Do you aim for the fenders to contact the pontoon as you park?

[Alicatt]

Its more than just a stupid design its a positively dangerous design and any mooring owner places his mooring line across any walk way should be banned from the mooring IMHO

Power leads and water hoses from a mains outlet or walk on tap also have a similar issue unless positioned to prevent anuone tripping over the hosseof power lead

I agree, but it is what it is, getting on to my boat I have to step over the mooring ropes it is a pain. The bollards are driven into the bank, I'm just new in the club and I don't know what discissions led to the bollards being done like that, as I said before there are old bollards there but they are even further away from the bank, the hedge covers them

Berthing is a bit tight! I am in a space between two full sized berths, the way the access to the dock is laid out you would not normally be stepping over ropes, I have my stern line on the bollard for the bow line from the boat behind and my bow line goes to the stern line bollard of the berth in front. The path to the walkway is just behind me and that is the access to the berth behind and you do not have to step over any ropes there, it is the same for the berth in front of mine.
I'm not complaining, I'm close to the club house with access to the showers, washing machines, and facilities and opposite the carpark which is a big plus as if you park under the trees your car will be white within a few minutes from the pigeons in the trees- ask me how I know!

 

[Refueler]

Hi Alicat ... departure is not so hard ... line led fwd from aft to fwd bollard ... let go bow - drop back onto that line and let bow swing out ... if current is other way - then line from fwd led aft and let arse swing out ...

But berthing - I can appreciate is a different matter because no longer are you able to play lines ... but what about leaving a long line on the dock from that departure trick ? bow into dock as far fwd as you can ... pick up line end on dock - bring it back to aft cleat ... quickie loop for bow .. let boat drop back onto that line brings the arse in ...

???? just thinking .. TBH - its a situation that you are going to arrive at a solution that suits you - we can spout so much but end of day - its your way will be the way ...

Your bollards are a distance back - making it harder to drop a line over ... so fixed lines led to dock edge may help you ??

 

[Chiara’s slave]

They are the worst! They will take your line and then pull like mad on it to get it to a cleat, make it fast with an incomprehensible knot and then look at you in amazement wondering why your stern is hanging out into the fairway.

The only places I’ve been offered that are my home port, Yarmouth, who I trust totally, and Bucklers Hard, who have so far shown competence. Pretty sure there must be hundreds of marina staff for whom it’s a summer job though. In which case, may the lord have mercy.

 

[Refueler]

The only places I’ve been offered that are my home port, Yarmouth, who I trust totally, and Bucklers Hard, who have so far shown competence. Pretty sure there must be hundreds of marina staff for whom it’s a summer job though. In which case, may the lord have mercy.

Generally I've found Marina staff OK ... they make off a line with the idea that you as owner will sort later once all lines ashore.

Only staff that I have an issue with funny enough - is one of the old boys we have here locally .. for some reason he's never happy .. mutters under his breath ... ties off in strange ways .. ignores everyone ...

 

[diverd]

I have a high freeboard Moody, and a disabled wife, so we use a plastic horse mounting set of steps to get on and off the boat. The steps are tied to the pontoon finger and it works brilliantly. The marina manager is totally happy with it and it just works. I have rigged permanent fenders to the finger with a huge one at the bow. The plan is to come in quite briskly, hit reverse quite hard as the bow is 6 foot from the fixed bow fender, then once stopped go into forward gently to get against the fender, so the boat holds against it. We have a webbing strop with 2 caribiners on the finger midship cleat and i can step off and clip this to 2 points on my toe rail. I then have all day to sort out mooring properly. At our home marina all my friends and the marina team know how to clip us on if they are passing, but i can do it easily on my own as well. This just works for me in all wind directions and is a no stress on board way to do it.
When visiting other places so far she has met me there and used the boat as a base, largely because i am retired and she does not finish work till spring, but the plan is for the steps to be stored in the dingy on davitts, where we can put them on other pontoons as needed and store them as needed.

We have had to alter the way we do things because of her disability, and it works well for us. So far marinas have been super supportive of our methods, once we have explained our needs. In reality it causes no one any hassle, Everyone visiting the boat uses it, and if it was to its easy to lift on and off on narrow marina fingers. I guess the only issue is we moor to starboard so have the handrail wires on a pelican release so they can be dropped to deck between two stantions, with wire grips keeping all the other wires tight to aid walking along the side decks. I really need to do the same to the port side at some point, as we plan to do a lot more cruising this year.

 

[Stemar]

The plan is to come in quite briskly, hit reverse quite hard as the bow is 6 foot from the fixed bow fender

I understand why you do that, but I once saw someone use the same technique. The forward/reverse cable decided not to play, with predictable results.

 

[finestgreen]

I understand why you do that, but I once saw someone use the same technique. The forward/reverse cable decided not to play, with predictable results.

Isn't it a given that if you lose the ability to control the boat, the result could be messy?

 

[johnalison]

For me the speed of entry is largely dependent on the wind, but may also be higher if I want to throw the boat sideways. Although slow is best and my boat is over five tons, it has a tall mast and fin keel and is 'light' in terms of handling and the saildrive makes large adjustments difficult, so it is usually better if I let it know who's in charge.

 

[Stemar]

Isn't it a given that if you lose the ability to control the boat, the result could be messy?

Yes, but the mess is proportional to the square of the speed. Someone - could have been my Day Skipper instructor - said "as slow as you can, as fast as you must". It works for manoeuvring most things on land as well as at sea.

My comment wasn't intended as a criticism of Diverd, and he's got insurance against my scenario in the form of a huge fender on the pontoon to stop him if things do go wrong.

 

[Poignard]

Yes, but the mess is proportional to the square of the speed. Someone - could have been my Day Skipper instructor - said "as slow as you can, as fast as you must". It works for manoeuvring most things on land as well as at sea.

My comment wasn't intended as a criticism of Diverd, and he's got insurance against my scenario in the form of a huge fender on the pontoon to stop him if things do go wrong.

"as slow as you can, as fast as you must".

Good advice.

 

[dunedin]

I understand why you do that, but I once saw someone use the same technique. The forward/reverse cable decided not to play, with predictable results.

Yep, was going to say the same. I have twice seen 36+ foot boats ride up onto the pontoon when coming in at speed, hit reverse - it’s not slowing, give it more revs - but as gear cable has broken, it’s still in ahead so it is full power crash into and onto the pontoon!
it’s not a question of if but when the cable decides to give up (unless you rigorously replace them before they can corrode inside).

 

[Refueler]

When I am entering a mooring area ... I like to stand off and if enough room - take a full circle at slow speed - basically nudging her round ... and in so doing I get an idea of the 'natural' forces playing there ... if I cannot do the circle - then I like to near stop and see what happens ...

That info can make or break a clean mooring op ...

So many just enter an area and go for it - not bothering to gauge the 'elements' .... 99.9% of the time getting away with it - but there can be some almighty cock-ups !! and no amount of shouting and hollering excuses the skipper / helmsperson for not taking stock before committing !

 

[Chiara’s slave]

When I am entering a mooring area ... I like to stand off and if enough room - take a full circle at slow speed - basically nudging her round ... and in so doing I get an idea of the 'natural' forces playing there ... if I cannot do the circle - then I like to near stop and see what happens ...

That info can make or break a clean mooring op ...

So many just enter an area and go for it - not bothering to gauge the 'elements' .... 99.9% of the time getting away with it - but there can be some almighty cock-ups !! and no amount of shouting and hollering excuses the skipper / helmsperson for not taking stock before committing !

That would be a first class idea in Yarmouth harbour. It’s a marina now, but used to be a narrow river, and nobody has told the water about the change of use. There’s a narrow band of strong current. It’s good to find out if your allocated berth is in it.

 

[Refueler]

That would be a first class idea in Yarmouth harbour. It’s a marina now, but used to be a narrow river, and nobody has told the water about the change of use. There’s a narrow band of strong current. It’s good to find out if your allocated berth is in it.

Yarmouth IoW .... know it well ....

As a kid - I used to struggle in the dinghy doing lines to the piles ... that current could be strong. Also remember the dinghy pontoon ... stepping across 3 or 4 dinghys to get ashore ..

Then years later the harbour put in the floating pontoon run inside the breakwater ... etc.

Our Hilyard on the piles ...

Rowing in Yarmouth Hbr ...

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I remember the piles too, though as we’ve always had multis, we were usually outside when we visited.