Mooring lines - How many and what type.

msimms

msimms

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Just starting to price up for a set of mooring lines for the new boat and am not sure what material or construction to go for. As for quantity, for starters, I was thinking of say a pair each of half the length, the length, and twice the length of the boat. The boat is 35 foot long and will probably be around the seven ton mark loaded.

What materials and lengths do you tend to favour for general marina mooring and rafting on occasion?
 
Just had a new set of navy double braid spliced dock lines from Jimmy Green, beautiful rope, well made splices and good value, ordered them on line with delivery in three days!
 
I'm a mobo man but work on this principle:
One on either side of the stern, one on the bow, all around 30 ft long (old money). Any longer and you trip up on the pile while coiling and its a big bundle to keep tidy.

I then have a couple of spares around 40 ft long. In extreme conditions, wind, current, tide, with a largish rise and fall I'll want to run the bow well out to keep the angle as large as possible between boat and whatever I'm tying to tie up to. Ditto the stern warp for the same reason. Then I'll want one to run from bow back through the fairlead to a mooring point aft on the dock, (fore-spring) and another from the stern cleat running forward to the quay (aft spring), so that I've got a pair of warps going forward/aft from both bow and stern. The extra warps are called "springs" and keep the boat along side and prevent it surging backwards and forwards while still allowing for tidal rise and fall. If I've got crew constantly coming and going a pair can be led from both bow and stern at right angles to the quay to keep her close alongside, these "breast" ropes have to be constantly tended so you don't get the boat pulled under or left hanging and are really more trouble than they are worth for any length of time. In a constant stream, i.e. river current, a spring from aft forwards to the bank/dock will keep her neatly alongside, no need for a fore spring and with little or no change in levels the bow/stern warps do not need to go out such a long way as they would with tidal rise.

In terms of what type, if you can afford it, spun nylon is the kindest to hands, being soft, braided covered terylene is the most expensive, whereas polyesters are cheap, polypropylene floats and is cheap, both wear/abrade quickly, are not as strong, are rougher, and after a while shed hairs everywhere. I personally use nylon, I get an entire 220m coil at a time of 3-strand and cut/splice eyes in one end and back splice the other so it is easy to hitch to the deck bollards. My advice for small boats is get the next size up to what you need in strength terms to give a better purchase in your hands. Small runabouts for example only really need BT cord! However, this will cut your hands if you really need to heave on it. By contrast 18mm will probably be fine for most mobos up to 35ft-40ft unless the skipper takes off full chat without untying, and you can grip it better when you have to.
 
I use the same as James. I`m 36 ft and use 2 X 30ft 14mm blue double braid lines. They do me for most mooring situations. I do carry 2 60 footers for rafting between piles as well
 
15 tons of 36ft Watson motor sailer are held to the marina by:

1 bow line and stern line (each about 15 ft)
2 for'd spring and aft spring (running full length + of boat, say 42 ft, each)
3 two midship springs, (about 20ft each)

Lines are about 25mm terylene octoplait, or nylon 3-strand.

It's not that I am expecting strong currents or winds, it's habit and seems seamanlike. I agree about bulk buying of rope if possible; the price drops dramatically.
 
Re: Mooring lines - NOT braid

have a look at a saily boat and braided rope is what they use to keep the sails up and so on. That's cos braided rope is very inelastic, precisley the properties neded for a sail otherwise it would boing twang up and down the mast, using/wasting valuable energy instead of transmitting it directly into (vaguley) forward movement.

For mooring lines you don't want the boat jerking and feeling every swell and wave - you want the rope itself to use and cushion that energy in gradually stretching the rope. So, on lots of boats, especially Fairlines, but other manufactuers are faily bad as well, you will have a flippin awful night of jerkity crash urg no sleep, becos loads of manufacturers (especially including fairline) supply braided line as flippin mooring line, which feels nice and girly to touch but is completely the wrong material, again, like when they used the same cheapy filler caps from a water tank on the disel filler caps and they all went manky due to the nitwit lowrent engineers not understanding about materials selection, grr.

Ahem.

The krect stuff is either three-strand nylon or octoplait, which even when tied nice and tight still gives lots of stretch for a comfy snooze and no risk of damaged cleats. Meanwhile the braided line will get damaged cos of the repeated massive shock loads and the braid sort of explodes, so then you have to put rubber twangers in the braided line which weren't needed it only used 3-strand in the first place.
 
Re: Mooring lines - NOT braid

Avoid having an assortment of lengths - it'll make mooring less stressfull.

I believe that a set of four lines, 1½ times LOA is considered 'normal', but then who ever is normal. From memory I think four of mine are all this length. Occasionally wish I had a fifth line at this length, for use when manouvering the boat.
 
Re: Mooring lines - NOT braid

I started out with two black ropes, they were great and never showed any muck, eventually one went round the prop, but it never broke till the diver cut it off. They were sort of knitted, is it perle one knit one, or was my mother wrong??

Anyway, my old parking place was on the pontoon about half a mile out into the river. It was a hell of a walk. Every time we got to the boat, the ropes were broke and the marina had stiched the boat to the pontoon with wagon rope. Well we went off to Falmouth with a few lumps of broken string. Then called in the shop. They had this thick twerled round nylon stuff, that felt quite soft, so got that. It was great, for a week or two. Then went harder and harder, a knot looked a bit silly all looped round like a big coilled spring. Luckily one of them broke and I gave the other away.

I got my swindler bloke to make me, some 20mm twerly type in polythumpingeck. I asked for time and a half of boat, some how I think they came a little bit longer. Anyway, then I got a new parking lot, dead quiet and piecefull. Though just a bit lumpy some times. Anyway I've had these ropes about five years now. The boats aluss moored to the pontoon with them. Though they weigh a ton.

For cruising, we have a pair of little pewny things, that I bort. feeling a bit guilty about SWMBO struggling to the bows, swamped in tons of wet rope.

But only one of them is ever used, on the bow. The big rufty tufty Polythumpingeck, is always used on the stern. Cos it saves all that, nuther rope and anuther rope fur springs and stuff and does all the lot.

Oh, I've got loads more rope. Most comes out of that big basket outside the swindlers shop.

My favourite one, is very soft and a lovely shade of pale blue, it's about 25mm and very long. But only comes out on special occasions. I struggle finding somewhere, daft enough to use it.

Then i've got a royal blue one, which is the knitted type. Came off the 18 tons barge, so is only about 15mm.

I've a few other bits and bats, if life gets difficult, but some just do not compliment the colour scheme.
 
Nylon 3 strand may well have the elasticity, but its horrible to work with. It quickly goes hard and inflexible when exposed to salt water, so best reserved for over winter berthing if you leave the boat in IMO. Nylon multiplait is better to work with but goes furry (especially if you try to wash it in the washing machine). On balance we prefer to use the braided stuff, 95% of the time its fine, and if we're being bounced around a bit we put a couple of rubber springs on the line. Also you are not tring to moor the QEII, for a 35 foot boat I would say 14mm dia, maybe 16 but you'll eventually run out of cleat space with anything bigger.
 
Boat is 7.8m / 3 tons and we always take with us :-
1 @ 30m - 3 strand 12mm -for oddities.
2 @ 12m - 3 strand 12mm - springs.
2 @ 7m - braid on braid 10mm - bow & stern lines.
Also have 1 @ 40m - octoplait 14mm - emergencies !! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

On home berth - alongside & drying - we have permanently fitted to wall:-
2 @ 12m approx - braid on braid 14mm - rigged as bow and stern lines but running a long way along the quay so act as springs.
2 @ 5m - braid on braid 14mm - bow & stern lines.
 
A "popular term"????.......

"Sir!!!" Does this mean that "Port and Starboard" may become Left and Right????.............I hope not!!!

Let us not forget our Nautical background, this is our heritage. It is our responsibilty not to go with popular opinion and to keep the terms our great ancestors used.
Please remember what made us a great nation and THE greatest Sea Going Nation!
 
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