Leaving your dinghy at your mooring

[Boo2]

Hi,

When you leave your dinghy at your mooring do you leave it on a long or a short painter ? Floating line or non-floating ? I wanted my dinghy to be out of the way when I returned so left it on a painter a bit longer than the length of the boat but when I returned the painter was wrapped around the mooring riser and was a pita to untangle. Also I inadvertently motored across the painter (luckily without fouling the prop) while trying to pick up the buoy hence the question re floating rope.

If you use a short painter it occurs to me that you can then drop the strops into the dinghy which will save them picking up weed while you are away, anyone here do that ?

Also the idea occurs that it would be easy to pick up a long warp dropped into the dinghy and tied to the mooring buoy and might be easier to manage single handed than directly picking up the short mooring strops ? Anyone here do that too ?

Thanks,

Boo2

 

[jacktarjohn]

Yep, short painter and strops thrown in the dinghy. A long painter just looks like a recipe for a rope round the prop. The less rope in the water when I make cack-handed efforts to pick up my mooring when single handed the better. Plus when the wind and tide conspire to set the dinghy across the tide in the direction you wish to approach from ( as it always will ) with a short painter you can just nudge it out of the way with your bow.

 

[Birdseye]

I drop the pick up buoy into the dinghy - lat think I want is the dinghy getting between the boat and the pick up buoy and thats what will happen if it can. Sods law.

 

[VicS]

Short enough to eliminate the possibility that someone will try to sail between dinghy and buoy.

Long enough for there to be enough length of painter available to grab if picking up is likely to be tricky.

 

[duncan99210]

I always used to tie the painter (normal length, about 2 metres or so) to the handle of the pickup buoy. When approaching the mooring on our return, the length of the line on the pick up buoy plus the painter put the bow of the dinghy just by the front of the cockpit. Simple matter to knock th engine into neutral, pick up the painter with the boat hook and walk forward to the bow, pulling in the painter, then the pickup buoy and then the mooring strop. Helped that there was virtually always a current flowing (mooring on the Menai just by the Swellies) to keep some tension on the dinghy, thus avoiding tangles

 

[Channel Sailor]

Just before departing I tie tender painter to the chain a few ft beyond the bow roller, just within easy reach from the bow. The painter is approx' 2.5 metres. The tender has small sausage type fenders tied firmly horizontally all along one side. To cast off simply lift the chain off and drop. To pick up I would motor/sail up almost directly up the stern of the tender but just before striking the tender then swing the yacht bow to the side with the fenders, then swing it back so the tender is pushed gently to one side and settles along side the yacht. Swing the helm back a touch to bring the buoy still forward but on the side of where the tender is. Then engine in neutral, walk fwd with boat hook To get the pick up buoy then pull on it to grab the chain loop. If calm slip the chain on the cleat. If not calm, tender with a lot of water in it or a cluttered bow then in advance have one end of mooring warp on a fwd deck cleat threaded out over the bow roller and back around ready on the deck, then instead of struggling to get the chain loop on the cleat simply thread the other end of this warp through chain loop then back on board via the roller where you now have a temporary x2 advantage to control any weight while getting organised. If large tender, choppy or windy then using the temporary warp makes it much easier. As it helps with the extra drag of the tender. I would choose a sinking line for the painter.

If you have a larger yacht in strong tide, not very strong crew or exposed mooring then another idea is to have a strong three stand polyester (or orange polypropylene if you want it to float) short line connected with a shackle approx' 1.5 to 2m from the loop down the chain. Have the pick up buoy on a spliced eye on the end of this strop instead. Pick up this first and slip this easy to handle temporary connection onto a cleat. Then you have time to get more crew on the bow to struggle with the chain for a proper connection.

Sometimes the painter and chain had a few twists but with a light painter it is easy to sort out as it will be able to reach from the bow.

 

[reeac]

One thing for sure. Last season I added a small pickup buoy to my swinging mooring strop and used polyester line. Within less than a week the polyester line had become hopelessly wound around the main mooring line underneath the mooring buoy winding itself also around the mooring strop. It was very difficult to unravel. Motto? Always use floating (polypropylene) line for any pickup strop.

 

[Binman]

If I left my dingy on my trot mooring it's important to secure the same as my boat, to hold the trot togeather.

 

[PetiteFleur]

I tie the floating dinghy painter to one of the mooring strops, fairly long, the second strop still floats + small pick up buoy. Lots of chances to pick up a rope when returning to my mooring. All the ropes are floating so little chance of fouling the prop. Always works for me - even if sometimes have to have a 2nd go!

 

[Seajet]

Short enough to eliminate the possibility that someone will try to sail between dinghy and buoy.

Long enough for there to be enough length of painter available to grab if picking up is likely to be tricky.

Spot on. :encouragement:

I happen to use a nylon painter on the tender, which sinks a little & draws the dinghy closer to the floating buoy in light airs, but that's mainly because I don't like nasty cheapo floaty lines; a determined speedboat type will knobble any painter anywhere !

If I'm leaving for a few days I arrange a lift out to the mooring or something so the tender doesn't get full of rain water ( my being away guarantees monsoon conditions ) or stolen, rare but it can happen.

In places where there are lots of visitors a spare mooring without a tender is the one wise visitors will go for, but when I've done this people are very apologetic to come back and reclaim their mooring, so it has led to chats & drinks after passing them their pickup.

 

[William_H]

Different condictions and different priorities mean you should try various answers to the question. I have a hard ali dinghy and always tie up to the mooring strop with along painter. But then I am never usually gone for more than 3 hrs. I always sail onto and off the swing mooring so a long painter gives me a large target to grab the floating painter with the boat hook. Though I confess I have never succeeded single handed. good luck olewill

 

[Fantasie 19]

I always used to tie the painter (normal length, about 2 metres or so) to the handle of the pickup buoy. When approaching the mooring on our return, the length of the line on the pick up buoy plus the painter put the bow of the dinghy just by the front of the cockpit. Simple matter to knock th engine into neutral, pick up the painter with the boat hook and walk forward to the bow, pulling in the painter, then the pickup buoy and then the mooring strop. Helped that there was virtually always a current flowing (mooring on the Menai just by the Swellies) to keep some tension on the dinghy, thus avoiding tangles

That is exactly what I do to.. there's always a little current in the mooring area so the lie of the dinghy helps me to decide my approach... I kick the outboard into neutral just as the bow comes in line with the stern of the tender... then run forward with the boat hook where the long painter gives plenty to aim at...

 

[derekgillard]

I always used to tie the painter (normal length, about 2 metres or so) to the handle of the pickup buoy. When approaching the mooring on our return, the length of the line on the pick up buoy plus the painter put the bow of the dinghy just by the front of the cockpit. Simple matter to knock th engine into neutral, pick up the painter with the boat hook and walk forward to the bow, pulling in the painter, then the pickup buoy and then the mooring strop. Helped that there was virtually always a current flowing (mooring on the Menai just by the Swellies) to keep some tension on the dinghy, thus avoiding tangles

I did it this way for many years and found it to be the best solution

 

[alan_d]

As others have said, it will depend on your particular setup and circumstances. I have a chain strop which is much the same length as the line on the pickup buoy, so when let go the pickup buoy floats close to the mooring buoy. I started off by using a long painter attached to the pickup buoy, but if I was away for several tides the painter was often wrapped round the riser and the strop and took a fair bit of untangling. These days I use as short a length of painter as possible, hitched to the loop of the strop, and chuck the pickup buoy and its line into the dinghy. Coming back to the mooring I nuzzle up to the dinghy and use a boathook to grab the line to the pickup buoy from inside the dinghy. Still get occasional tangles if I have been away a while, though.