Just broken my Handy Duck

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Boo2

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Hi,

Went for my first single handed sail yesterday and broke my Handy Duck whilst trying to moor to the pontoon at Shoreham Lock. It was quite exciting and led to Sunrunner scraping some of the gel coat from her stem and also getting the anchor tangled on a ladder on the leeward side of the lock :o

Anyway, I'm looking for a replacment for the HD mooring aid and I would prefer a detachable hook rather than a rope threader type.

Any suggestions ?

Boo2
 
I have one of these:

0701723_moschettone.jpg


Don't have a name or supplier though, I'm afraid.

It's excellent for visitors' buoys that have stand-up loops instead of pickup strops, just clips straight on and there you are attached, ready to pass a permanent strop at your leisure (I have one with a chain middle section). It would probably be ok for some kinds of pontoon cleats too although I don't use it for that. But it can struggle with fittings at awkward angles, like a bow shackle lying down on top of a buoy. I guess that's common to most such mooring aids, though.

Having a simple base which you screw to the existing boathook, rather than a dedicated pole to stow, is handy. In case it's not clear, the hook slides out of the base, and closes, when you grab the target. I don't notice the base on the boathook most of the time, and the carabiner just hangs in the back of the locker. I hitch an ordinary mooring warp to it when needed.

Pete
 
So. That's what that funny tapered bit lying in one of the drawers is for. I've always been tempted just to chuck it out.

Regards
Donald
 
Looking at that picture again, mine's not quite identical. The carabiner is more triangular, giving a wider mouth that will hook onto larger fittings than the one in the pic. Same idea, though.

Pete
 
It's called a Kong Hook, first got one in the 70's, bought another on line about 4 years ago cost about £50.00, money very well spent, get one! I use mine for ring buoys and pontoon cleats, it's rated breaking weight is 3500lbs out of memory, my boat weighs about 22,000lbs and it's not broken yet.
PIPERS OF Poole sell them, or at last their site is showing it at £49.99 plus delivery
Jon
 
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Agreed re ease of release, but a small mouth, out of memory 2" as opposed to the Kong's 4" after attaching to the buoy I lift it and run a line through and tie off to the cleats then I retreive the Kong, bit of a faff I would agree, however I find the Kong easier to use.
Jon
 
prv said:
I have one of these:

0701723_moschettone.jpg


Don't have a name or supplier though, I'm afraid.

It's excellent for visitors' buoys that have stand-up loops instead of pickup strops, just clips straight on and there you are attached, ready to pass a permanent strop at your leisure (I have one with a chain middle section). It would probably be ok for some kinds of pontoon cleats too although I don't use it for that. But it can struggle with fittings at awkward angles, like a bow shackle lying down on top of a buoy. I guess that's common to most such mooring aids, though.

Having a simple base which you screw to the existing boathook, rather than a dedicated pole to stow, is handy. In case it's not clear, the hook slides out of the base, and closes, when you grab the target. I don't notice the base on the boathook most of the time, and the carabiner just hangs in the back of the locker. I hitch an ordinary mooring warp to it when needed.

Pete
Click to expand...

I've just bought one of those from Force4 - but haven't actually used it yet

I chose it because it seems the most flexible in terms of grabbing things. My berth has pontoon cleats and it should work for those - not to mention Cherbourg's pontoons :)
 
I have a "Talon" mooring hook and wouldn't be without it. Very strong, very easy to use. Good, wide jaws and you can release it easily from the boat, which is, to me, an advantage over the one shown. Only downside I can see is that it is a little heavy if you use it on the end of a long boathook. I use a dedicated shorter, lighter handle which works fine.

Heartily recommended. Nice company to deal with as well.

http://www.cadarn-solutions.co.uk/about-us/
 
Kingfisher 2 said:
Looks jolly useful but ... how do you get it off a ring buoy?
Click to expand...

If you are asking about the Talon - you just hold the line taut and slide the pole back into its place on the hook. The hook then opens and you can detach it from the ring, cleat or whatever.
 
Serin said:
If you are asking about the Talon - you just hold the line taut and slide the pole back into its place on the hook. The hook then opens and you can detach it from the ring, cleat or whatever.
Click to expand...

I was asking about the thing in the OP's picture .... I'm looking for something useful but can't see how you'd get that off a ring buoy from the bow. The Talon looks excellent.
 
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Kingfisher 2 said:
I was asking about the thing in the OP's picture .... I'm looking for something useful but can't see how you'd get that off a ring buoy from the bow.
Click to expand...

You mean in my post, presumably, not the OP.

There's no clever technique for unhooking it, but I don't really need one. After hooking the buoy, I fetch my strop and reach down to pass one end through the ring or shackle. With the ends of the strop on the cleats either side of the bow we are secure, so I reach down again and unhook the carabiner. Depending on the design of buoy I can either kneel on the deck or I might need to lie down briefly.

If you have a much larger boat, or very high modern-style topsides, you might instead need a hook with some clever release mechanism, or one of the line-passing types. Although for a large gaff cutter, Tom Cunliffe suggests that "some young athlete" climb down beside the bowsprit and stand on the bobstay fitting :)

Pete
 
Exactly Pete, once hooked I put my bridle on the ring and do as you do, no problem to remove the Kong. I do like Cunliffe's idea to use a 'young athlete, female I assume, would be just the job aboard, if I could remember what to do!!
 
Boo2 said:
Anyway, I'm looking for a replacment for the HD mooring aid and I would prefer a detachable hook rather than a rope threader type.

Any suggestions ?
Click to expand...

I have just acquired a Davey Grabit, two hundred and fifty quid's worth of beautifully crafted aluminium bronze. It took me five year to find on on eBay. Otherwise I use a big snap shackle on a big of rope which reaches from bow to cockpit, but that's little us if high freeboard means you can't easily reach whatever-it-is from a cockpit seat.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I have just acquired a Davey Grabit, two hundred and fifty quid's worth of beautifully crafted aluminium bronze. It took me five year to find on on eBay.
Click to expand...

I have had one of these lurking in the cockpit locker. I haven't used it for years. I had no idea they were so valuable. Time I put it on eBay, methinks!



JumbleDuck said:
Otherwise I use a big snap shackle on a big of rope which reaches from bow to cockpit, but that's little us if high freeboard means you can't easily reach whatever-it-is from a cockpit seat.
Click to expand...

A set up I have read about, and intend to try, consists of a rope led between bow and cockpit and secured at each end. Free to slide along this is a short strop with a thimble eye at the end that slides on the rope and a large carabiner [with eye] at the other. The idea is to position the yacht with the buoy alongside the cockpit and you just clip on and allow the strop to slide forward. After the applause from the admiring audience of nearby skippers has died down, you stroll forward, (pausing only to light your pipe and adjust your Breton cap to a more rakish angle), and secure to the buoy in the usual way.

For this to work easily you would need a yacht with an aft cockpit and a low freeboard (but why would anyone want anything less seamanlike than that? :nonchalance:).

I did once try using a single long line as you describe. It worked fine until the day I used it to secure to a visitor's buoy near the entrance to Langstone Harbour with a strong tide ebbing. The buoy was spinning and coming in and out of reach. Eventually I dropped the clip. The noise as it fell into the propeller was not pleasant.
 
bedouin said:
I've just bought one of those from Force4 - but haven't actually used it yet

I chose it because it seems the most flexible in terms of grabbing things. My berth has pontoon cleats and it should work for those - not to mention Cherbourg's pontoons :)
Click to expand...

We found these with, even bigger openings that do fit over the 'D' bar ends of cherbourg fingers, actually bought in Cherbourg, and have two of them, plus a' happy hooker'line threader.

Addd:-oops see PRV already said the same later in the thread
 
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bedouin said:
I've just bought one of those from Force4 - but haven't actually used it yet

I chose it because it seems the most flexible in terms of grabbing things. My berth has pontoon cleats and it should work for those - not to mention Cherbourg's pontoons :)
Click to expand...

I have one of those, a very large one. I bought it in Guernsey for a ridiculously high price. It was described as a 'St Vaast Hook' and works on the pontoons at Cherbourg.

I don't use it much now because I've found a better technique is to send The Old Guvnor ashore as I come alongside and she walks along the pontoon and secures a head rope. Then I go slow astern if necessary and she walks back and attaches the stern line and head spring.
 
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