OK one for all to suggest - What mooring arrangements would you put ?

[Refueler]

As some know - I have recently bought a pontoon of 6m long by 2.4m wide, to be placed near entrance to my private boat channel at home.

I have a box with various mooring items and each has advantage / disadvantage ... the pontoon will only basically have my 8m 4 ton Motor Sailer alongside it.
Seems shame to start drilling holes in it - but I need to add the mooring line points to it before deployment.

Initial ideas - to bolt large cleat at each end - I have a couple of large alloy two bolters ... then I thought about the U bolts where the two legs bolt through leaving a large inverted U. Then I looked at my deck in my channel that has single bolt fixings with lay flat metal rings through the heads. Each works well ...

The lifting points of the pontoon are simple eyebolts through the deck at 4 points - so they can be used as well ... the two shore side of course providing pontoons lines to shore backing up the riser poles hammered into the riverbed.

So there you go ... have a think and I'm open for suggestions as to what mooring points to install. I have given a poll - but that's for typical items ... there are others I haven't thought off ...

 

[johnalison]

I voted for U-bolts on the grounds that you would use shackles to attach your permanent dock-lines with. If you want to welcome guests, then cleats. OK, could be rings.

 

[Refueler]

The U bolts I like because my boat is an older boat designed with the rise of bow common on boats of the 70's for sea passages. Its quite a reach down to a floating pontoon for anyone fwd.
I bought one of those automatic line handling gadgets for fitting to end of boat hook ... and despite the critics and terrible reviews I've read - it works .... just have to remember its not designed for any loads. With U bolts - it works everytime.

I'm ummin and arrin about shackles ....

Just to add a small item ... the boat will have head and stern lines to shore when made fast for when not in use. But for day stops / pickups - then the pontoon alone is enough.

 

[TernVI]

Sometimes a cleat you can surge a line around or take the slack and jam between waves or gusts is just the thing.
How about some nice bollards?