How much weight???

[mj81]

hi,

i have a 2 tonne westerly GK24 and i am going to lay my own swinging mooring. How much weight do i need to drop. There is reasonable shelter wher i going to lay the mooring though it does get choppy in a NE breeze. What sort of scope should i have on the mooring. At HW Springs the depth is 6 meters where i intend to lay the mooring.

 

[NealB]

What\'s the river bed?

Sand, mud, shingle?

 

[mj81]

Re: What\'s the river bed?

Sand

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Not sure about the weight to use, but if the water depth is 6mtr at mhws, there wont be a lot of water at mlws.
I would recommend checking it out, as at mlws and a choppy sea your boat could bottom out.
Of course you havent mentioned what the chart datum is for the area.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Surely that depends upon the range?

Many parts of where I sail have a 4m range or less....

 

[NealB]

I don\'t feel qualified to give advice, but...

........this what I use, for a soft mud bottom, for my 32 foot catamaran.

The block is a 'dish' of concrete (with old mooring shackles, bits of steel rod etc thrown in for weight), made in a wooden mould. It's about four feet in diameter, about 18 inches deep, and is hollowed out underneath (to give lots of suction - it takes a huge amount of lifting once its settled).

I've then got a length of really heavy ferry chain embedded in the concrete (with bits of rod through the links to keep it embedded).

I use about 10 feet of ferry chain, of which the first three are in the block. The length sticking out of the block is enough so that I can lift the mooring tackle at LWS for inspection, without disturbing the block.

I've then got around 24 feet of lighter chain, rising to the buoy.

My mooring has about 6 metres at HWS, and the range is around 4.5 metres.

Don't know if this helps?

 

[William_H]

Re: I don\'t feel qualified to give advice, but...

The dumb weight you need will be quite large. Certainly it will be very heavy to move to location. Do you plan to do the maintenance on the mooring by diving or by lifting the mooring?
Around here all mooring mtce is done by diving. A lot by DIY.

This means that the mooring can be a complex of anchors weights and heavy chain. An anchor is far more efficient than a weight but generally anchors must be set by hand.
So it all depends on what facitities you have available.
Do a search for my mooring comments or PM if you want more details as I have done my own mooring for 25 years but things are different here with warm water and little tide. olewill