Clever warp-threading boat hook thingies

[kilkerr1]

Hi all

Having a fore and aft drying mooring, HWMO and meself have spent many a happy hour chasing our mooring buoys with a crappy plastic boat hook. I've heard of clever boat hookie things that thread the warp through the ring for you and all you need to do is bring the end back to the boat and Bob's yer proverbial. Much simpler, especially when the fore buoy is tucked neatly underneath the bottom of the saily boat in front. Anyone have experience of these sort of things? Suggestions for one to buy and where?

Cheers.

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[Robin]

There are 2 basic pick-up aids and ideally you should have both for a really easy life. For a visitor type fore aft buoys pass the downtide/wind one first using the line threader type to pass a longish line through and back. This is then eased out whilst going forward to the other one which is picked up with the detachable hook type. When settled use the line threader to put a line through the front one, heave it up and retrieve the hook.

These are tactics though for bigger boats with higher freeboards than your KF20, where you can do the line threading bit by laying on the sidedeck.

If it is your home mooring can you not fix strops to each buoy and join these with a floating line with a pick-up buoy midway along?

Hook attachments and line threader attachments are in most chandlers, not too pricey, you fix them to your own boathook or wooden pole (deck brush handle) OR you buy the complete pole & attachment, much more pricey. Threaders are available about £10 in plastic, £50 in metal, hooks £10 ish without boathook. There is a S/S hook type that is releasable from on board too, complete gizmo around £50+, usually at SBS first hall.

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Why don't you have your strops permanently fitted to the fore and aft buoys, then all you have to do is retrieve the pick up rope that lashes them together when you leave the mooring.

It seems strange to remove the strops each time you leave, mine are spliced permanently to the tops of the chains, much stronger than having a loop of rope chaffing through the buoys top loops.

I am not suggesting your method is wrong, I just don't understand why you do it this way.

As to the threading tools, I have seen them demonstrated at the boat shows, and if I was going for one I would choose the Swiftie-Matic Mooring Hook as this does not leave your vessel attached by a nylon hook, as it just threads the rope for you. Others seem to leave a portion of the hooking mechanism to take all the weight. I think with the Swiftie-Matic Mooring Hook you could thread chain through after first looping through light hauling line, the others it seems you could not.

I have no connection with Swiftie-Matic, nor do I own one, occasionally I have struggled with a foreign mooring, but not enough yet to cause me to require one. My comments also could be incorrect regarding all other types, I am just relaying what I have seen, there are probably many others on the market that only feed the rope, my point really is that this is the type I would go for.

Hope this drivel helps /forums/images/icons/smile.gif


<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk/Honda_00.html>Honda Formula 4-Stroke racing</A>

 

[MedMan]

Over the years I have bought several of these devices. Most are useless! They work OK in the boat show with a nice shiny stationary mooring ring 2 metres away at eye level. However, trying to use them on a real mooring buoy from a moving foredeck is another matter altogether. There are two main problems:

1. The thickness of the ring on the buoy. All of these devices have a limited jaw opening which, in my experience, often won't fit over real-world buoy rings.

2. The angle at which the device is used. For many of these devices the 'angle of attack' so to speak is critical. Once again, easy on shore, but impossibly difficult from the foredeck.

I have had much more success with the type of device that has some form of snap hook permanently attached to a short length of line. They usually have some means of being temporarily held to a dedicated pole or to your boat hook. You belay the line, mount the hook on the pole, snap it over the buoy ring and relax. You can rig a permanent mooring line and remove the snap hook at your leisure. These too can suffer from the problem of the thickness of the buoy ring, so make sure you get a big one.

The company who make nice shiny stainless steel tools for huge sums of money also make quite a nice hook of this design though it has a rather un-necessary quick release action that I think makes it less secure and adds nothing. Never-the-less, I have one and it works well. Sorry I can't remember their name, but someone will I'm sure

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[Gordonmc]

I bought one of the plastic ones and cable-tied it onto a boathook and its been a boon on visitor moorings with top-loops, esp when single handed. The only time it failed was when I got over ambitious and tied the short line supplied onto my chain and warp mooring strop which proved too heavy. I now use a length of line long enough to come back to the boat.
Agreed, the angle of attack is critical, but I havn't had the problem of the jaws being too small.
For the £7 or so its probably worth your while giving it a go.

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[AndrewB]

I'm completely with Jools on this one, the way to go is a permantly roved rope loop about 10 feet long, that you can easily pick up with a normal boat-hook. The only downside is that you might just catch it on the prop if you should fail to pick it up. Oh, and that making the pickup so easy might tempt unwanted visitors.

I've wasted money on patent rope threaders, but some people do swear by them.

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[Dave_Knowles]

I bought one at last years boat show called a something duck. This one stayed on the ring and you released it when you left the mooring. Unfortunately when I read the instructions I found that it had a maximum weigth of far less than the boat so it was never used. Still wanting a better system I decided to buy a mooring mate which it woderful and what I now do is use a light rope with little floats (as used on fishing nets) which I attach to the back mooring first. I then attach the other end to the front mooring. Hook the front rope over the mooring mate and off I go. When I return I pick up the rope from the mooring mate arttach it to the boat. Disconect the light rope and walk it to the back and pick up the back rope. The floats help keep the rope off the mud which is an added bonus.



<hr width=100% size=1>Take care.

Dave

Dave Knowles
Southampton - UK

http://www.MyCleopatra.co.uk

 

[dickh]

I've got one of those SS 'snap' hook ones that you clip to the end of a staff, with a rope attached to the hook. I've only used it once in anger and found it very difficult to actually get it to 'snap' into the mooring bouys ring - the bouy kept moving!! AND of course you still have to reeve a more permanent line AND then remove the snap hook.
Not a good buy.
On my swinging mooring(without a ring) I've fitted a length of floating rope with a small marker bouy on top, which you pick up first, secure, then pick up main rope. The only snag is if you leave the mooring for more than a few hours, this floating rope manages to tie itself into an enormous knot aroung the bouy!

<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[robp]

Bought one in London, with which my nipper has spent many a happy hour practising his Sheet Bends and threading warps around the pushpit! Never did get round to using it in anger this season, as we kept it for emergencies and managed the traditional way. However it does work very well and you can even bring the warp back and repeat it, giving you a round turn. It uses a plastic toggle which transfers from one side of the fork to t'other. Check the demo's at SIBS, if you're going - but this one seemed the best.

Again though, why not permanent strops?

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[david]

See the thread on MoBo forum

Headed " Boat hook thingy" there are pictures of the plastimo pick up hook. Or do a search " Boat hook thingy"

<hr width=100% size=1>David

 

[kilkerr1]

Aha. Now, you see, the reason we do the buoy-chasing every time is that, well, we didn't know any better. This being our first boat 'n' all, it was the way that the chap at the boatyard showed us and we've not seen others on our trot doing anything else so we just kind of stuck it out. But now the idea of the pick-up buoy with permanent strops has got me so excited I'm on a chandlery run tomorrow for a shiny red buoy and lots o' string...

Am a supremely chuffed girl now - cheers!

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[Dave_Knowles]

I have just found the Mooring Mate site for those who don't know about them. I find mine is great even on a mud berth.

http://www.mooringmate.com/

<hr width=100% size=1>Take care.

Dave

Dave Knowles
Southampton - UK

http://www.MyCleopatra.co.uk

 

[Birdseye]

as you have already seen, there are as many approaches to picking up a mooring as there are sailors. many a happy winter evening can be spent divising solutions to your mooring problems .

i have a fore and aft mooring in a reasonably fast flowing river. our traditional system was a line (known as a Nelson) connecting the two halves, with a pick up buoy in the middle. works ok, but has some disadvanteges
1/ on a drying mooring, the lines sit in the mud whilst you're away and then transfer that mud to your wifes new trousers when you pick up the mooring again
2/ they have an uncanny way of getting wrapped round your porp and rudder. my record is three times in one attempted trip - I then went home!
3/ the Nelson is invariably on the leeward side of your boat when you want to leave your mooring.
4/ a rope in the water means you have to be very careful about cutting the engine as soon as you get near the mooring. OK if you time it beautifully, but the rest of the time you either get a rope round the prop, or a last minute grab gets the Nelson and you have to pull the boat into position by hand. After which you sit on the foredeck, red faced and knackered, cursing the person on the helm who stopped engine too soon.

personally, I found that twin buoys with metal loops and a Nelson 6 ft down joining them together allowed me to motor right up to the mooring against the tide. I then thread a rope through the uptide one using a Swiftiematic - an excellent and robust piece of kit - cut the engine and drop back to the downtide one and bobs your uncle! a much easier system for single handing.

suggest you study what others do on the moorings near you. some of them will have struggled for much longer, and found the best system for the location. and just think - all these marina types dont know what they are missing. the simple pleasures of fiddling with your mooring and changing it around for the thirty third time. the exitement when your lastest scheme actually works. the pleasure of sitting up in bed and describing it to your (no doubt fascinated) wife. what a life! what excitement! what fulfillment!

i must go and lie down

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[Dave_Knowles]

I too spent many hours mulling ideas over in my head before coming up with the solution that works well for us. This of course is part of the fun of boating.

<hr width=100% size=1>Take care.

Dave

Dave Knowles
Southampton - UK

http://www.MyCleopatra.co.uk

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have a line threader type & a stainless sprung hook type (Bosco).They both work well but I agree they are difficult to use in any sort of waves.Brilliant in a dead calm.The snap hook is useful for lunch stops on mooring buoys.

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