
 
well the plot thickens.
The engine cowling has been damaged and it was brand new. It’s beginning to look like it was rammed on its mooring and set adrift. Thoughts? Sorry. Can’t seem to rotate the photo
1F33733A-A732-4796-BA88-CC7150425378.jpeg
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
This the first I've heard of using a karabiner to moor a boat!
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There is another thread going where someone wants to know the best carabiner to attach to mooring chains for short overnight use of anothers mooring. They thought 20kN was fine as boat less than 2 ton and didnt realise that side strength is maybe only 6kN

My advice to them was much the same, though at least they will be on site of it all snaps
 
Homer J said:
well the plot thickens.
The engine cowling has been damaged and it was brand new. It’s beginning to look like it was rammed on its mooring and set adrift. Thoughts? Sorry. Can’t seem to rotate the photo
View attachment 118166
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It is possible that collision unset the carabiner but seems unlikely. Did someone ram the boat while boarding her and then tried but failed to steal her.

Or did she detach for other reasons and drift into the path of another craft, who failed to report the incident.

Someone must know something. Hope engine Ok, like wise the craft
 
Spirit (of Glenans) said:
This the first I've heard of using a karabiner to moor a boat!
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oldmanofthehills said:
There is another thread going where someone wants to know the best carabiner to attach to mooring chains for short overnight use of anothers mooring. They thought 20kN was fine as boat less than 2 ton and didnt realise that side strength is maybe only 6kN

My advice to them was much the same, though at least they will be on site of it all snaps
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I was the person who started the other thread which is here. In my case it was very definitely short term benign condition usage.

Think extended tea break and walk and maybe overnight either as main or backup and always two means of attachment if o/night or off the boat. I was using a screw gate steel karabiner.
 
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Whatever happened in this case, it is still true that carabiners are not suitable for fastening to a mooring. As others have pointed out, they don't take side loads and can come undone under a wide variety of potential loads.
 
Homer J said:
well the plot thickens.
The engine cowling has been damaged and it was brand new. It’s beginning to look like it was rammed on its mooring and set adrift. Thoughts? Sorry. Can’t seem to rotate the photo
View attachment 118166
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined towards Occams' Razor here - your caribeener has failed as could be expected and your boats drifted into something.
 
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