Mooring strop attachment to boat

[JimC]

Laccking a central bollard on my foredeck I need to transfer the loading from the 20mm mooring strop to a pair of side-mounted cleats about 4 feet behind the bow roller to port & starboard. Options I've considered are:

(1) Eye splice on boat end of mooring strop to go over one of the cleats. Splice a short length of 20mm into the strop with an eye splice at its end to go on the other cleat.

(2) As (1) except that instead of the splice I rolling-hitch a thinner line onto the strop to straighten the pull and transfer some load to the other cleat.

(3) Use a shorter mooring strop terminating in a chafe-guarded soft eye behind the bow roller. Two 14mm lines each with an eye splice to go over a cleat, ropes then go through soft eye in strop and back to the cleat they started from, to which they are made fast with crossing turns + 2 locking turns.

All three options effectively produce a 'Y' of rope over the foredeck. I'm currently favouring (3) because it is the only option that allows the strop to be cast off under tension (which the Harbour Master recommends) the 20 mm is too thick to be tied off to the cleats with crossing turns, and there is an element of fail-safe in that either of the two side ropes would hold the boat on its own.

I'd be glad to hear forumites' comments on the above and any further options. Also pros & cons of nylon and polyester rope for these purposes.

 

[sarabande]

3 seems to be the elegant solution, with a controllability factor built in. I'd certainly use nylon, as some polypropylenes are susceptible to UV degradation.

This may be a 'long' risk, but nylon can, under repeated compression cycles heat up and harden, though on 14mm with the wind needed to induce repeated surge loads, that is unlikely. Have you considered terminating the 14mm lines in a shackle to the main mooring line eye (which might then benefit from a galvanised eye ) and instead of doubling the 144mm back to the cleats, just use a single line ? A steep radius of bend in a line doubled round a soft eye is a wear point.


It would be good to see a before and after pic of your final solution .

 

[lw395]

Personally I would not use nylon, or at least I'd be careful about it.
I had a similar arrangement on my boat, with the cleat well aft of the bow roller.
This meant that stretch in the rope made every wavelet move the rope at the bow roller.
Result: a short chafe life.
I solved it by adding a big bugger of a cleat in front of the anchor well. But in the short term, a loop of stainless chain avoided any stretch.
Your mooring may well have less waves than mine.....

 

[Fantasie 19]

I solved it by adding a big bugger of a cleat in front of the anchor well.

I think that would be my suggestion.... nice chunky cleat not too expensive? Backing pad with a bit of epoxy.. half a days work and your problem goes away???

 

[alan_d]

Why not terminate your strop with an eye-splice outboard of your bow roller, shackle on a piece of chain (stainless or galvanised to taste), take the chain round both cleats and shackle it back on itself? That way you combine the shock-absorbing benefits of rope with chain in the areas where chafe could be a problem.

 

[William_H]

On my little boat it has a SS loop for attaching a winch cable to haul it onto a trailer. This is ideal for attaching the primary mooring rope. No chafe point and low so another boat come adrift is not likely to chafe the rope. I did replace the original fitting with a large saddle with 3/8 inch bolts right through the bow. (very strong fibre glass at this point. I have an ordinary cleat on the deck for anchor and for the other strop which is used for pick up and cast off. The attachment to the down the bow point is a big snap shackle attached and detached from the dinghy. This might seem a better option than fitting more cleats on deck. good luck olewill

 

[Daydream believer]

Laccking a central bollard on my foredeck I need to transfer the loading from the 20mm mooring strop to a pair of side-mounted cleats about 4 feet behind the bow roller to port & starboard. Options I've considered are:

(1) Eye splice on boat end of mooring strop to go over one of the cleats. Splice a short length of 20mm into the strop with an eye splice at its end to go on the other cleat.

(2) As (1) except that instead of the splice I rolling-hitch a thinner line onto the strop to straighten the pull and transfer some load to the other cleat.

(3) Use a shorter mooring strop terminating in a chafe-guarded soft eye behind the bow roller. Two 14mm lines each with an eye splice to go over a cleat, ropes then go through soft eye in strop and back to the cleat they started from, to which they are made fast with crossing turns + 2 locking turns.

All three options effectively produce a 'Y' of rope over the foredeck. I'm currently favouring (3) because it is the only option that allows the strop to be cast off under tension (which the Harbour Master recommends) the 20 mm is too thick to be tied off to the cleats with crossing turns, and there is an element of fail-safe in that either of the two side ropes would hold the boat on its own.

I'd be glad to hear forumites' comments on the above and any further options. Also pros & cons of nylon and polyester rope for these purposes.

I look after 80 mooring sites on the east coast
May i suggest 2 totally seperate lines from 2 totally seperate shackles on the buoy
You would be amazed how many owners have one line break in the year or have an unmoused shackle drop off letting the boat go adrift
Personally i use 2 x 25 mm polypropelene strops mounted each side with a third longer strop which hangs loose as a reserve ( but tied off of course)
Each strop has a spliced eye which fits the cleat. I then use a 6mm short cord to tie it to the cleat to stop it jumping off
I like polypropelene because it floats , does not tangle the buoy & is easy to pick up. It is cheap & i have never noticed a uv problem. In 13 years on my mooring
Not too long so local dinghies do not snag them
Single long lines tend to allow the buoy to rub along the topsides further back from the bow. Short pairs hold it near the bow where it only chafes a smaller spot when wind rode

 

[sarabande]

DDB - can you take a pic of a typical setup, please ? It would be useful to see how it works in practice.