Osculati mooring spring stainless larger boat

[truro expat]

looking at metal springs for a 28 ton boat in Med, most are designed fpr up to 15 meters and no where need the weight of a 15m plus, anyone else using them or come up with another soloution to reduce the pull in bad weather in the marina?

 

[Corona Mia]

looking at metal springs for a 28 ton boat in Med, most are designed fpr up to 15 meters and no where need the weight of a 15m plus, anyone else using them or come up with another soloution to reduce the pull in bad weather in the marina?

I had a 15m 21T boat and both my expensive metal springs broke in the first storm.
Obviously it depends on where you are and how much your berth is prone to swell/surge.
In my experience with ‘med mooring’…..it’s best to pull your bow ropes really tight, until the stern is at
least 2m from the pontoon if you’re expecting bad weather.

 

[Bouba]

I also broke a nice stainless spring…. I then bought some massively oversized cheap Chinese made spring and it’s been good ever since….just get big springs…and don’t use the rubber ones…after the first storm they stretch into limp useless rubber and never return to shape

 

[DavidJ]

I broke this quite meaty (Italian) spring over the winter in Alghero and it’s only a 37 ft boat. You are right in looking at Osculati because they are anti squeak. Drives me nuts listening to squeaky springs on a stormy night. They do break in ‘safe’ mode though.

 

[DAW]

You could take a look as the Master Mooring series from Douglas Marine. I've been using these for over ten years with no problems and they are high quality ... perhaps better than Osculati IMHO. They are a popular choice for boats in the 15-20m range in the marina where I'm based, often used in conjunction with the Mooring Belt also from Douglas Marine.

Most people seem to select one or two sizes below that rated for their boat and protect against the risk of breakage using a short length of chain attached directly to the shackles connected at either end of the spring. This keeps the weight and the cost of the spring down. We are well protected without any significant tide or swell in the marina, even in the worst conditions, and I've never heard of any problems with this approach.

 

[Gustywinds]

Been wondering about buying a couple of these. Normally it hasn’t been an issue on rivers and canals but where we were moored at Douai was mostly a commercial barge area and we were moored stern on with the bow facing out to passing traffic so got bounced quite a lot. Seems to be a huge variation in price - everything from a tenner to 150 Euro Is the Osculati a good brand to go for? A chandler not too far away has stainless ones for up to 11m for 60 Euro or there are dozens on Amazon which I can have sent to a locker at our next large town: Amazon.fr : Boat mooring spring

 

[jfm]

I have never used those springs in 20 years of med boating. Harmless I suppose, but a total waste of time/space/money imho. (I always tie the boat up tight to stop it swaying around).

 

[Refueler]

Not Med ... but we have a number of boats here that use the metal spring type and each year - you see a few new ones replacing those that have failed ..... but the people who don't use them ? Only replaced ropes where chafe has occurred ... which incidentally chafe is also with the 'spring equipped' as well !
Never used either the rubber or metal versions ... and see no reason to start using them.

MY opinion ..

 

[Greg2]

Always thought that the metal springs are a bit unnecessary but unlike Bouba I have found the rubber snubbers to be quite effective when we moored in a marina that was sometimes affected by swell from the harbour entrance when the wind was in a particular direction. Keeping the boat safe was a bit of an art - lines loose enough to let the boat ride a little to avoid chafe damage to gelcoat with the rubber snubbers and natural stretch in the lines dealing with any ‘snatching’ and strategically placed fenders on an additional mid-hull rubbing strake that I installed (managed to get stuff that matched the mains rubbing strake at the top of the hull from Trend marine).
.

 

[Bouba]

The expensive small spring that broke….next to the cheap oversized one that I have used successfully for years….all on a 34 foot high sided vessel subjected to the Mistral

 

[Bouba]

The rubber sausage springs that you coil rope around…that I consider to be an extremely expensive piece of rubbish

After one storm the rubber gets over stretched and loses all elasticity forever

 

[Boathook]

The rubber sausage springs that you wrap coiled rope around…that I consider to be an extremely expensive piece of rubbish

After one storm the rubber gets over stretched and loses all elasticity forever

I had one like that once on one of my mooring lines. Waste of money as it went out of shape. I just use nylon rope on my mooring which seems to work well. Biggest problem I have is the boat bashing against the 'pontoon' and suddenly stopping, even with fenders.

 

[markc]

I replaced mine this year as the spring on one of them snapped. I replaced with Sidermarine ones. I have often wondered if they are necessary, but every boat on our quay, without exception has them, so I just copied! Our quay is very exposed to the Mistral when it blows, and it hits our stern square on, so they do feel like they could have a purpose

 

[westernman]

I have never used those springs in 20 years of med boating. Harmless I suppose, but a total waste of time/space/money imho. (I always tie the boat up tight to stop it swaying around).

I use 3 strand nylon warp. That stretches enough to provide all the damping I need.

Also, for med mooring make sure your bow lines are tight enough so that your stern will never touch the dock. I do this by motoring back with at least 3/4 throttle. This is sufficient for a force 8 in my boat.

Of course I will let out the stern lines and motor forwards to be able to easily tighten up the bow lines.

Then I will motor back and tighten the stern lines so that I am not too far for comfort from the dock for the gang plank. I double up the stern lines with another pair which are slack in case of a really severe storm would could chafe through the 22mm warps. This happened once.

If a really strong storm is predicted, the marina staff go around all the boats and tighten up the stern lines. The only problem with this is that your boat ends up at 3m from the dock and you can't get on it!

 

[kashurst]

In the med there is next to no tide but there are 1m+ rises in water level because of storms etc. I have watched my stern springs working hard when storms are around and when fishing/commercial boats come in too fast. Not a problem if you are on board, you can adjust the lines etc. But if you are away for a few months, stuff happens. Some med moorings have the bow lines secured on the sea bed too close to the boat so the bow rope angle can be too steep, not stretchy and all the load from boat movement is mostly on the stern lines. As the boat rises and falls this distance becomes significant. Some people don't use them. I always have. I bought mine from a UK spring manufacturer in Birmingham. They lasted 17 years when I sold my boat in the med. Probably still working now.

 

[Momac]

I have the rubber type snubber in place as part of preparations for winter. Cant say I have used it every winter but it seems to have remained in as new condition.