Chain or warp - swing mooring advice

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Swg

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n the Shrimper I've used an 8ft rope with hard eye either end, one shackled to the mooring(swinging) and one to the eye on the stem. I replace each year as required following chafe in our fairly exposed moorings. This year I'm thinking of chain rather than rope so to cut down on annual replacement.. Any views on length and weight of chain?
 
I have always moored with all chain. 19ft boat .

My chain is heavier than the anchor chain .. Not sure of the size. It's what is supplied by the boat yard 8mm ( or 5/16") I think. Whatever it is it's the largest size that will fit over the bow roller.

In an exposed location it is a good idea to lash a chain to the bow roller unless you have a securing pin. A rope that jumps out will not do a massive amount of damage but chain will.
 
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We kept Revolution on a swing mooring at Pin Mill before heading for warmer climes. One Autumn we left her after a weekend sail, I had been thinking I should tie her up with chain as winter was approaching and vowed to do just that the following week.

A storm blew up sometime mid week and I shot down to the Orwell as soon as I could but by the time I got there the fetch from the length of the river and the strength of the wind made it far too dangerous to head out in an inflatable dinghy on my own.

I prayed she'd be ok......



Apparently she'd cut her lines later that day (the delta sawed through them) and she was rescued just inches from Butt Bouy. We very nearly lost her.

I'd never leave a boat on anything but chain now, at least the first few meters, even for a few days and always pull the anchor off the roller and clear.....

C.
 
Sy-Revolution said:
Apparently she'd cut her lines later that day (the delta sawed through them) and she was rescued just inches from Butt Bouy. We very nearly lost her.

I'd never leave a boat on anything but chain now, at least the first few meters, even for a few days and always pull the anchor off the roller and clear.....

C.
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That event is from leaving an anchor stowed in the roller & less to do with what you moored with....

I've done a season with double rope & no sign of wear yet & overwintered on the mooring on a chain & will probably keep that this season (with a rope secondary).
Used some old anchor chain suitable for the boat.
 
Many thanks all. I'm going for all chain at about 10ft and cOvering with flexi hose to protect the hull - just in case.Thinking of buoying the chain to reduce knocking up against the mooring buoy.
 
Swg said:
Many thanks all. I'm going for all chain at about 10ft and cOvering with flexi hose to protect the hull - just in case.Thinking of buoying the chain to reduce knocking up against the mooring buoy.
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I do not think you will regret, even if many people use rope for many years.

There is reassurance with chain, with rope you only need to get unlucky once!

I am not certain what you call Flexi-Hose I went for some of the LEAST flexible hose I could find. See attached, I do not understand why people use rope with the worries of chafe etc.
 
had a mooring in the helford last year - nice place but exposed to the east. first night there was a stiffish ( maybe 20kn)) south easterly and moored with just the chain provided, the boat snatched so badly that the for cabin was unuseable and I feared for my cleats.

so for the rest of the season we moored with slack of a foot in the chain and a 19mm nylon rope from the buoy over the roller and through snatch blocks to the sheet winch. worked like a dream - boat on a long bungy cord that took up all the snatch with the back up of the chain if it gave way.
 
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Had a Rival 34 moored fore-and-aft on the Tamar last year, with two 20mm new lines each end, and each chafe-sheathed.

I inspected closely ( and kept an 'insurance log' ) each time I visited, and found that flakes of rust from the summer-new galvanised hard eyes were chewing into the lines where the splice-loop divided and was seized to the eye.

That's when I put on an additional 'loose' chain wound around a car tyre 'snubber'. Inelegant - but effective. The boat was then going nowhere without my prior approval. :cool:
 
I used chain on a drying mooring for many years and found it better than rope because the weight helped her dry out in the right place and much more certain it would not foul up when slack. I told a local scrap dealer and an engineering insurance inspector that I would buy 1/2" chain for cash and soon had enough in the garage to replace the mooring when it wore. Normal steel chain is as good as stainless as it generally falis by wear not corrosion. May still have some chain under the bench somewhere. Definately recommend chain for moorings.
 
I've had swing moorings for the last 19 years and, so far, no failures. Out here, riser of about 30mm rope, shackled to maybe 6m of 3/4" chain just off the bottom via a swivel is the norm. All failures have been either worn chain or failed shackles, never the rope riser.
 
I have always used chain on my cobra 750. On the 12th september 2011
it was blowing F8 and gusting well into F9, six month old 10mm tested chain from a reputable supplier snapped. boat was total loss. Use biggest and best chain your boat will take
 
I had an exposed swinging mooring in Portsmouth Harbour for ten years, often keeping a yacht on it 12 months of the year.
I found the most effective reliable connection from the boat to the buoy was a single piece of rope.
Chain caused snatching and wore things quickly.
Backups caused tangles, as the boat always rotated on the mooring in the same direction.

Obviously relying on a single failure point, you have to do something that worked. I found I could splice a strop from 32mm 3 strand and it would last over 2 years, once I had eliminated all the chafe points. That's for a 39ft boat about 7 tonnes all up.
2 inadequate fixtures are never as good as one adequate one!

My point is moorings work differently in different locations, you have to do something that works where it has to work.
Whatever you do, check it frequently, it's quite easy to think you have done a good job, only to find unexpected wear after just a day or two. One of my early efforts, the first thing that failed was the backup chain! (I think the rope wore the mousing off the shackle and the pin worked out)
I'm not advocating a single rope for everyone, just pointing out some of the issues, hope it helps?
 
I use two pieces of rope that come through fairleads and onto side cleats (one port and one starboard) of equal length and a slightly longer chain covered in fire hose which comes through the bow roller.
The rope should take the strain first which provides a bit of elasticity, the second rope will back up the first and if both of those fail then hopefully the chain will take on the job until someone notices
 
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