Novice mooring question!

[dleroc]

I have been allocated a trot mooring with 10 metres between the buoys. My question, because I have only sailed dinghies before, is:

Does my mooring rope with d shackle thro’ thimble get left behind with a floating pick up buoy attached (secured to the trot rope) or do I release the whole rope plus shackle and presumably undo the monel wire around the shackle each time and keep it on board? I can’t believe it is the latter surely.
My boat is only 6 metres long but I plan to use 2 ropes at both ends.

Look forward to your advice.

 

[Seajet]

Pretty much as your first idea goes; usually there's a single line from each post, linked in the middle with a pickup buoy.

As ever, the golden rule applies; have a look what other boats in the same place have set up.

 

[TWINSCREW]

As Seajet says, but remember to approach up wind/tide, I hope I am not teaching you to suck eggs with this comment but I have seen it ballsed up a few times with the wrong approach, including fouled props on the pickup rope,
you will soon get the hang of it,

 

[ghostlymoron]

Trot moorings and fore and aft in general can be tricky til you get used to them. You should have a pickup buoy/line between the fore and aft strops. I found that the pickupline must be transferred to the windward side of the boat before leaving and you move off to leeward to avoid wrapping it round the prop.

 

[Martin_J]

Yes.. the big thick short mooring warps get left behind when you go sailing... joined with the 'floating' rope between the two. The floaty rope between the two thick mooring warps was just tied between the two so that when leaving the boat on the mooring, I could untie it and keep it inside... This I guess prolongued it's life and each week you tended to need it on the other side anyway - so it might as well be removed.

For a pickup buoy I did find the ones with a pole and a flag useful.. They gave something high to aim for and a boat hook wasn't even needed.
http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/fenders-buoys/bainbridge/mooring-pick-up-buoy1398301.bhtml

TIP - When picking up the floating line with a boat hook... just hook under the line - don't try to get the hook through a handle in the top of a normal pickup buoy!

 

[ianat182]

Generally as Martin J has stated.
My mooring is a fore and aft one but the warps are taken from the top of each buoy,whilst this makes it easier to pick up and leave, the general view is that the warps themselves should be attached to the risers beneath the buoys so that in the event of wear of the riser chain links you would still have a secondary warp on another link and avoid losing the riser completely. On the Hamble most F & A moorings have sinking ropes betweeen the buoys,the pickup buoy on a tether of about 6ft. this allows dinghies to sail through the moorings if necessary.

ianat182

 

[ostell]

If you have a floating line between the buoys, as my mooring had, my crew (wife) found it helpful to have a short line with a carabiner at the end attached to a cleat on the foredeck. She picked up the floating line, clipped on and we weren't going anywhere. I picked up the stern lines and then went forward to sort out the forward strop.

 

[dleroc]

Thanks everyone. All very useful information for a novice - and very quick too!
Just one more question:

What thickness of rope should I go for? I have plenty of 12mm nylon rope and as it is a small boat would that be okay? Other much larger boats seem to have something approaching 20mm which I think might be a bit difficult to get around my cleats.

Advice very much appreciated.

 

[ostell]

Go for the largest that goes round your cleats.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Go for the largest that goes round your cleats.

And use something to prevent chafe! Replace strops every year and inspect carefully at least once per month - you don't want your pride and joy going missing.

 

[LadyInBed]

I have been allocated a trot mooring with 10 metres between the buoys.

I've had a buoyed trot mooring for 12 years now.
What is required is:
1 a fairly tight rope (floating or buoyed) between the mooring buoys to maintain the distance between the mooring buoys when the boat is absent.
2 a slack floating 'pick up' line between the mooring buoys that you hook and grab when you return.
3 Bow and Stern mooring lines, preferably of equal length so you can return in either direction and two of each so if there is a cross wind the boats back/front end doesn't swing out too far.
When you leave the mooring, the mooring lines need to be attached to the pick up line so that they don't 'float off' down stream or snag someone's prop.
You have options as to how you attach the mooring lines to the pick up line:
1 attach the pick up line to the mooring buoys and tie the mooring lines to the pick up line before departure.
2 have a shorter 'unattached' pick up line which you attach to an eye splice in the mooring lines before departure. This can be done by looping through and tying, fixing a shackle on each end of the pick up line or IMO best fixing a snap shackle on each end of the pick up line then looping through the mooring line eye splice and snapping back onto the pick up line.

 

[dleroc]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Much appreciated.