Mooring Strop
- Thread starter Jackattack92
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Rappey
Well-known member
Why complicate things with two bridals ? Why not use the bow roller like most ?
A potential problem with two is they could end up wrapped round each other, creating a spanish windlass type effect pulling the bow of the boat down and lifting the mooring in waves. Rare but its just happened to my friends mooring with an unauthorised boat on it which then bashed into other boats.
A potential problem with two is they could end up wrapped round each other, creating a spanish windlass type effect pulling the bow of the boat down and lifting the mooring in waves. Rare but its just happened to my friends mooring with an unauthorised boat on it which then bashed into other boats.
chris-s
Active member
On our similar sized Beneteau which also lives on a swing mooring, we have the same type of strop setup. A chain, whilst preferable, really doesn’t work with our single bow roller, nowhere to store the anchor and a really awkward angle the chain would need to make to attach to a cleat. We are on the boat pretty much every weekend so can keep a good eye on it and it’s renewed every year. I would not rely on a single strop, particularly on our mooring which is exposed to weather from the south. Our 20mm strops are the largest that will fit through the fairleads and are actually separate from each other with a very short length of chain connecting them to the riser, there is a swivel in there somewhere. Make sure you use plenty of anti-chaffe!
Rappey
Well-known member
My anchor is placed on deck and tied to a cleat as it would snag up with a mooring penant if on the bow roller.
The anchor sèems to live there as i rarely anchor but pick up and drop my mooring often. The joys of a swinging mooring ..
The anchor sèems to live there as i rarely anchor but pick up and drop my mooring often. The joys of a swinging mooring ..
Poignard
Well-known member
You can't have a samson post or a large central cleat mounted on the foredeck [which I would prefer] because there is no foredeck, just a locker lid so it looks like it will have to be a bridle attached to the cleats.
And me being an old worrier, would want to reassure myself that those cleats are strong enough . . .
As Rappey points out, the anchor will be in the way and might snag the rope, so you may have to bring it inboard when you are on a mooring.
By the way, what is the bitter end of your anchor rode attached to?
Rappey
Well-known member
Some boats have a 2ft length of horizontal plastic drainpipe secured to the pullpit. They drop the anchor shank with chain in to when mooring. Anchor is going nowhere when at sea and keeps decks fairly clear.
I only put the anchor on the bow roller if i know I'm going to use it that day.
I only put the anchor on the bow roller if i know I'm going to use it that day.
Poignard
Well-known member
Refueler
Well-known member
I have always had 3 strops ... yes 3 when on a swinging mooring.
Having had a samson post break on one boat years ago - I was lucky that the boat ended up in Farlington Marshes instead of smashing on the concrete wall or disappearing off.
So main strop via bow roller (with light lashing to keep in place - not a pin - so you can cut with knife if needed) ...
Second lighter strop via fairlead near bow to mooring cleat and just slightly slack.
Third light similar to second via other fairlead back to another cleat or as I did on one boat - to the mast base.
I never had tangles of the strops ... the main had a pick up buoy and the two others were clove hitched to main so easily accessed.
Having had a samson post break on one boat years ago - I was lucky that the boat ended up in Farlington Marshes instead of smashing on the concrete wall or disappearing off.
So main strop via bow roller (with light lashing to keep in place - not a pin - so you can cut with knife if needed) ...
Second lighter strop via fairlead near bow to mooring cleat and just slightly slack.
Third light similar to second via other fairlead back to another cleat or as I did on one boat - to the mast base.
I never had tangles of the strops ... the main had a pick up buoy and the two others were clove hitched to main so easily accessed.
Stemar
Well-known member
One advantage of a polysteel or similar strop is that it floats, making pickup easier. I made up twin strops for my Snapdragon, and I think she sat better on them - less swinging. Now I've got a cat, I regard them as essential. However, you do need to make sure they have a clean run to wherever they attach to the riser. If they get wrapped around the chain, they'll suffer.
I used one piece of line, Brummel spliced in the middle to form a hard eye, a bit of old fire hose to protect it, and eye splices at each end, with the bit that goes through the fairlead also protected by old fire hose.
This reminds me, I need to replace the strops.
I used one piece of line, Brummel spliced in the middle to form a hard eye, a bit of old fire hose to protect it, and eye splices at each end, with the bit that goes through the fairlead also protected by old fire hose.
This reminds me, I need to replace the strops.
Graham376
Well-known member
We've had moorings for 30 years and now use twin 24mm polysteel strops over twin bow rollers with anchor on deck, polysteel by far outlasts nylon which we used to use. Swivel is at bottom of riser.
jdc
Well-known member
I have had a boat on a swinging mooring since 1985, first a 29' and then a 42' heavy sloop. I've always used a single strop made of rope. I hoist the anchor up from the bow roller and lash it to the deck or the pulpit and lead the mooring strop through the roller with sacrificial firehose around it.
It's what the boatyard supply and recommend rather than just my view-point, but I agree with it. Rope is certainly strong enough, some 7 tonnes breaking strain at least (ie much greater than the holding power of the mooring), so the danger which doubling up might mitigate would be the rope chafing through or a cleat pulling out. However, damage to one rope is very unlikely to be isolated to just that one, with the other remaining intact. Conditions which eat the one would rapidly also eat the second strop, so a better approach could be to have one thicker one, and to route it carefully and protect it well.
And with cleats the same: the stbd and port cleats are identical, so the force which would break one would immediately break the other, they never, ever, share the load equally in the sort of extreme conditions which would tear one from the deck!
So doubling up, imho, only mitigates against random failures such as splices or knots coming loose, or poor construction such as cleats, or the deck they are bolted to, or the bolts, having manufacturing defects. And in that case doubling up only works if the defects are uncorrelated, which I suspect is rarely the case.
It's what the boatyard supply and recommend rather than just my view-point, but I agree with it. Rope is certainly strong enough, some 7 tonnes breaking strain at least (ie much greater than the holding power of the mooring), so the danger which doubling up might mitigate would be the rope chafing through or a cleat pulling out. However, damage to one rope is very unlikely to be isolated to just that one, with the other remaining intact. Conditions which eat the one would rapidly also eat the second strop, so a better approach could be to have one thicker one, and to route it carefully and protect it well.
And with cleats the same: the stbd and port cleats are identical, so the force which would break one would immediately break the other, they never, ever, share the load equally in the sort of extreme conditions which would tear one from the deck!
So doubling up, imho, only mitigates against random failures such as splices or knots coming loose, or poor construction such as cleats, or the deck they are bolted to, or the bolts, having manufacturing defects. And in that case doubling up only works if the defects are uncorrelated, which I suspect is rarely the case.
dunedin
Well-known member
How exposed are the moorings you plan to use ?
To my mind the mooring cleats are further back than I would like to use for mooring other than overnight. We fitted extra / stronger cleats much further forward - immediately behind where the front legs of your pulpit are fitted.
To my mind the mooring cleats are further back than I would like to use for mooring other than overnight. We fitted extra / stronger cleats much further forward - immediately behind where the front legs of your pulpit are fitted.
Marceline
Active member
I've just ordered a 2nd strop. Last year the one I got was waaay too long (4metres) but I found a way to wrap it around my 3 cleats at the bow so it was a shorter distance to the swing mooring from the bow roller. It worked ok, but the shorter strop did mean we rubbed a bit of our coppercoat off the bow (we've got a kit to repair that before our boat goes back on the water)
This year I bought a shorter 2.5metre strop which should hopefully be a better lenght from our bow roller. But I'm wondering whether I should add last years strop and have it as a backup - have it slack while the new strop takes the main weight ?
Either way - would just looping the strops over the cleats be safe enough ?
tbh I was also lashing the strop to the cleats with some small ropes as - still being very new to sailing etc - I was very worried if the strop should come loose and our boat fly away with the Menai strong tides
it did takes a long time to lash things down though (and unlash them if heading out) - and I'm wondering - if I've been overly cautios to just loop the main strop (and backup strop) to my cleats, or if I should still be cautious and lash them down ?
This year I bought a shorter 2.5metre strop which should hopefully be a better lenght from our bow roller. But I'm wondering whether I should add last years strop and have it as a backup - have it slack while the new strop takes the main weight ?
Either way - would just looping the strops over the cleats be safe enough ?
tbh I was also lashing the strop to the cleats with some small ropes as - still being very new to sailing etc - I was very worried if the strop should come loose and our boat fly away with the Menai strong tides
it did takes a long time to lash things down though (and unlash them if heading out) - and I'm wondering - if I've been overly cautios to just loop the main strop (and backup strop) to my cleats, or if I should still be cautious and lash them down ?
Refueler
Well-known member
Sorry but not actually correct.
If you use two strops - some will set them to share the load - that's fine while the boat is quiet with minimal forces trying to move it. But as soon as forces start - wind / tide - then the boat will tend to lay to one strop more than the other ...
If that strop then carries away - it will then take up on the other.
What boat does is actually mimic what some would do where they set one strop as the primary and second as the back-up.
If you read my post where I use 3 strops - I try to use different points to make fast to .. ie mast base .... one of the side bow cleats ... as well as the foredeck mooring post.
Chafe (eat as you post) should be covered - simple to wrap or add old hose to reduce it.
"So doubling up, imho, only mitigates against random failures such as splices or knots coming loose, or poor construction such as cleats, or the deck they are bolted to, or the bolts, having manufacturing defects. And in that case doubling up only works if the defects are uncorrelated, which I suspect is rarely the case."
I have to smile at that ... that is a comment devised to support your opinion - which is IMHO unlikely scenario ... IF a boat has suspect fixings - then even MORE reason to add extra strops !!
Stemar
Well-known member
Saying that the two cleats are of the same strength is more or less accurate for a new boat, but an older boat may well have a weakness develop in one, so using twin strops does give you a chance in such a case. However, for me, the main advantage of twin strops is that it reduces the tendency some boats have of sailing around their moorings, because as soon as the boat turns, the force is more on the strop that is trying to straighten her up. This is more often an issue with cats, but some monohulls do it too.
SteveA
Active member
I would never have just one strop - I use 2 but see that refueler advocates three. The primary is 3.5m and secondary 4m made from octoplait. The soft eye is just big enough to go over the deck cleats so there isn't a need to lash them as well. I've been using this technique for over 30 years and have only had a couple of failures (of the primary) in all that time. Chafe has always been the cause where the polypipe protecting the rope has slipped. On our current boat (Maxi 1000) drop nose pins are also used to make sure the strops can't come out of the bow rollers.
billyfish
Active member
I use a cheap floating strop (easier to pick up) and pull it up as tight as I can to prevent wind over tide topside rubbing. But also have a loose chain through opposite fairlead with a hose cover as a backup. The rope has never broken in the last 30 years of different boats. I often baffled why others have a long strop with the mooring bouy rubbing the topsides. My best boat had a bowsprit to hold the bouy off the bow altogether. Damage limitation.
jdc
Well-known member
I've no argument with what you do, but in my post I was reporting what the full service boat yard where I keep my boat does. It's a fact. They have several hundred moorings, and it's one of, and in fact the largest I think, of the mooring fields which is studied in the excellent book "Towards zero failures in swinging moorings", so I suppose they know what they're doing.
The points which made you smile were possible reasons why doubling up may give only an illusional advantage. Debate is welcome, but I don't think it reasonable just to say that the boatyard is delusional and plain wrong. Redundancy in system design has to be accompanied by an understanding of failure mechanisms and a realistic idea of what's likely to be correlated or uncorrelated failure mechanisms (which Stenmar makes a good point about).
Refueler
Well-known member
I started to use 3 because of the design of the Snap 23 bow setup .... on my Sunrider - where setup was different - I reduced to two strops on the same mooring. In the last 2 seasons I was there - I changed to a riding chain ... Tudor Club - Langstone Harbour.
There were a number of 'break-aways' of moorings in Langstone as the harbour is large and strong winds can rip across it ... most boats that broke free ended up on the concrete wall....
I would not use any metal pins to secure lines to roller - simply because I have seen pins distorted and then ver difficult to remove. I much prefer using a light lashing line - that can be cut with a knife if necessary.
Refueler
Well-known member
Fine .. if that's what they do / want ...
My comment was based on your 'reasoning' - not on the setup. My comment runs in similar vein to Stemar's .. so it appears I am not alone in this view.
What OP does is his choice and we have all voiced our opinions / advice based on what we do / see ... who's more correct ? I do not say my setup is more correct .. and I would suggest that yours / others are no more correct either - The method / design used often is dictated by the boats mooring set-up and also the locations weather / tide / current prevalence.