Mooring (Railway Wheel)

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Jcorstorphine

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Does anyone know where in Central Scotland I can pick up second hand railway wheels to use as a mooring sinker. The last mooring I made was a 5 foot diameter x 1 foot high concrete sinker but that was 10 years ago and the thought of mixing about a ton of granite concrete on the shore does not appeal to me, hence the search for a couple of wheels I can weld together.
 
If Beeching left you with a local station pinch it off a train - they won't notice.
 
I have seen them made by pouring concrete into large tyres.
You can then roll them down the beach until lifted by whatever
you're going use.
 
One problem with concrete is that it loses an appreciable proportion of its weight in water. Concrete in tyres is great if they can be buried in gooey Essex mud, but not so good for rocky bottoms, I suspect.
 
These are the sinkers for the new speed limit poles on Windermere. Made as you suggest.

Speedlimitpoles03.jpg
 
Try calling John Mullen at JF Marine in Rhu. Tel:01436 820 584. He uses them on his moorings. Alternatively, there is a company operating out of Burntisland (name escapes me at the moment), which uses them on buoy moorings in the Forth.
 
I have got to say this is absurd. The difficulties of transporting and manouvering any metal weight heavy enough to do the job would seem more trouble than it is worth.
I would suggest that you start from what ever you have available locally that you can easily manouvre. Then add to it with additional weights chained to the original. Weight for holding power of course an anchor or a welded metal structure in the form of a fishermans anchor are best.
Finally around here the best source for mooring weights is the bottom of the mooring area. divers can find all sorts of things which can be attached to moved and used. regards olewill
 
Sorry just to add to my last comments what I was really trying to say is that railway wheels while ok are not that good as make them worth going to a lot of trouble to find. Concrete is really ok also but best is various spikes put into the mud to help locate by conecting chains a weight which is more manageable. olewill
 
Railway wheels are far superior to concrete blocks. Wheels sink into the bottom and provide better holding. Most concrete blocks are poorly made i.e. not spudded to remove the air, and probably only weigh 50% of their dry weight under water, some a lot less.

Those post things above have very very 'air filled' concrete and would weigh next to nothing in the water. Thier saving grace will probably be their nice sized flat bottom so will generate a good amount of suction.

Another common downside of concrete blocks is the small mooring points people put in them. If you want to use concrete go for a low hight and biggest area possible, to contact the seabed, with a couple of the biggest bits of steel you can get into them, it lasts a lot longer.

It is usually a lot easier to drag a 'homemade' concrete block that "It weighed 1200kg before I put it in" than a couple of railway wheels (approx 225kg each).

Any big bit of steel with a good mooring point is usually OK. We have seen tracks of bulldozers (quite good actually), a block of some old huge motor (not bad) and alsorts of things. The best is one of those BIG flywheels off old machinery. While big lumps of steel are an arse to transport you will be happy when the weather turms bad.

Whatever you get remember mooring weights get extra holding from the suction/vacuum with the seabed so flat and wide is a lot better than tall and skinny. This is also a good thing in shallow waters so you don't run aground on your own tackle, don't laugh it happens more than you would think. Also 2000kg of concrete on land probably only weighs 1000kg in water. FYI - steel is approx 13% lighter in seawater as well.

I'd rather have 3 wheels than a 1500kg (dry) concrete block.

Comments from someone who looks after 6000 odd moorings.
 
>>Whatever you get remember mooring weights get extra holding from the suction/vacuum with the seabed so flat and wide is a lot better than tall and skinny. <<

Yep, so make sure the underside of your concrete mooring block is concave. Simple to do, simply form some sand into a shallow conical shape on the bottom of your mould, cover it with polythene, then pour your concrete in.

When you lift the weight, you've got a very heavy 'super-sucker' to plonk on the sea/river bed. In our view, suction is as important as weight, so area is at least as important as mass.
 
[ QUOTE ]


Those post things above have very very 'air filled' concrete and would weigh next to nothing in the water. Thier saving grace will probably be their nice sized flat bottom so will generate a good amount of suction.



[/ QUOTE ] They are designed to hold a 15' pole with a flat metal plate with "10 MPH" written on them. I showed them as an illustration of what had already been mentioned.
The standard mooring on the lake up to about 25' is a flat slab about 1.5 metres square with a re-bar loop cast in. Above 25' they tend to put two slabs down.

mooringblocks.jpg
 
The problem with railway wheels is that providing the're not cracked on the hub they can all be re-used by fitting new tyres. If r/way wheels is what you must have try contacting the nearest r/way workshop (note workshop not running shed).
Failing that I think I would seriously look at the local scrap yard and try and source an old lorry engine block especially if its still got all its ali bits attached - built in anodes? Take the sump off and drain the oil then wrap the whole lot in strong chain and (as they say) Bobs yer uncle!!!!

Best of luck
Peter.
 
So many ways to do it ....

Engine blocks ...

truck wheel centres connected together ......

concrete blocks with chain through......

mud hooks with chain connecting together....

"mushroom" anchors ............

Another posts point about burying / sinking in the item is very important especially on drying moorings ... I have seen many boats sit on their sinkers at lw ... mine included.
 
I see you have had loads of help and hope as per norm. However these people will make you up a mooring with just the thing you mention railway wheel or they'lll send u one.

http://www.eyecochain.co.uk/index.asp

Moving it when it's in the water is easy with a 17' dory and 50/60 hp engine and drag and bounce to where u want it. A friendly fisherman (pay them and they are) will hitch it to his winch or some thing. Speak to Rod at Eyeco - he will tell u how to rig a mooring properly (they do oil rigs etc. so have progressed on from concrete and toilet chain sinkers so loved by the yachting fraternity)
BOL
 
Re: Mooring (Railway Wheel) vs Concrete

The problem with old engine blocks other than the fact that they will ooze oil for a while is that they have lots of sticky out bit which the chain can end up snagging on as the boat swings with the tide and the wind.

The last mooring I made was a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. It was made of concrete approx 5 foot in diameter x 1 foot in height and cast into an 8 mm thick steel mould. Welded across the entire width of the base plate of the mould was a 1" diameter rod bent so that it provided a mooring eye at the top. The steel mould was placed on a strong wooden pallet at the top of a slipway and approx 3000 lbs of strong granite concrete aggregate mixed and poured in. I seem to remember that I used some form of concrete additive to improve its strength and or water resistance but can't remember which one. When it came to toping it up, I made the top slightly curving so as to shed the chain. Attached to the mooring eye was a 30 foot length of 1" diameter heavy chain and then a lighter 1/2" riding chain to a flotation buoy.

When the concrete was set and full hardened (about 6 weeks) I used a small hydraulic portable pallet truck and "persuaded" the mooring on its pallet down the slipway at low tide. This was at 4.00 in the morning and we were joined by the local constabulary as my friend and I struggled to push this giant sink plug down the slipway. Seem to recall words like, "must be that time of year again" and "hope we don't see the maroons for the lifeboat go up".

With the mooring now at the foot of the slipway, I secured the wooden pallet to a ring bolt to stop it drifting away and left my mooring to the mercies of the sea. Come 10AM and high tide, the mooring contractors work boat edged in to the slipway and lifted the mooring to set it in place.

The mooring held my 31Foot Westerly Pentland ketch in some very lumpy conditions as the mooring was laid on the Ayrshire coast at Largs where it is now buried deep in the sand. That was about 12 years ago and I am now a bit too decrepit to repeat the operation.

Anyway thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Was going to post a photograph of the mooring but can't find it so you are left with your imagination as to this work of art.

John
 
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