Pile moorings - what is the best way to tie up to?

npf1

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I've just rented a pile mooring on a river and was wondering what are good ways of tying up to it. Is it a good idea to put permanent lines on to the piles? If so, how do I ensure they rise and fall with the tide? Do harbour authorities allow modifiication of the piles to add a hook that I can hang my coiled lines on each time I leave?

Thanks in advance.
 

ashanta

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There are a number of ways. Some as you suggest have a bar along the length allowing you to attach a line between them with floats attached for ease of picking up. This can cause more problems than it's worth as the line sticks or you drift over it etc.
I have found that I prefer to approach the pile when stemming the tide and nose my bow so that crew can attach the bow line to the ring. Once settled allowing the bow line to be lengthened by paying out in a controlled manner until the stern is close enough to attach the stern line. slowly motor ahead again until you are in position and secure lines.

Some crew prefer to attach the stern line as you past what will be the stern pile and control the free flow of this line as you apprach the forward pile.

I hope this helps.

regards.

Peter.
 

LittleShip

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We had a pile mooring with floating line between. The method to pick it up is thus, motor to line at an angle and pick it up with boat hook, tie forward cleat, walk down deck with line pulling the stern in and fasten off the stern.
I watched dozens of people struggle trying to get on their mooring because they didnt have the floating line.
As stated be careful not to cross the line. We never had a problem with this method and we were sorry to move from the mooring. Depending on where you are these are great for solitude and peace !!
Good luck
Tom
 

tome

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The method I was taught (and serves me well). Stem the tide and have a bowman ready with a long sternline whilst you approach the first pile from the downwind side. Once the line is through, the bowman hands it to the stern or helmsman who pays it out astern.

The boat is then steered upwind of the next pile and the bowman attaches the bow line. Drop back on the bowline whilst pulling in the stern line.
 

ashanta

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The method you describe is similar to my reply except that I always treat the tide(current) as king and not the wind. It would need to be a very windy day and a weak tide for it to be the dominant factor IMHO.

Regards.

Peter.
 

Talbot

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[ QUOTE ]
It would need to be a very windy day and a weak tide for it to be the dominant factor IMHO

[/ QUOTE ]
That very much depends on the type of boat, I spend several years mooring between piles that were in the current flow, but at right angles to the prevaling wind. In my boat this was a real pain in the whatsit. single engine, twin rudder, no real keel and lots of windage made this very interesting.
 

BlueSkyNick

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I was taught that the tide was ten times more effective than the wind, when both are measured in knots.

Eg 2 knots of tide has the same effect as 20knots of wind.

Makes the trigonometry interesting if you really want to work out the combination of the two.
 

ashanta

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Talbot, I appreciate what you say but it should not an automatic choice to head the boat into wind as was stated in the previous response. I accept that you must always make adjustments for the conditions. However, except in very unusual circumstances I believe the tide flow is king and therefore I would on most occasions point my boat into the prevailing tide and make any further adjustment for wind not the other way around. IMHO

Regards.

Peter
 

tome

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Perhaps a little misunderstanding here. Pile moorings are invariably(?) laid along the stream so stemming the tide was my first priority. This only affects the direction in which to moor if there is any strength to it. When I say approach down wind, I mean approach from the side to which the wind is blowing not dead-downwind!

Approaching the first pile from the downwind side (if any) ensures that the boat won't become too intimate with the pile whilst you maintain way, whilst aiming upwind of the second ensures you will blow down onto it as you slow. Best to have a fender in the bow also.

We kept a boat on pile moorings for 3 seasons and mooring was never an issue, even in strong winds.
 

ashanta

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Thanks Tome for the explaination. Thats exactly how they teach this approach to pile moorings. Sorry if I have confused people.

Regards.

Peter.
 

Juggler7823

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I assume that there is some sort of horse bar with a sliding ring on each pole. Shackle a pair of strops onto each ring. Then tie a cross rope between the strops spanning the distance between the piles. This should have some but not too slack in it. The croos line should have a pickup buoy attached to the middle. Some people prefer a floating cross line with floats attached but I prefer a sinking cross line with strips of lead wrapped round it.

Stem the tide and approach the buoy at an angle. Your crew should pickup the line in the middle of the boat. Reverse to kill your speed. Your crew lifts the buoy with a boat hook and passes the rear line to you. He walks forward until he can place the strops on the cleats. You put the back strops on.

You could use a single strop at each end. It sound difficult but it is not with a bit of practise.
 

oldsaltoz

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G'day npf1,

Most Pile moorings have a hook of sorts above the ring rail, we tied a line to the ring so we could pull it up to inspect it from time to time, and to prevent the ring getting stuck at the bottom of the rail if ever the light chain broke, it did, twice in 4 years.

Hanging your lines up would only work if you have a small tidal range; we have over 6 metres here so it would be a bit difficult to reach them.

A lazy line between the poles with plenty of floats on it is good, floating line alone tends to get run over on a regular basis when you are off the mooring because they can't see a line, but can see a row of floats.

We had our head and stern lines tied to the lazy line with a small leader, both head and stern lines had spliced eyes and I made them to the required length.

Mooring was simple head for the lazy line, pick up with boat hook and lift the leader on board, pull up the line and drop over the cleat, wander aft and do the same thing. Oh, just remembered, the 'normal' stern line had a bridle so both stern cleats were used.

The lazy line was also used to secure the old tinnie we had for getting out to the boat and back, this also helped to prevent others using our mooring when we were away, nothing worse than arriving home to port and finding some visitor on your mooring who is off somewhere looking for the harbour - pier master.

We could see the boat ramp from our mooring, so we had live entertainment when all was packed up and we were enjoying a little liquid reward.

Avagoodweekend.........
 

graham

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Hi there , I think Tomes reply sums up the generally accepted method.

One small point if you have a bicolour light that sticks out forward of the pullpit its worth considering making it removable or mounting it on a bracket behind the pushpit rail if practical. Otherwise it only takes a gentle touch to trash the bicolour if it touches the pile.

Ask me how I know this???
 

tome

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Thanks for the challenge Vic, it's been occupying my mind.

I haven't tried it, but I reckon you could modify the method to run a light line from the stern so that the helm could attach it to the first post. With the engine going slow ahead and the helm locked to take you to windward of the forward pile, you could range it to a forward cleat until the bow is in position, then lock it off. This would allow the wind to bring the bows onto the second pile. Once the bow line is made up, you could put the engine into neutral and use the light line as a messenger for the stern line. Wouldn't work if the wind was ahead of the piles as there would be a danger of the bows blowing off.

I might try this next time we're out!
 
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