Mooring lines cut - what's your take?

[Lakesailor]

A couple of months isn't a big deal around here. He didn't make the point directly. He made it anonymously by cutting ropes. The only point he has made is that he's not a decent person to do business with,

Pardon?
He has some mooring gear. No one has the mooring so it lies there. He could lift it, but it may be that someone will buy it.
Someone gets the mooring and calls about the gear. He gives price.
Hears no more.
Sees boat on his mooring.
Sod that.
He doesn't cut the boat free, but as soon as the mooring is vacant he makes sure no-one can use his mooring gear.

You are detailing the situation as though someone has cut your mooring buoy away.

It's not yours.
He is quite justified. If it had been me I would have lifted it.

Up here it costs £380 to have a mooring laid. £100 is peanuts. 2 months is taking the piss.

 

[35mm]

Pardon?
He has some mooring gear. No one has the mooring so it lies there. He could lift it, but it may be that someone will buy it.
Someone gets the mooring and calls about the gear. He gives price.
Hears no more.
Sees boat on his mooring.
Sod that.
He doesn't cut the boat free, but as soon as the mooring is vacant he makes sure no-one can use his mooring gear.

You are detailing the situation as though someone has cut your mooring buoy away.

It's not yours.
He is quite justified. If it had been me I would have lifted it.

Up here it costs £380 to have a mooring laid. £100 is peanuts. 2 months is taking the piss.

I have the mooring licence. I pay for it! He now has a deeper water mooring. A couple of months isn't a big deal, because when the HM allocates you a mooring, he says, "Try it for a month or two to make sure you are happy with how your boat sits there." I take that as meaning there is no hurry to pay for the tackle until I am happy with the mooring. I phoned the guy and asked him what he wanted for the tack, and said I'd get back to him. I hadn't got back to him in those two months although I was happy with the mooring, but I don't see a major issue to chase me up by cutting ropes when the tackle is unlikely to be used any where else, and so only has value while on that mooring. The guy could have just phoned me and asked how it was going and whether I was keeping the mooring and if I wanted to retain his tackle. I did want to buy his tackle, but now he's actually devalued it, so I shouldn't pay the undred quid he was after unless he puts it back as it was. If I asked him to remove the tackle, it would be worthless to him and hard to sell. So you'd think it was in his interest to talk to me and negotiate too. We're talking 2 shackles, 12' of 1" bow line with crimped eye, 1" Y stern line with three crimped eyes, a 24' joining rope (now cut) - replaced with my own, 1 short buoy rope (now cut), and a buoy which is no longer there. I doubt he'd run off with the ground tackle and chains as they are shared with the neighbouring moorings.

 

[LadyInBed]

It seems to me that it is a big assumption that it is the previous owner who took one of the buoys, why didn't he take both?
It could have equally been some scrote that nicked it.

 

[35mm]

It seems to me that it is a big assumption that it is the previous owner who took one of the buoys, why didn't he take both?
It could have equally been some scrote that nicked it.

He only took the buoy off the bow line 'cos the one on the stern line was added by me. The fact that that was still there only goes to strengthen the likelihood of it being him. Scrotes would have cut the main lines.

 

[temptress]

I would look for a more innocent explanation

I have a fore and aft drying mooring on my local creek. I recently moved my boat off the mooring to a near by quay to do a bit of work on it. A couple of days later I returned to the mooring to find the bow buoy missing. I picked up the stern buoy and grabbed the line that joins the stern line to the bow line, hauled and found it had been cut. .......

Seems to me you have no ides who cut your lines and why. There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Say someone became tangled in the lines because they did not see them in the water between the posts or a million other reasons. IMO to do this on purpose takes planning and forethought If it was the original owner then I would have thought he would have removed the lines, fixtures and fittings belonging to him. I would look for a more innocent explanation and anyway you have no proof one way or the other.

 

[Ridax]

I'm not too sure how to deal with this one, so any suggestions are welcome.

First you ask for advice and says that any suggestions are welcome. Now it seems most viewers advice you to pay the undred quids and that you are (at least partly) to blame for the situation. But instead of taking the advice and realizing that most feel the blame is yours and that you should pay, you start to argue about it.

After so long tme have passed since you had the discussion with the owner of the gear, with the matter 'slipping your mind' , I very much doubt that you EVER would have taken any initiative to pay him for the gear, but just used it as your own.

Pay him the £100 plus interest (a beer or something as sorry for being late)....

 

[john_morris_uk]

I can't quite understand how anyone would think that keeping someone hanging about for two months is reasonable, and I especially don't understand how you can then gripe when the mooring is removed as soon as it is free.

However what I REALLY can't get my head round is the negotiating over £100. When we bought out mooring (albit which is a deep water mooring but also on the Tamar) we paid multiples of that and everyone considered that we had got an absolute bargain. Just to buy a new mooring buoy for our mooring is considerably more than £100!

Am I living in a different world or time space continuum? If someone said 'undred quid' for a mooring I would be reaching in my pocket for the cash even as they were drawing breath. This is despite me coming from farming stock who are known to haggle over EVERYTHING. Sometimes, you just pay up before someone changes their mind.

Does the OP get the impression that my sympathy valve has closed?

Its no good getting worked up about the alleged 'bad practice' of the owner. I might not agree with just cutting it off either, but I think everyone can see how it might happen. He hasn't endangered your boat and if it was him who took it, he's just taken what is his.

Eating humble pie costs nothing. Stop trying to save face - go and apologise for being slow and pay up. Its your reputation that your paying for as well. Even if he lives in the next village, people still talk and I will put a pound to a penny that people are hearing stories about you and how you don't pay up - even when its only a 'undred quid' for a mooring. I also think its past the time for negotiation. Offering him less will potentially only blacken your name further and do nothing to regain any good will.

 

[lynall]

Johns point is a good one, dead easy to get a bad name in any game.
I also noticed the op went from suspecting the owner of the gear to somehow being sure he did it!


Lynall

 

[ProDave]

Why does the OP not just contact the mooring owner about paying for it.

THEN you could bring into the conversation your "concerns" over the security of keeping a boat on the mooring, and drop in to the conversation that you came back to the mooring to find someone had nicked one of the bouys. Ask "does this happen often? is there a lot of vandalisim there?"

you need to do that in person, not on the phone, to see his body language.

 

[MrCramp]

I think holding out for two months over a hundred quid is taking the piss a bit. Not sure why you're quoting his vernacular either. It's absolutely not his duty to chase you while you're using his gear. Just pay the fella.

Fully agree. He should have removed his tackle if you had told him that you would not buy it for £100 but as you have just used it regardless then you don't have a leg to stand on.

 

[Daydream believer]

I do the admin for the moorings in our parish. I have a form for annual mooring renewal which has to be signed by the holder to agree to remove the old mooring. This does not always happen so we recover it & sell the parts such as the sinker & buoy
We do not allow new holders to use the last owners tackle unless it has first been lifted & sold on after examination.

Of course this has not applied to you but in my opinion you should abandon the old gear & tell last owner you do not want it as you are getting new gear.
That way you no longer have the hassle of dealing with the last owner & he has the hassle of shifting it or just dropping it on the seabed & loosing it. In this way you are giving him nothing (which should cheer you up) & he will have nothing from his old mooring. Remember to clearly mark your new gear

 

[Lakesailor]

Why does the OP not just contact the mooring owner about paying for it.

THEN you could bring into the conversation your "concerns" over the security of keeping a boat on the mooring, and drop in to the conversation that you came back to the mooring to find someone had nicked one of the bouys. Ask "does this happen often? is there a lot of vandalisim there?"

you need to do that in person, not on the phone, to see his body language.

Why? So the the OP can confirm that the owner looked shifty about removing his own gear?

 

[prv]

Johns point is a good one

+1

When even the vicar is telling you you're wrong, perhaps you're wrong

Pete

 

[PBrook]

If you don't want to buy his tackle remove it and replace it with your own then tell him he can come and collect it whenever he wants. If you can't remove it all pay him for what you cannot remove.

I don't suppose he really wants it but that should hopefully placate him.
He probably thinks you are just taking advantage of him.

Pete

+2

 

[Fascadale]

Of course I have no proof it was him, but no reason what so ever to suspect anyone else.

He didn't make the point directly. He made it anonymously by cutting ropes.

So do you now have proof that it was this person?
Did he give you an opportunity to purchase the gear?
Is £100 a reasonable price?
Did you purchase it?
If it is his gear is he entitled to dispose of it as he wishes?

What are you trying to tell us by quoting this person as a user of non standard English?

"Undred quid mate." he said
Hope he says, "Yarp I did that"

Is he a member of the lower orders and thus naturally dishonest and untrustworthy?

 

[zzyyxx]

Heveryone here know's chaps wot don't haspirate their haiches har horrid.

 

[35mm]

What are you trying to tell us by quoting this person as a user of non standard English?

"Undred quid mate." he said
Hope he says, "Yarp I did that"

Is he a member of the lower orders and thus naturally dishonest and untrustworthy?

I'm in Devon. He has a devon accent as do I. I thought I'd put the accent in there for a light hearted touch. So, since when does having an accent or dialect make someone a "member of the lower orders" or "dishonest and untrustworthy"? That's obviously your slant on it.

 

[sailorman]

I'm in Devon. He has a devon accent as do I. I thought I'd put the accent in there for a light hearted touch. So, since when does having an accent or dialect make someone a "member of the lower orders" or "dishonest and untrustworthy"? That's obviously your slant on it.

Pay the man

 

[35mm]

I started this thread because I thought it would be interesting to share the experience and hear other peoples opinions. It does amaze me some times how people reply with out properly reading a thread first, and how you get a chain of people basing their reply on the reply of someone else who missed the facts before posting. I think some of the facts got lost along the way. This thread was never about whether I was right or wrong, or whether I should pay the guy for his tackle or not. I do appreciate the opinions of those who actually read the details and facts first, regardless of their leanings!

I've also discussed this issue with friends and other mooring holders in the local pubs, and the general consensus is that, as we all know, and I admit, I should have got back to the guy sooner - not necessarily to pay him, but to tell him my intentions. No one doubts he cut the ropes. No one remembers moorings being vandalised before on the river. No one can understand why he cut ropes and removed the buoy. They could understand it if he had removed his gear, but damaging it doesn't make sense as he wants to sell it to me, but I'm under no obligation to buy it! The mooring is mine. The gear is his. The gear was made specific for that mooring. If I don't want it, he'll probably have to dump it. Therefore it would have made much more sense for him to have phoned me and tried his best to sell it to me. As it is, it just makes an unpleasant and tricky situation which is completely unnecessary.

I'll be phoning him later with an offer as it would be less hassle to keep his gear. However, if he messes me about too much, I'll ask him to remove it.

 

[sailorman]

I started this thread because I thought it would be interesting to share the experience and hear other peoples opinions. It does amaze me some times how people reply with out properly reading a thread first, and how you get a chain of people basing their reply on the reply of someone else who missed the facts before posting. I think some of the facts got lost along the way. This thread was never about whether I was right or wrong, or whether I should pay the guy for his tackle or not. I do appreciate the opinions of those who actually read the details and facts first, regardless of their leanings!

I've also discussed this issue with friends and other mooring holders in the local pubs, and the general consensus is that, as we all know, and I admit, I should have got back to the guy sooner - not necessarily to pay him, but to tell him my intentions. No one doubts he cut the ropes. No one remembers moorings being vandalised before on the river. No one can understand why he cut ropes and removed the buoy. They could understand it if he had removed his gear, but damaging it doesn't make sense as he wants to sell it to me, but I'm under no obligation to buy it! The mooring is mine. The gear is his. The gear was made specific for that mooring. If I don't want it, he'll probably have to dump it. Therefore it would have made much more sense for him to have phoned me and tried his best to sell it to me. As it is, it just makes an unpleasant and tricky situation which is completely unnecessary.

I'll be phoning him later with an offer as it would be less hassle to keep his gear. However, if he messes me about too much, I'll ask him to remove it.

You have been allocated a mooring, that mooring is not yours until, you either pay the owner for it or you pay for new mooring gear.