for the swingers on the forum

[Bosun Higgs]

those with a swinging mooring that is. How do you attach your boat to the mooring? Chain or rope or both? Snubbers? Stretchy rope? Swivels?

Have been allotted a swinging mooring in Falmouth harbour and I have to provide the bit that goes from the boat to the top of the riser chain.

 

[Richard_Peevor]

chain spliced into rope attached to a small pick up buoy. Pick up buoy, haul chain over bow roller and cleat chain and take to second cleat too -to be extra secure.

I have also had a mooring also with a thick rope strop with a loop in the end which hooked over cleat but it was a bit awkward. That had pick up buoy on thinner rope spliced onto the big eye.

Lots of different ways. Just take advice from mooring contractors about the size of chain / rope dia. for your boat.

 

[sailorman]

those with a swinging mooring that is. How do you attach your boat to the mooring? Chain or rope or both? Snubbers? Stretchy rope? Swivels?

Have been allotted a swinging mooring in Falmouth harbour and I have to provide the bit that goes from the boat to the top of the riser chain.

heavy ground chain ( long enough to get to the swivel @ low water), swivel 18m/m nylon rope riser through the buoy over the bow roller onto a cleat

 

[theoldplucker]

I always use chain as I have known rope strops to chafe through in gales at Mylor.

 

[saltylegs]

I have a 18mm nylon strop the shackles to the riser and is also incased in heavy PVC tube to avoid chafe. total length is 3.5metres on a sigma 33 soft eye at deck end and thimble at the wet end.

 

[oldbilbo]

While researching for the article on swinging moorings ( published in PBO Issue 353, Cover Date June 2011 ) I came to realise that each and every moorings contractor had a different set of 'how to do it' ideas. Each and every one of them can 'justify' his/her way of installing and - crucially - inspecting and replacing components. Seeking to determine 'best practices' is a bit like asking 'which anchor'...... They are not all equally right. Or equally reliable.

Around the Fal estuary are perhaps half-a-dozen competing mooring contractors. There are certainly differing practices and, just sometimes, good reason. Perhaps the definitive survey of existing practices around the Fal is within a little booklet compiled by retired RAF officer Jim Izzard, who lives in St Mawes.

You may still be able to get a copy from the chandlery shop at Mylor, where they do excellent 'boat strops', and the marina staff watch out for boats about to go a-wandering.

In relation to 'boat strops', one thing I became wholly convinced of is that 'chafe', not 'strength', is the enemy, and that two thick strops - each fitted with anti-abrasion tubing - are significantly better than one.

Few boaties are aboard when a storm blows through the Fal, and few become aware of the huge loads imparted to deck/moorings fittings while pitching hard with a mooring strop bar-taut.

While one might get sound advice from the nearest mooring contractor - and that's a lottery ( I can't be more specific in a public forum ) - since it is one's insurance broker and his assessor one has to satisfy, I would recommend asking your friendly insurance MD for his guidance on what he'd like to see. After the normal caveats, most of 'em will point you in the right direction. Certainly, the peeps at Pantaenius and Admiral have been both forthright and helpful. Oh, and you may well get a hint of 'problem areas' if you listen real hard.

I also believe it a sound practice to inspect the strops each time on the boat - and photograph/log the results. Should I ever need to make a claim, that is my 'backup insurance policy' for when the assessor asks when I last inspected the chafed-through half-inch line still dangling from the bow roller.

Enjoi!

 

[PlankWalker]

In Falmouth where tides are big you will need something like the orange hipo buoy on oldbilbo above to take the weight of the chain riser.

Then a 5/8 or 3/4 inch swivel (the forged not the welded type) on top of the hipo.

Then (my preference) a laid rope strop of 11/2 inch minimum spliced onto a thimble, with plastic hose for chafe over roller, and a large eye splice to go over cleat.

Then a short piece of 6mm poly-prop with a small pick up buoy spliced onto the eye.

If your worried about wind over tide conditions scratching the bow waterline, cut an old sausage fender in half, thread it down the strop to cover the swivel and thimble

 

[chewi]

Unless in very shallow water a Large carrier buoy to take the weight of the riser chain. You might do without it, but when you arrive in a chop you'll find your chin meets the deck instead of the pickup rising with the bow.

The riser has a swivel at its top end, beneath the carrier and a short chain (or inspectable rod) through to the top of the carrier where the weight is carried, and on up to the deck at about 45 degrees. Too long a strop and the boat will ride over it and rub the bow on the carrier, too short and it will be a problem to moor in a chop.

I have had it secured to the bottom of the carrier, but the seasaw of wave action lifting the boat but leaving the carrier behind ate the bottom fixing.

From the top of that a chain, rope to a lighter pickup buoy. The pickup line should be strong enough to take the strain in a blow if you fail to get properly attached first time.
Others swear by rope strops, but I sleep better in storms with chain, and I have no tangles.

The top end of the chain is shackled in a loop, and twisted to a fig 8 over the cleat.
the pickup can be used to prevent the chain jumping off the cleat, but Idont beleive theres a real risk of that with the twist.


When leaving I tie the tender painter to the chain and throw the pickup into the tender for an easy pickup.

All above has worked for 15 years for me in Poole in 3-5m of water with 2m range.

 

[William_H]

Swing mooring

I can only describe how my little boat has survived 30 years on swing mooring. (deep water non drying)
Mine is a trailer sailer with a U bolt on the bow for winching onto a trailer. I use this with a snap shackle from a rope. (doubled 10mm). This rope goes to the top of a buoy supplied by the mooring authorities which contains a swivel within the buoy. The chain is attached underneath the buoy and in my case is some sort of stainless steel about 12mm link thickness. This goes down to a cross member chain with various weights and anchors.
From the top of the buoy I take another rope to the mooring cleat on the foredeck. This is slightly longer than the rope to the bow so normally has no load so no chafe. It is for redundancy.
I believe rope is best having some give or spring and of course is kinder to the deck. However double or triple redundancy is important. Ultimately you have to rely on one swivel to allow the whole thing to rotate with tides and wind. Rope sizes will be dictated by your cleat size. Most small boats having small cleats for 10mm rope. A bigger rope will not sit correctly and may fall off. If you can haul the buoy aboard that is so much better for less weed build up. I have to clean my buoy often. (warm water).
On arrival at the boat for a sail I disconnect the attachment at the bow and drop it in the water. I then attach a long dinghy painter to the rope on the deck cleat. Cast off and pick in usual way and reattach the bow primary attachment from the dinghy before departure.
good luck olewll

 

[vyv_cox]

When I had a mooring on the Menai Strait my pickup chain was half inch, riser 7/8 inch. This was recommended by the contractor. On one occasion I used his mooring and was surprised to find that he used nylon rope, about 25 mm. I guess the difference was that he used his several times per day and could check for chafe, whereas many boats only move a few times in a season.

 

[jwilson]

those with a swinging mooring that is. How do you attach your boat to the mooring? Chain or rope or both? Snubbers? Stretchy rope? Swivels?

Have been allotted a swinging mooring in Falmouth harbour and I have to provide the bit that goes from the boat to the top of the riser chain.

The HM gives you a leaflet showing roughly what you have to provide in the way of support buoy etc. They normally supply riser chain and swivel with a largish ring at the top. For a fee they will go and put on your support buoy, strop etc.

In Falmouth I first used chain from the mooring through the bow roller to a cleat on deck, with a kept-on-board chain hook and length of nylon 3-strand taking the initial stress to the second cleat. The only problem was rust stains on white decks from the chains/shackles.

I then switched to twin rope strops (heavy nylon 3-strand with PVC tubing) for a couple of years, with no problems. I always looked closely at the condition of the rope strops, and never found any significant chafe.

Last year however I went back to the mooring after a prolonged absence and singlehanded, in quite a lot of wind, and eventually had to give up re-mooring. Whilst I could get attached via my pickup buoy and line, the two rope strops had bunched into a huge weed-tied ball, and from the deck I couldn't free it. So I went to the marina for the night.

The HM untangled the mooring lines for me next day, and I went back to the mooring. Again the strops looked OK, though very green and weedy, plus some mini-mussels. At the end of the season the mooring was again left empty. When the buoy and strops were returned to me by the HM about 6 weeks later I found one rope strop was very frayed. I suspect a prop had hit it, or someone had been using it in my absence with a very sharp bow roller.

I am about to make up a new strop/pickup line, and am dithering whether to go back to chain.......

 

[Robin]

If a buoy isn't provided my preference is for one of the large soft PVC round fender or lobster pot marker buoys with no top ring or through bar to corrode out of sight or scratch the hull.

I much preferred all chain for the strop itself to avoid any possibility of chafe. In order to prevent rust staining on the foredeck from the strop and to spread the load onto two side cleats we had a 'Y' chain we made up that shackled to the strop and with it's arms going to the cleats and with loops to drop over the cleats, this was always kept on board so was never dunked with the strop and didn't rust. The main bit of the chain strop was pulled up over the roller with a pickup buoy attached by a line with a loop on big enough to drop over the windlass temporarily whilst the 'Y' chain was attached and the shackle wired with a simple piece of twisted monel that was reused each time. The pickup buoy line was sized to bring the strop far enough over the roller to have plenty of slack to set the 'Y' chain without effort, then once attached the pickup line was removed from the windlass which let the strop drop back to being only just over the roller, still on the metalwork and no possibility of rust staining. Don't skimp on the strop length, but also don't have it too long if the mooring area is closely spaced or you will get too close to others in wind over tide. Finally I always fixed the chain in place in the bow roller, either with a drop nose pin or a simple lashing, just to stop any risk of the chain jumping out.

Our moorings were in an exposed part of Poole open to the prevailing winds and I was one of our then YC 'mooring team leaders' responsible for laying, lifting and maintaining club moorings so had a healthy regard for what could happen. We never lost a boat from the club part of a mooring, but a few went walkies when the rope strops the owners used chafed through or a too light chain strop broke so never underestimate snatch loads! We always recommended one size up from the normal anchor chain size for the strop. My own boat survived the October 1987 'hurricane' with the above set up, many boats in Poole did not.

 

[Lakesailor]

If you want to do some serious chafing, PVC pipe helps.

One day, three adjacent boats.

 

[Storyline]

If you decide to use rope then we found that a plastic tube as suggested by others dramatically cuts down on the dreaded chafe. In fact we found it to be essential.

The next key thing is getting the length of the strop correct to minimise the amount of time the boat touches the mooring buoy. This happens when wind and tide decide to fight it out for control and is really boat dependant. You will be very lucky if you get it right first time. We once had a very tidal mooring and used to have a new strop made each year so after 2-3 years we perfected the length. If there are other boats of your type amongst the moorings it would be wise to ask for advice.

hehe - Just seen Lake Sailors post I want to give the o/p some comfort that we did not have that experience. If you look at the photos, neither of the boats are suitable for leaving on a mooring. On the little Benetau, running a mooring strop through such a small fairlead is asking for trouble. The second picture is also not a good set up. It is essential to have a pin to stop the strop jumping off the bow roller and I suspect that is what has happened here - the strop has jumped off and then just got chewed through in a very short time by the metal jaws.

 

[NPMR]

My boat's in Falmouth, on a swinging mooring.

Personally, I would not have any rope, even in a PVC protector. It has to be chain for me. Had a Falmouth mooring since 1991 and no problems, despite some horribly big blows in that time.

In an easterly blow, one of the roughest you can have in Falmouth, the boats that have gone adrift have usually been ones on a rope. (I also recall other boats that were "taken out" by bigger boats that have gone adrift and crashed their way to shore!)

I definitely 'second' the point about having a pin to hold the chain in the bow-roller to stop it jumping out. The chain would make a big mess of the toerail if it was under load and 'loose'!

 

[Storyline]

.....
Personally, I would not have any rope, even in a PVC protector. It has to be chain for me. Had a Falmouth mooring since 1991 and no problems, despite some horribly big blows in that time.
.....

Agree, chain is best. It was a mystery to me that when we had a mooring in Conwy we were not allowed to use chain. Now we have moved the boat to Scotland we lie to chain and it is definately one less thing to worry about.

 

[SlimRick]

My swinging mooring at Abersoch has a stainless steel rope covered with pvc hose. Worked a treat during the high winds we had in the summer.

 

[Searush]

The problem with chain at Conwy is the shallow water & NW'ly gales over a very strong ebb & a big tidal range. This leads to very short & steep waves that put enormous snatch loads on your gear. This situation is aggravated by flood waters off the mountain, wind driven tide surge & depression tides on top of springs! It's a helluva combination & probably happens a couple of times a year, It's all about local conditions, wherever you are. Check out the locals & see what the majority do - then work out why & what issues they are addressing.


TBH I have always preferred rope strops, as big as I could fit on the cleat & always 2, with the better one slightly longer. My reasoning is that if one strop goes, you will need a stronger one for back-up! For chafe reduction I use 6' of old firehose which also gibves UV protection & can be easily slipped up & down to check & clean the strops. Having said that, on the deeper Strait moorings I am often relieved to find chain when I borrow one for overnighting!

 

[fireball]

those with a swinging mooring that is. How do you attach your boat to the mooring? Chain or rope or both? Snubbers? Stretchy rope? Swivels?

Have been allotted a swinging mooring in Falmouth harbour and I have to provide the bit that goes from the boat to the top of the riser chain.

Loads of advice given above.
We use two strops - one 3 strand to take the main load and an 8mm chain as backup - taken to two separate cleats and cleats lashed.
The lines go through the bow roller and are pinned in position.
We do use clear tubing for anti-chaff protection, but there seems to be little chaff on ours and you do need to keep a close eye on it to ensure it doesn't go brittle and chaff through the line itself!

If you're going out to your mooring by tender then a little trick we use is as follows:
If leaving the tender on the mooring then tie it up tight to the mooring buoy and when casting off, lay the warps in the tender - not only does it keep them dry and weed free but it makes it much easier to grab with a boathook on your return.
It also means that anyone passing by is less likely to snag your painter/warp by passing between your mooring and the tender ...

 

[tom_sail]

It's strange about Conwy the HM told me chain is the most stupid thing invented for mooring strops. It'll fatigue in a instant with snatch loads. I must admit i looked at him strangely. Take his word I guess. I have asked the local muscle farmer to make my strop out of nylon he seems to know what he's doing