Mooring Buoy Advice Please

[Tam Lin]

I have a swinging mooring with a rod type buoy with a ring on the top. The mooring strop is attached directly to the riser chain underneath the buoy. In a wind over tide situation the boat pushes up against the buoy and the ring on the top bangs against the hull and marks it. Last year I wound rope around the ring to soften it but it made no difference. The mooring strop is quite long and I am wondering if I shortened it then would the problem be solved?
Failing that then it is time for a new buoy. I used to have a Hippo which I liked but a Google search is not very helpful. Having a ring on the top of the buoy is useful when using a pick up device as you can hook it on temporarily and I know that if I attached the strop to the ring it wouldn't bang against the boat, but I would lose a bit in security as the boat would not be attached directly to the riser.
I know that lots of us have boats on swinging moorings so any suggestions please?

 

[NormanS]

I don't see any point in having a buoy with a rod and top ring, if you rightly, IMHO, attach directly to the riser. Time for a replacement buoy, I think.

 

[FWB]

If you decide to change the buoy, the moorings at Mylor are like this..forgive the sketch!...

The main buoy is connected along the riser chain which itself is the mooring to the boat.
I have a MAB type so the riser chain is brought onboard to a bollard. AWB types have a rope strop between the riser and pick up buoy.
If you have a shepherds crook type boat hook ...boatcrook..it's easy to grab the pick up buoy.

 

[vyv_cox]

The one Dylan shows is very similar to the one we had for many years on Menai Strait. The only differences are that we had heavy anchors on each end of heavy ground chain, up and down stream, with a swivel at the foot of the riser. In our case, very exposed moorings with strong tides and winds on occasion, the riser was 3/4 inch black chain and the pickup was 1/2 inch galvanised. In wind against tide the buoy would bang on the hull but being soft plastic did no harm. The pickup chain was sheathed in 3 inch fire hose to avoid chafe and noise. In our case the chain extended all the way to the cleats on deck but some boats used 25 mm nylon three-strand instead of chain.

 

[pete]

The Hippo buoys we use have a chain right through them, the top link of chain passes through a slot in the metal disk on top of the buoy and a large shackle is attached to this link above the disk to prevent the chain sliding out through the buoy. this shackle is what we moor to.

View attachment 38684

Pete

 

[robmcg]

Another vote for losing the top loader buoy and replace with a softer hippo buoy. The boat will still nudge it, but won't be half as annoying and shouldn't cause any damage. The harder hippo buoys can make an annoying tap tap sound on the hull at certain states of the tide. Pickup attached as per the diagram from Dylan.

 

[Dazedkipper]

I use, and have done for the last 20 years, a Hippo with 2x25mm Nylon strops to give some shock absorbancy and a swivel on top of the bouy to prevent the strops getting wound up as the boat swings. A cut down road cone acts as a simple cover to protect the boat from any possible chafe from the swivel and shackles.

 

[Corribee Boy]

I use a very soft buoy made by Danfender, and the clue's in the name- it's like a fender, but with with a hole for the riser through the middle. If the boat rides against it it's self-fendering so your riser or buoy won't mark the boat at all.

The caveat is that the wear caused by a chain would probably sink the buoy quite soon, so I think this design is limited to a rope attached to the riser which causes no wear to the buoy, but the hard eye spliced in the end of that rope does still stand up and make a reasonable target to pick up.

 

[lw395]

I used to moor the boat to the top ring.
If you are going to do this, you need to be absolutely confident in the integrity of the rod and swivel under the buoy.
In my case, this involved adding a locknut to the bottom of the rod and pinning it through so that no way was it coming undone.
You also need the swivel to be stout and well made.
You also need to inspect it regularly, several times a season I suggest.

But I found this to work well in my mooring area, as a swivel was essential and it was prone to some chop and wind vs tide.
As my then boat was painted, I was keen to avoid the buoy scuffing, by hauling the top ring tight to the stemhead, I achieved this and found the boat had an easy motion in big weather on the mooring, while neighbouring boats were snatching and jerking.

But different things suit different boats in different places.
I have seen some buoys shaped like two cones base to base, anyone got any experience?

 

[john_morris_uk]

If you decide to change the buoy, the moorings at Mylor are like this..forgive the sketch!...

The main buoy is connected along the riser chain which itself is the mooring to the boat.
I have a MAB type so the riser chain is brought onboard to a bollard. AWB types have a rope strop between the riser and pick up buoy.
If you have a shepherds crook type boat hook ...boatcrook..it's easy to grab the pick up buoy.

That's the sort of mooring we have been on for the last couple of years. Very easy to pick up so long as you remind the crew to hook the line (underwater) from the pickup buoy and not to try fishing for the handle of the pick up buoy itself as some seem tempted to do. Any boat hook will hook the line and the pickup buoy follows as you pull it in.

So the advice to the OP is to change the mooring and lose the 'advantage' of the ring on the top of the buoy that is scraping your boat. All IMHO of course.

 

[sailorman]

I have a swinging mooring with a rod type buoy with a ring on the top. The mooring strop is attached directly to the riser chain underneath the buoy. In a wind over tide situation the boat pushes up against the buoy and the ring on the top bangs against the hull and marks it. Last year I wound rope around the ring to soften it but it made no difference. The mooring strop is quite long and I am wondering if I shortened it then would the problem be solved?
Failing that then it is time for a new buoy. I used to have a Hippo which I liked but a Google search is not very helpful. Having a ring on the top of the buoy is useful when using a pick up device as you can hook it on temporarily and I know that if I attached the strop to the ring it wouldn't bang against the boat, but I would lose a bit in security as the boat would not be attached directly to the riser.
I know that lots of us have boats on swinging moorings so any suggestions please?

we have a rope riser that goes through the bouy with a large eye splice that goes onto the the bow cleat. quite a normal East Coast set-up

 

[Tam Lin]

The Hippo buoys we use have a chain right through them, the top link of chain passes through a slot in the metal disk on top of the buoy and a large shackle is attached to this link above the disk to prevent the chain sliding out through the buoy. this shackle is what we moor to.

View attachment 38684

Pete

§

That's exactly what i used to have before I gave up my cruiser a few years ago. Anyone know where I can get one?

Thanks for all the replies so far, they are making me think about getting a new buoy and also about bringing the riser onto the boat.

 

[FWB]

Very easy to pick up so long as you remind the crew to hook the line (underwater) from the pickup buoy and not to try fishing for the handle of the pick up buoy itself as some seem tempted to do. Any boat hook will hook the line and the pickup buoy follows as you pull it in.

Just get a boatcrook and picking up a mooring is a doddle

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

Just get a boatcrook and picking up a mooring is a doddle

I won one of those on the Sailing Today crossword. When they stopped publishing the crossword I realised that that was all I was buying the mag for.

 

[Corribee Boy]

With the mylor system illustrated, if you take the chain up to the bow roller then the boat rides up against it in wind over tide, that'll certainly mark the topsides, won't it?

 

[FWB]

With the mylor system illustrated, if you take the chain up to the bow roller then the boat rides up against it in wind over tide, that'll certainly mark the topsides, won't it?

The chain is covered with a plastic pipe.
In my case the pipe is to stop the mooring chain rubbing on the bobstay chain, which I'm too lazy to trice up, but it does also protect the topsides. It's very rare to have it touch the topsides though.

 

[sailorman]

§

That's exactly what i used to have before I gave up my cruiser a few years ago. Anyone know where I can get one?

Thanks for all the replies so far, they are making me think about getting a new buoy and also about bringing the riser onto the boat.

That will still bang yer torp sides though no galvo ring, get a bouy made from the same material as a fender

http://www.mooringequipment.co.uk/buoys.html

 

[sailorman]

With the mylor system illustrated, if you take the chain up to the bow roller then the boat rides up against it in wind over tide, that'll certainly mark the topsides, won't it?

Those old East Coast boys kno a thing or two

 

[Seajet]

Tam Lin,

beware mooring buoys with a rod right through, they have been known to fail in the middle where one can't visually inspect them, also to leak and sink, putting a load on the boat.

We have hippo type buoys at our club, introduced a few years ago and they're a right pain, knocking the boats' bows !

Two ideas I'll be trying this season; a tyre cut in half longitudinally ( not easy due to steel bracing ) and fitted over the top of the buou as a fender;

also a plastic ' food grade ' hose over the mooring chain ( or warp if you're more optimistic than me ) will keep the buoy at a respectful distance.

 

[sailorman]

Tam Lin,

beware mooring buoys with a rod right through, they have been known to fail in the middle where one can't visually inspect them, also to leak and sink, putting a load on the boat.

We have hippo type buoys at our club, introduced a few years ago and they're a right pain, knocking the boats' bows !

Two ideas I'll be trying this season; a tyre cut in half longitudinally ( not easy due to steel bracing ) and fitted over the top of the buou as a fender;

also a plastic ' food grade ' hose over the mooring chain ( or warp if you're more optimistic than me ) will keep the buoy at a respectful distance.

some have used a cut down road cone over the By with the riser through that cone