Mooring strop questions

ghostlymoron

ghostlymoron

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Apr 2005
Messages
9,889
Location
Shropshire
Visit site
I've decided to use a short length of 8mm chain as the mooring strop on my 19', 1tonner. It will be attached to my chain riser. How long does it need to be from the bow fitting to riser. Also, as I'm using chain, is there any covering I can put over it from cleat to bow roller or slightly further down to prevent unsightly rust marks? I've thought of plastic pipe or insulating tape so far.
 
Push bike inner tube is the best I have found, you can buy one for under 2 quid. Very neat and does not degrade in the sun.

I tend to have my strop short which keeps the buoy at the bow when wind is over tide but there are a range of ideas on the subject.
 
ghostlymoron said:
I've decided to use a short length of 8mm chain as the mooring strop on my 19', 1tonner. It will be attached to my chain riser. How long does it need to be from the bow fitting to riser. Also, as I'm using chain, is there any covering I can put over it from cleat to bow roller or slightly further down to prevent unsightly rust marks? I've thought of plastic pipe or insulating tape so far.
Click to expand...

I take it you have a buoy with your top chain shackled to the riser either above or below the buoy depending upon its type.

Keep the top chain as short as possible , without it being so short as to make mooring difficult. The aim being to minimise the swinging circle reduce snatching and reduce if not completely avoid the buoy rubbing alongside the boat

The Chichester harbour leaflet http://www.conservancy.co.uk/assets/assets/mooring leaflet_2011.pdf may be of interest.

FWIW our yard moorings do not have a buoy, other than a pick up buoy which is attached to the riser by a long enough rope for the chain to sink to the bottom when not in use. The riser has a permanent chain loop at its top end which drops over the mooring cleat. So no top chain to snatch as we are moored directly to the riser. No buoy to rub alongside as the pickup buoy comes up on deck The only downside is that the chain coming on board tends to be rather muddy. Gloves keep the hands clean. The rain washes the chain and the deck clean
 
Thanks for the replies chaps. Bike inner tube it is then. I quite like the idea of no big buoy as our water depth is 5m max but all the other boats have them and I've already got one. I think I'll just make the strop long enough to reach down vertically to the buoy and supported by the pickup when I'm at sea. Space is at a premium.
Why chain? I had an unfortunate experience with rope!
 
simonfraser said:
i have had nylon and dyneema strops with transparent 'cheap' boat flexible drain hose over, works best for me
dyneema bob stay, which is not damaged with the above

chain and a covering certainly would, so does re-inforced drain hose as i found to my cost :(
Click to expand...

Hi By cheap boat flexible dran hose do you mean the clear plain poly tube ?? Why not the re-Inforced stuff ........ Why I ask ? ...........I'm about to fix some protection hose myself :)
 
I've always used a single chain, no reserve as I think it a likely entanglement, something borne out by observing others.

There is a swivel on top of the big permanerntly floating buoy, which I replace every couple of years; a lot of the mooring failures I've seen over 37 years on these moorings have been swivel failure, literally the weakest link.

I wouldn't use rope again, did for a while with another boat on a deep water mooring and found chafe a big problem even with plastic tubing.

Another snag was that in wind over tide the rope strop could loop around the big buoy and be trapped under it; against the razor sharp barnacles there.

A chum had his boat written off, the rope strop chafed through during a prolonged series of gales and it was too dangerous to go out and check in a dinghy...
 
clyst said:
Hi By cheap boat flexible dran hose do you mean the clear plain poly tube ?? Why not the re-Inforced stuff ........ Why I ask ? ...........I'm about to fix some protection hose myself :)
Click to expand...

The poly tube does not damage my dyneema bob stay when the boat bobs up and down

Reinforced stuff rubs it raw and removes the outer covering :(

Got a spare section of the reinforced stuff which you are welcome too :)
 
Seajet said:
I've always used a single chain, no reserve as I think it a likely entanglement, something borne out by observing others.

There is a swivel on top of the big permanerntly floating buoy, which I replace every couple of years; a lot of the mooring failures I've seen over 37 years on these moorings have been swivel failure, literally the weakest link.

I wouldn't use rope again, did for a while with another boat on a deep water mooring and found chafe a big problem even with plastic tubing.
Click to expand...

+1

4 or 5 mtrs chain to a swivel on top of the mooring buoy - I've got a pick up buoy shackled directly to the chain at the other end...

Unlike VicS I use at least 3 mtrs between boat and buoy as the boats in our mooring move around a fair amount from wind and tide .. I think it helps keep boat away from buoy....

I haven't covered my chain - I prefer to be able to see it, and more specifically see any signs of wear
 
One thing, seems obvious in hindsight but...

On my moorings the boats always tend to point either SW or NE with the tides, and for decades it was generally assumed that the boats went through 180 degrees.

Then I had the opportunity to take occasional aerial photo's of the club, and one time it happened to be at Low Water; not so pretty as lots of sunlit blue water, but a lot more informative.

It was clear from the marks in the mud around each mooring that the boats swing around 360 degrees and every bit inbetween, on most tides.

View attachment 51700
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top