Pile Mooring -- Single Handed

[Dockhead]

I stupidly gave up my Hamble mooring some years ago because I felt guilty that I was gone sailing 3 or 4 months in the summer, and gone again in the winter when I preferred to be in a marina on cheap winter rates hooked up to electrical power. Others were waiting, some for years, so I felt like I was squatting. The then-harbourmaster told me, cheerfully, to put my name right back on the waiting list, and I would preserve my place in line in case I ever wanted it back. And I forgot.

Now I really need it back and a year of pestering the Hamble harbour authorities has finally produced an offer -- but it's a pile mooring without a pontoon. Now I'm a 54' boat and I'm more often than not single handed. How am I going to get on and off of that?

It doesn't help that I have very little experience with pile moorings. My previous one had a pontoon. I had pre-set lines laid out on the pontoon and all I needed to do was pick up one with a boat hook and I was on. The other lines at my leisure. Easy peasy, even single handed.

The only thing I can think of is to hang pre-laid lines on both piles. Approach from downtide to the uptide pile stern first. Grap the line with a boat hook and slip it on a stern cleat. Let the boat settle on to that, then go forward and set the bow line to the downtide pile.

Can that possibly work? I'm center cockpit, so there would be a good bit of rapid scrambling to get to a stern cleat.

All tips greatly appreciated!

 

[Babylon]

I don't know how you'd do it. I'm exactly half your length and found my first pile-mooring without a pontoon a bit of a nightmare, harder than my previous trot-mooring, so asked for one with a pontoon and quickly moved.

Can you not source and fit your own pontoon between the piles?

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Speed, you need speed, lots of it and massive torque to stop the boat and ropes with hoops on the end.

 

[Dockhead]

I don't know how you'd do it. I'm exactly half your length and found my first pile-mooring without a pontoon a bit of a nightmare, harder than my previous trot-mooring, so asked for one with a pontoon and quickly moved.

Can you not source and fit your own pontoon between the piles?

No pontoon allowed at this position, and no mooring with a pontoon available. It's this or nearly two grand a month at a marina.

I feel sure it's possible; but I would rather learn from someone else's experimentation and accumulated expertise. I just had my hull polished -- jes sayin

Seems to me that it will be much easier once I have my harbour dinghy floating between the piles.

One idea I had is to have strops made the right length to hold the boat between the piles. Prepare a temporary line through a bow cleat back to an electric cockpit winch. The end bring back to the cockpit. Grab the uptide strops with a boat hook (either from a hook on the pile, or lying in the dinghy), clip them quickly onto the end of the prepared line, then haul it in smartly as the boat drifts back on the tide, stop it off when the end of the strop is just onboard.

Then the boat will lie to the uptide strops. I can then pay out the temporary line if necessary to be able to get at the downtide strops. Get those one onto either stern cleat. Then haul the temporary line back up until I can get the uptide strop on a bow cleat.

What could go wrong?

 

[Egret]

Sounds good -don't underestimate the loads though - need to work with tide and wind - particularly side winds - may struggle if you have to pull against them - will your harbour team stand by and help you with ropes as part of their normal service, if needed - where I am they do this as they don't want boats floating around out of control causing damage.

 

[Dockhead]

Sounds good -don't underestimate the loads though - need to work with tide and wind - particularly side winds - may struggle if you have to pull against them - will your harbour team stand by and help you with ropes as part of their normal service, if needed - where I am they do this as they don't want boats floating around out of control causing damage.

Help with ropes on the Hamble? I don't know where you are, but maybe I need to move there!

Your mention of side winds made me realize that it was stupid of me to even think about doing this stern-first. Naturally the bow must be under control first. And at a certain level of side wind it will just be unfeasible single handed.

Maybe I can get a hold of strops from both piles in one go -- with a light line between them. How to do that, though, without risking getting the rope in the prop . . .

 

[ylop]

Seems to me that it will be much easier once I have my harbour dinghy floating between the piles.

This might be a crazy idea... but would a very well fendered and secured dinghy midway between the piles effectively be a temporary pontoon? ie. you'd come alongside the tender, initially secure to the tender, then attach main lines to your boat.

 

[dunedin]

Are you perhaps trying to do something that is simply not sensible with a very large (54 ft) and heavy (presumably 20 tons or so?) boat singlehanded?

Fine anchoring or even picking up conventional mooring buoy (where these exist for such big boats), but perhaps not for piles in a stream. Will it be an accident waiting to happen - boat damage and/or skipper OB - when wind or tide catches the boat when almost but not quite moored?

Perhaps a smaller boat might be more suitable if that is your preferred mooring and preferred solo sailing. Or a different mooring if need a 54 foot boat and want to singlehand.

 

[MontyMariner]

I'm on a riverside fore and aft mooring which I think is pretty much the same.
I have a buoyed line with snap shackles on both ends and spliced in rings to clip the shackles back on to to make the ends into loops.
My mooring lines end in eye splices, when I leave the mooring I connect the fore and aft mooring lines together using the buoyed line and drop it overboard.
On return I hook the buoyed line and pull it up and over a cleat, hand over hand the line along the side deck and again hook it over a cleat. Then oxo the mooring lines to the bow and stern cleats.
To make hooking the buoyed line over the boat cleats easier, I have made three short lines with eye splices at both ends, one end is cow hitched to the buoyed line, they distributed along the buoyed line to line up with deck cleats.
The advantage you will have over me is that you can leave or arrive with the line at the most convenient side of the boat depending on wind direction, I can only leave or arrive on the river side.
It's easier to do than describe as I've been doing it for 26 years now!

 

[14K478]

When you have sorted it out, let me (54ft, 27 tons) know…

Would having a fairly taut line between the posts that you can grab with a boat hook and drop over a midships cleat help? With bow and stern lines bent together as well, but slackly - get the taut line flipped over the midships cleat, get the bow and stern lines on board, unbend them and get the uptide one on, then use the taut line to pull yourself to the other one?

 

[Poignard]

If your mooring provider won't allow a pontoon, dumbell, or pick-up line between the piles it's not so easy but here's what I was taught, and it works, but it requires skipper and one crew so you'd have to be pretty nimble to do it single-handed, especially on a big yacht.

Rig a very long stern line and a head rope. Flake the stern line so it can run out freely; there must be no chance of it snagging.

Position a horizontal fender or fender mat on what will be the lee bow if there is any crosswind.

Approach from downstream.

When your cockpit is alongside the downstream pile pass the sternline through the ring or bar, back on board and belay it.

Motor slowly ahead against the tide, letting the stern line run out, and let your lee bow rest against the upstream pile while your crewman passes the head rope through the ring or bar and back on board and belays it.

Let the yacht come back with the tide until midway between the piles.

Take up slack in the lines.

If you are happy to lie to slips that's it. I wouldn't be, in case they chafed through, and I would replace the slips with permanent lines.

The technique also works with fore and aft bouys where there is no pick up line connecting them.