Improving mooring pickup

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cpedw

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In a good year, we keep the boat on a swinging mooring. Picking up the mooring is alwaya a bit of a guddle. The jaws of a conventional boathook 1612274942559.pngare too narrow to get a secure grip on the handle of a standard pickup buoy1612274747096.png. The rope beneath the pickup buoy is difficult to engage with the boathook as it's invisible. I'm looking for an imporved, simpler system.

Two ideas have occurred to me: either a bigger hook, something like a gaff but without the sharp point. It would have to be DIY as I can't find anything that doesn't seem lethal. Or replace the pickup buoy with two small floats with a short length of floating line between - just right for the conventional boathook.

I'm looking for advice on other people's solutions and thoughts on my ideas so far.
 
cpedw said:
In a good year, we keep the boat on a swinging mooring. Picking up the mooring is alwaya a bit of a guddle. The jaws of a conventional boathook View attachment 108394are too narrow to get a secure grip on the handle of a standard pickup buoyView attachment 108392. The rope beneath the pickup buoy is difficult to engage with the boathook as it's invisible. I'm looking for an imporved, simpler system.

Two ideas have occurred to me: either a bigger hook, something like a gaff but without the sharp point. It would have to be DIY as I can't find anything that doesn't seem lethal. Or replace the pickup buoy with two small floats with a short length of floating line between - just right for the conventional boathook.

I'm looking for advice on other people's solutions and thoughts on my ideas so far.
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Just tie a loop of floating line to the pickup buoy, grab that with the normal boat hook. Or use floating line between the buoy and pickup buoy. Or, how they mostly do it where i'm based, a floating strop, with a loop in the end, tied to the main mooring buoy.
 
Mostly leave the pick-up line in the tender.

One thing I've seen which I think is neat, make a loop of stiff hose with a string through it, tyrap it to the handle of the buoy so it gives an easy loop to grab or hook with the boathook.
Ideally, make it so you can catch from the cockpit without a boathook.
 
cpedw said:
either a bigger hook, something like a gaff but without the sharp point.
Click to expand...
When I was young we had a Simpson Lawrence Boat Crook - exactly like you describe. Sadly, no longer made but you can find them at boat jumbles/ebay etc - we did for current boat. Would not be without it - and kids know that if they drop in in the drink they follow to get it out!

1612277415645.png
 
chris-s said:
We float a second small buoy off the main pick-up buoy on a short length of floating line, then just use the boat hook to grab that line.
Click to expand...
Exactly what I do with a high freeboard boat.: a small tubular buoy that looks like (probably is) a tiny fender on a foot or so of floating line. So have the big main riser chain support buoy, a smaller pickup buoy that holds up the 5 metres of chain that is my strop, and a tiny pickup-the-pickup-buoy that is easy to grab the line with.

Works beautifully until someone nicks the pickup and pickup-the-pickup buoys as they did this year!
 
I used to have a big boat, with about 8ft freeboard at the bow. I used a dahn buoy for our mooring, with a great big hook on the top of the column. When dropping the mooring, I motored up to the buoy, placed the pick-up buoy on the hook, and then let go. Retrieval merely meant approaching the buoy, and lifting the pick-up off the hook. No boathook required.
 
Hermit said:
When I was young we had a Simpson Lawrence Boat Crook - exactly like you describe. Sadly, no longer made but you can find them at boat jumbles/ebay etc - we did for current boat. Would not be without it - and kids know that if they drop in in the drink they follow to get it out!

View attachment 108398
Click to expand...
They are good. But they don't float! Sadly mine is under one of the pontoons at Arzal marina. An afternoon spent dragging a grapnel around the area failed to recover it :cry:

I replaced it with a similar thing called a Versacrook from Versatile Marine, Falmouth, that is suposed to float.
 
The best boathook I've ever found is the Handy Duck. It's invaluable when I'm singlehanding and want to pick up a mooring. Especially good for modern boats with high freeboard.
 
That boathook is too complicated. You need a simple spike and a single hook. Then you just stab the spike through the pick up buoy's handle, rotate 90 degrees and pull!
 
LadyInBed said:
Sheppard's crook Nettex Shepherd's Crook (Various Sizes)
Click to expand...


Genius.

There was also something called the Exe Buoy Hook, the site comes up in a search but "cannot be reached".





"When I was young we had a Simpson Lawrence Boat Crook - exactly like you describe. Sadly, no longer made but you can find them at boat jumbles/ebay etc - we did for current boat. Would not be without it - and kids know that if they drop in in the drink they follow to get it out!"
Hermit.

I have one ----- must remember to put a float on it.

.
 
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