Inspecting a swinging mooring

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mikebutler

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I have a swinging mooring exactly as described in this very usefull article, http://www.themainsail.com/news/article/mps/UAN/6/v/4/

Although it states that the "tackle" should be examined at least annually, it doesn't say how! I have a deep water mooring and the currents can be quite strong. I have used a contractor in the past but I doubt if he has done the work he charges me for, hence the inquiry into doing it myself.
Anyone any thoughts?? Thanks
 
Don't think we have much choice in the straits, i also have a mooring in the straits, with an average range of 4 metres between tides and strong currents, i have around 750 kg of chain on the ground, and don't have the equipment to be able to lift the tackle and lay it correctly myself, so that's where the contractors come in, if you suspect you havn't been getting the maintenance you have paid for, then go and see the mooring tackle before it gets laid...
 
Come October our moorings are lifted by contractor, including mooring stone 1 1/4 ton, and stored on the beach by our moorings. Come March we service it, replace chain as required, new shackles, and April it is relaid by contractor.
Year in, year out.

Brian
 
Come Oct/Nov we chug round in the club launch, pull as much chain up as possible (spring low pref) till we can see the top of the chain loop around the ground chain and note any that have to be replaced in spring (I just provide the grunt !!)
In the spring we check them all again, and replace any that have to be replaced ...

Divers check the ground chains and mooring blocks.
 
At wells it dry's out, I was lucky to get a mooring. On checking the ground tackle I could see one of the rope thimbles that connects the bouy to the chain had quite a bit of wear so to save any risk I got a length of steel cable and fitted it with heavy shackle's, just as a safety precaution. It run's along side the original rope around the bouy where I slid it through some tubing to stop chaff.
One fella who helped me carry my dingy had his boat break free !! he lost a lot of early seasone because of the damage.
Alway's pays to do all you can yes I could have asked the harbour office to change it, for me to sort it out cost £20 ramco had the cable and the shackles are not a lot, it'll last 3 years ish.

cheers
Mick
 
We too (Marconi SC - Blackwater) lift all our deep water moorings each year and re-lay in the spring.

We have the kit (hydraulic winch on a custom barge) and manpower (volunteers) to do it ourselves. Each mooring gets inspected before it's relaid in the spring - by someone other than the mooring owner! It gets around the "I think I'll just get one more year out of that ground chain" syndome.

Tough to do without the equipment - but the process is...

lift the buoy and riser until you find the centre of the ground chain. Put a really big shackle around one side of the ground chain and pull it along until you get the anchor (during this time you'll have to let the buoy go). Then pull it all up from the anchor until the other anchor and the buoy are on board.

Enjoy!

Simon
 
We contract a mooring company to inspect our mooring. They pull up the chain with their mooring barge to inspect what they can, and then dive on the blocks and ground chain. I know they do it because I have watched them serving moorings when I have been out on the water. Only last week they reminded me that our mooring block had toppled over and dragged a short distance last summer. We are adding another mooring block to it as we are the last on the trot and when people leave their lines too short all the load comes onto our mooring!
 
I've dived the straits many times and moor my boat there (on a drying mooring). I see no problem with a diver inspecting a mooring although most people get one of the mooring co.s to lift the tackle in winter.
Why do you doubt the contractor has done the work? All three seem OK to me.
 
As an experienced diver, I do not recommend that this option for inspection is taken lightly. Diving in low vis and currents is dangerous and should be planned very carefully by experienced people.
 
As a diver and mooring contractor I can tell you it is very very hard to inspect a mooring by diving. You just don't have the grunt to bash what you need to to see what falls off. Sure diving is OK for a quick check but for a real good serious look it's no good.

Also all the insurance companies here specially say 'diving on inspections are not good enough for us'. As insurance companies are global I'd be checking what your policy says, just in case.

We have a barge and crane. When we inspect a mooring everything (weights and all) comes on deck and is bashed with a club hammer to find the nasty bits. Any bits needing replacement are replaced then the mooring is relaid. We charge approx. 30 quid to lift, inspect, replace and do the paperwork - plus any bits if required.

We have had the odd person accuse us of doing a dodgy. It is not in our or the boat owners interest to do stuff like that. All it takes is one cock-up and my dangly bits will be chopped off. It is usually quite easy to tell how long a component has been in a system.

If in doubt, when you tell the bloke to service your mooring ask for them to keep the old bits, if any, they replaced. Don't wait until after then complain as deck space is limited so we don't hold the old stuff for very long at all so it's too late then.

Then again you do run very very liteweight moorings by our standards so maybe you can get away with diving. We have a 3 year inspection cycle here.
 
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