Moored to a hippo fibreglass buoy - any tips how to stop the buoy clunking against the hull??

[West Coast]

Most of the visitors moorings we come across use a hippo fibreglass buoy. Generally these are OK, but if there is a tide/wind scenario where the boat is pushed into the buoy, these can make a really annoying clunking sound as they bump against the bow areas of the hull. Anyone devised a cunning plan to overcome this problem?

 

[William_H]

I don't know a Hippo buoy but can imagine a big buoy. Your options are limited to stop banging. First is to try to provide some padding or insulation on the boat hull (or the buoy if you own the buoy.)
Second might be to try to fit a stiff connection buoy to boat that will hold the buoy off. This latter quite difficult because you probably have a steep drop from deck to buoy top. In my case I have an eye mounted well down the bow provided for a winch attach for hauling on to trailer. I use this as primary mooring attach so top of buoy is level with attach point. if I wanted then conceivably I could fit plastic pipe around the short rope or even fit a section of ss tube to force top of buoy away from hull. Just a few crazy ideas. Incidentally I have had a few failures over the years of the bow attach point due to sideways jerking of the rope onto the fitting. So certainly needs a back up mooring line to deck. (first and last to be connected) ol'will

 

[penfold]

If there's much current stream a sea anchor, if there's a breeze hoist a riding sail.

 

[Neeves]

Swap to a catamaran

Works well

Jonathan

 

[DanTribe]

This can be annoying. You could try
1/leaving a long tail on the rope so you lay away from the buoy.
2/ Tie up very short to lift the buoy a bit.
3/ A fender mat [can't post a link] Plastimo do them.
Probably, none of these will work in all circumstances but it will keep you occupied for a bit.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Stem fender will stop some of it if the line is kept short...

 

[awol]

Most of the visitors moorings we come across use a hippo fibreglass buoy. Generally these are OK, but if there is a tide/wind scenario where the boat is pushed into the buoy, these can make a really annoying clunking sound as they bump against the bow areas of the hull. Anyone devised a cunning plan to overcome this problem?

Sleep in the aft cabin?

 

[Poignard]

The answer is in "Cruising Under Sail" by Eric Hiscock.

He describes it better than I can:

"But if it is necessary to moor to a single large buoy, a bull-rope should be used to prevent the yacht from bumping into it and damaging herself when wind and tide are opposed. This consists of a line made fast to the ring of the buoy (in addition to the cable), rove through a block at the end of the bowsprit, and brought inboard where it is made fast with sufficient tension to keep the yacht away from the buoy.

If she has no bowsprit, a spinnaker pole or other spar may be rigged out temporarily over the bow (Plate 33D)."

nb this bullrope does not replace the normal line from the buoy and only comes into play at slack water in light winds or in wind against tide situations. The loading on it is very light.



nb The spare in the picture is not bent. I took a photo of the book and the page was not flat.

 

[James_Calvert]

Jonathan's solution (add a hull) also works for rafted up monohulls.

You could use your dinghy maybe as the second hull. Not sure how you'd get out of it though.

I like Poignard's solution. But with the rake to the bow of our boat, in theory we can just pull in the mooring buoy until it won't wander about. That's a bit too tight though, so in practice it's a bit slacker but tight enough to corral the bumps against a bow fender.

 

[NormanS]

Just use your own anchor, instead of relying on a mooring whose condition is completely unknown to you. ?

 

[Poignard]

Just use your own anchor, instead of relying on a mooring whose condition is completely unknown to you. ?

Good point but so many former anchorages have been lost due to the laying of permanent moorings that in many areas the possibility of finding a sheltered one near where you might want to go ashore is slight.

I prefer to use an official visitor buoy when I can since if it fails and my boat is damaged there's someone to sue! ?

 

[vyv_cox]

My bows are far from upright, being a 1980s design. So for me it is easy - I use Dan Tribe's suggestion No.2. Lifting the buoy a couple of inches solves the problem totally.

A very useful solution at Emborios on Kalymnos, where almost inevitably the wind will disappear at 0300.

 

[Neeves]

Good point but so many former anchorages have been lost due to the laying of permanent moorings that in many areas the possibility of finding a sheltered one near where you might want to go ashore is slight.

I prefer to use an official visitor buoy when I can since if it fails and my boat is damaged there's someone to sue! ?

Please check the thread on INXS on Scuttlebutt. If your yacht ended up on a beach and I was the judge I might wonder what possessed you to tie upto a buoy whose condition you were totally unaware, leave the yacht unattended and/or not use an anchor alarm.

Jonathan

 

[Robin]

Tie up short enought to just lift the buoy helps but thereare 2 separate problems 1)noise 2)bumping/scraping the hull.

1) noises can often be from the through the buoy fittings moving
2) chafe of hull is a PITA as it will not be just whereyou expect but any distance eitheside of bow where the strop length allows.

Hippo buoys are hard fibreglass and on my own moorings I always preferred the big soft plastic buoys, not feasible for visitor moorings of course.

 

[awol]

Scottish visitor moorings should have a Crown Estates tag, the issue of which requires a statement of service maintenance. Apart from Arinagour, before CMAL took them over, I have never felt concern using them.

 

[Poignard]

Please check the thread on INXS on Scuttlebutt. If your yacht ended up on a beach and I was the judge I might wonder what possessed you to tie upto a buoy whose condition you were totally unaware, leave the yacht unattended and/or not use an anchor alarm.

Jonathan

.

In 1941 the yacht "Quercus" was secured to a hired mooring in Torquay that was owned by the Council. The mooring was inspected annually by a diver. The mooring chain broke during a moderate gale and the yacht was wrecked. No other yachts broke free of their moorings. The yacht's owner sued the council.

In the subsequent court case the Council was held to be under a duty of care to maintain the mooring to a reasonable standard. It failed in that duty (an expert witness having satisfied the court that the annual inspection was not properly carried out) and was found negligent.

(Shearing v. Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Torquay (1943)) (1943) 76 Ll.L.Rep. 170

I have no reason to think that case has since been overruled.

It is not unreasonable to expect that if you hire a mooring you are entitled to expect it will be maintained to a reasonable standard; in the same way as with anything else you hire.

But, on the other hand, if you just help yourself to someone's private mooring without permission, you've only yourself to blame if it breaks and your boat is damaged. (Also you have negligently damaged someone's property. )

 

[West Coast]

Thanks all, boat is a 2012 AWB with a plumb stem, so lifting the buoy a little does not work. A long strop also does not work - if the tide/wind combination pushes you back toward the buoy it just hits further down the sides.........

Fenders at the bow or down the side dont work either as the buoy is crafty enough to nudge them out of the way.

This coming season, Im going to try putting a temporary fender round the hippo buoy using 3 ships fenders tied end to end. Should be easy enough to rig and uses what I already have to hand.

 

[Sandy]

Most of the visitors moorings we come across use a hippo fibreglass buoy. Generally these are OK, but if there is a tide/wind scenario where the boat is pushed into the buoy, these can make a really annoying clunking sound as they bump against the bow areas of the hull. Anyone devised a cunning plan to overcome this problem?

Tie all of your fenders together in a ring and place them around the hippo fiberglass buoy.

EDIT Note to self: read all the posts before posting.

 

[Blueboatman]

With respect there is some overthinking going on?
Put your own rope onto the buoy
But thread it through a goodly length of spiral reinforced plastic bilge pump /wc hose that spans the distance between bow and ring on the buoy .

This will act as an anti catenary between bow and buoy and keep them apart

 

[Poignard]

With respect there is some overthinking going on?
Put your own rope onto the buoy
But thread it through a goodly length of spiral reinforced plastic bilge pump /wc hose that spans the distance between bow and ring on the buoy .

This will act as an anti catenary between bow and buoy and keep them apart

That's an intriguing idea. Well worth trying. ?