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

[stuartwineberg]

The OP made no suggestion he was hiring the mooring. Nor did he mention if the mooring was sized for his yacht. Coutesy moorings are installed for a variety of reasons, waiting for a bridge to open, waiting for a tidal gate. To expect a courtesy mooring to be all things to all men (or women) and for free is too much (despite the historic precedent).


We were away and out mooring left unattended. A large MoBo came past and over our mooring and wrapped the mooring line round his prop - with inevitable damage. For courtesy moorings Councils cannot be responsible for such stupidity, nor can they be expected to know immediately that damage has occurred - and we had to attach a new mooring strop.

Private moorings here are supposedly only for the registered yacht but we too have a policy of not objecting to anyone borrowing a mooring, with the usual, sensible caveats. I'm not aware that the practice is abused.


In answer to the OP - as you have found in reading the replies there is no easy sensible answer and the damage that a courtesy mooring can make to gel coat is simply not worth the anguish. Either move to another courtesy mooring where the issues of tide and wind do not occur - or use your anchor (that is why you carry it). Expecting to use a courtesy mooring seems poor seaman ship - you should have a sensible fall back option. If you cannot anchor - you chose the wrong destination or ........

The real world can be harsh.

Jonathan

Thanks Jonathan, I agree. The situations I have in mind are specific - 4 in total that affect me - Langstone harbour, Beaulieu river, Studland bay and Newtown Creek where professionally installed visitors mooring buoys are placed and I have enjoyed using all of them in the past but now with a painted hull do not want an encounter of the close kind. Some of these do indeed offer the possibility of anchoring but SWMBO is nervous of this overnight and does not fancy having to reset the thing when the tide turns - please dont turn this into an anchoring thread, I know the pros and cons