for the swingers on the forum

[nickd]

In barmouth on a swinging mooring I use 2 25mm strops covered in old fire hose, one through each forward fairlead and then onto cleats. Then I have a chain which comes over the bow roller onto a cleat. The chain is longer than the strops and is only there for backup in the event of chafe.
Cheers

 

[Storyline]

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
.....

That sounds logical - there was definately evidence of some enormous loads at times as the retaining pin would be bent sometimes after a big gale.

 

[rogerboy]

i have been following this thread with intrest i have one cleat with fairleads each side of it, would i put chain and rope together in bowroller then one to each fair lead then both to the one cleat.

 

[fishermantwo]

Some excellent reading here about the strains involved with moorings and some recommendations.

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/~decouto/my-papers/seagrant.pdf

 

[Bosun Higgs]

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

I'm tempted to do what I found worked in the Helford last year which is to use a chain strop but to shackle to it a stretchy nylon line. The chain has maybe a foot of slack and goes to one of the bow cleats. The rope runs through spinny blocks etc back to one of the sheet winches and provides stretch before the chain is brought into play. Seems to me that gives the abrasion resistance of chain with the shock absorbing of rope. Problem is it takes time to set up after mooring.

What size ring do they provide at the top of the riser? I am thinking of using some surplus 8mm galv anchor chain for the link to the riser ( boat is 36 ft 7 tonnes) and maybe a 10mm stainless shackle to connect.

 

[fisherman]

The Lizard lifeboat was temporarily moored at Cadgwith, with short webbing strops to a huge buoy. In choppy weather the strops were slacking and jerking taught , I said to the (now retired) cox that I thought there would be a problem. "I'll pass it on" he said. A few days later he told me the strops had nearly worn through. The options, IMHO are to either lift the buoy clear of the water or use a long strop/chain/ whatever so the boat lays back which is what they did for the lifeboat.
Not much good in crowded moorings.

 

[Seajet]

I've only skimmed through this thread as I'm short on time, so apologies if this has already been mentioned.

I used 18mm nylon strops to a deep water mooring with a large buoy; even though the strops were encased in 'food grade' thick plastic tubing, they were chafed through inside 3 months; in light wind over tide conditions the strops loop under the buoy, which has extremely sharp barnacles on the underside...

If using such a mooring again I'd use chain somewhere in the system, either main connection or slightly slack backup.

 

[onesea]

I've only skimmed through this thread as I'm short on time, so apologies if this has already been mentioned.

I used 18mm nylon strops to a deep water mooring with a large buoy; even though the strops were encased in 'food grade' thick plastic tubing, they were chafed through inside 3 months; in light wind over tide conditions the strops loop under the buoy, which has extremely sharp barnacles on the underside...

If using such a mooring again I'd use chain somewhere in the system, either main connection or slightly slack backup.

Agree chain is best inside some heavy duty hose to it does not scratch your paint work...

You never know where the chafe will come from but you only need to be unlucky once..

 

[BAtoo]

Went onto a swinger last year for the first time for a long time. 31ft boat, sheltered position half way up the Orwell.
Buoy was provided with a 25mm nylon strop with loop. I added a second similar strop - 22mm I think. One through the bow roller & loop over the cleat, second through the fairlead to the other cleat. Moused both stops with a light line over the cleats to tie it on.
Overwintered on the mooring this winter - hence all the wind - and replaced the lightest line with some anchor chain off my previous (larger) boat. Protected in some flexible plastic tube (an old hoover tube). All was fine over the winter. Insurers approved the winter set-up.
I will probably stick to this for the summer.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

The thing that I worry about with chain is the snatch. When we first tied up on the Helford past year, we used only the chain attached to the mooring and my crew had to move from the bow cabin in the middle of the night because the noise / bangs / jerks were keeping him awake. Wasnt notably bad weather at all, though it was from memory a south easterly which is a bit open down there.

Not worried about the sleeping but am about my cleats.

I suppose the alternative is to haul the chain up tight so movement is taken on the ground chain.

 

[fishermantwo]

I can not understand the fascination people here have for chain. There is only one yacht in my area with chain out of the water and over the deck to a cleat. Every day I go past it I wonder at how thin the links are where they constantly rub together. These moorings are in a very strong tidal area and we suffer very strong winds during the winter months. A few miles away is a national marine reserve or park. The old moorings are the usual weight and chain on the bottom then rope riser to the yacht. All new moorings have no chain at all. They are large screws into the bottom with a couple of feet sticking up, this has a shock absorber then rope riser to the yacht. Nothing is allowed to touch the bottom apart from the screw. This is the future thanks to the greenies. Naturally they cost twice as much as the old style moorings.

 

[onesea]

I can not understand the fascination people here have for chain.

My answer has to be chafe, a rope can be chafed to quick. I can inspect chain the rate of wear and replace as and when.

As for shock loadings, I always kept the chain relatively slack and relied on the catenary of the mooring chain as well to take some of this.

I guess it horses for courses different areas different techniques.

 

[Seajet]

I can not understand the fascination people here have for chain. There is only one yacht in my area with chain out of the water and over the deck to a cleat. Every day I go past it I wonder at how thin the links are where they constantly rub together. These moorings are in a very strong tidal area and we suffer very strong winds during the winter months. A few miles away is a national marine reserve or park. The old moorings are the usual weight and chain on the bottom then rope riser to the yacht. All new moorings have no chain at all. They are large screws into the bottom with a couple of feet sticking up, this has a shock absorber then rope riser to the yacht. Nothing is allowed to touch the bottom apart from the screw. This is the future thanks to the greenies. Naturally they cost twice as much as the old style moorings.

Fishermantwo,

please find a qualified engineer - ideally a seaman too - who you trust, and repeat that, it may be worth having a camera handy !

Risers are normally chain, with a swivel somewhere in the set-up..

I researched 'Enviomentally Friendly Moorings' for the Studland issue; they require a geological survey of the seabed first, and the screw type moorings are usually doubled or trebled for any decent sized boat.

It would be very interesting to know if your insurers are aware & happy with this ?

 

[fishermantwo]

Fishermantwo,

please find a qualified engineer - ideally a seaman too - who you trust, and repeat that, it may be worth having a camera handy !

Risers are normally chain, with a swivel somewhere in the set-up..

I researched 'Enviomentally Friendly Moorings' for the Studland issue; they require a geological survey of the seabed first, and the screw type moorings are usually doubled or trebled for any decent sized boat.

It would be very interesting to know if your insurers are aware & happy with this ?

Notice I did not say it was my idea. Its simply the new regulations that apply in marine parks and is the future. I spent the last 26 years as a professional fisherman and before that 20 years in the navy. I found that as a professional fisherman we were constantly at odds with the green faction. Their idea is to close off as much water as possible and the best defence is a low profile. Damage to the ocean floor if it can be avoided keeps them happy and allows yachtsmen to keep mooring areas and install new moorings. The new moorings have to be installed by approved trained people.

 

[Seajet]

Fishermantwo,

yes it might keep the supposedly green 'I want this as a private paddling pool for self & chums' types happy, but are you happy with it as a seamanlike engineering solution ?!

 

[Bosun Higgs]

My answer has to be chafe, a rope can be chafed to quick. I can inspect chain the rate of wear and replace as and when.

.

Not as simple as that. The club where I had my last river mooring uses 4 anchors per boat with the boat sitting in the middle of an elongated letter X. They long ago learned that the best way of connecting the anchors to the boat was rope which lasts indefinitely ( and we can be talking decades here) whereas the shackle and any other metal fittings gradually wear away. Two years for a 19mm shackle is about par.

But this is with the rope lying on mud / shale when the moorings dry - nothing nasty to fret on. I guess thats the point really - if there is nothing for the rope to rub over, rope works better because it doesnt have the internal friction like chain has with the link to link movement. But if there are any edges anywhere in the system, then chain lasts better - I've seen pontoon ropes wear through in a 24 hour period.

 

[fisherman]

The thing that I worry about with chain is the snatch. When we first tied up on the Helford past year, we used only the chain attached to the mooring and my crew had to move from the bow cabin in the middle of the night because the noise / bangs / jerks were keeping him awake. Wasnt notably bad weather at all, though it was from memory a south easterly which is a bit open down there.

Not worried about the sleeping but am about my cleats.

I suppose the alternative is to haul the chain up tight so movement is taken on the ground chain.

This has always been the problem in Helford, you can't lay back because of crowding, so IMHO you must pick the buoy up clear of the water, or something may give. Best might be to attach the pickup chain well below the buoy, so you can take the weight off the buoy when moored.
I have an exposed mooring at Porthleven. Fore and aft, ground chain with rope riser both ends, and the best thing: no swivels. The chain is only lifted when in use, third season now, (after an inspection). Someone had a mooring with chain to the top, worn out in a season.

 

[rob2]

If you look at old "how to" sailing books, the description of moorings follows a similar formula. The mooring is a chain which lies on the seabed when not in use. It has a rope to a pick-up buoy sufficient to stay afloat at all states of tide. To pick up the mooring one simply grabs the buoy and hauls the chain up. By lying on the seabed much of the wear between links is avoided and it gets the chain out of the aerated zone at the surface, so corrosion is greatly reduced.

When I used a swinging mooring, I had a chain strop - two sizes larger than my anchor rode - which was shackled (twice) to the riser chain below the hippo buoy, so as not to trust the unseen rod within the buoy. The strop was regularly inspected both from the yacht and the dinghy but of course it only needed replacing when it was as thin as the anchor rode. Incidentally, the pick-up buoy was on a rope strop of equal length to the chain strop so that as the chain strop was released it sank, drawing the pick-up buoy into close proximity of the hippo buoy.

Rob.

 

[Tintin]

Look around at what other boats near yours do. I favour 2 x nylon strops, one with a snubber, the othet looser and is there as backup. Over bow roller in flat hose, then each to a cleat.

Am over Trefusis side so it gets the easterlies especially well.

All good so far.

Chafe and cleat shock loads are the enemy.

And before you get a pickup buoy see if the last user left theirs.

 

[simonfraser]

2 nylon strops, transparent pipe over it.

Done so for 5 years, never seen any wear, you've got to have smooth bow roller / fairleads.
I check the system at least every fornight, thankless taks, so far !

Mine just runs out over smooth stainless angled plate between the bow stay fitting and a sturdy pushpit support.