Pontoon bouy mooring

[pcatterall]

Im considering moving from my cosy but expensive marina to a mooring (in Conwy thanks to advice on the forum)
This will be a bit of a (first time) adventure for me.
I understand that in addition to single bouys it may be possible to tie to a moored pontoon.
There would seem some obvious advantages in this.
Can any one offer advice please.


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[Stemar]

From a position of almost complete ignorance, I can see lots of advantages to the remote pontoon - BBQ space, easier to get from boat to tender, etc.

I can also see couple of possible disadvantages, especially if it's exposed. On a buoy, you'll be sitting to whichever of wind and tide is the strongest, so in a blow you'll be head to wind, and nothing to bump against in the swell. On the pontoon, presumably you may find yourself broadside on to both wind and chop, with a nice hard pontoon to bump and grind against when the chop's popped your fenders out.

The other thing is chafe. My swing has a dirty great big chain that goes over my bow roller and drops onto the samson post, so no risk of chafe (I put a wire over the chain so it can't jump off the roller). Presumably on a pontoon, you'll be using ropes, and if these are working, they can chafe through surprisingly quickly. I've seen this in a sheltered marina just from passing wake. You can put plastic pipe over the chafe-prone areas, but IMHO, it's only a partial solution. I wouldn't want to leave my boat unnattended for a few weeks of autumn gales.

I'm sure there are solutions to both problems, which some of the more experienced will be happy to suggest.

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[Andy_Hampton]

I've just laid-up my little boat after a second season on a swinging mooring on the river at Conwy. I'm a relative newbie, but have been very happy with the mooring and would agree with what Stemar says. Additional advantages with bouys vs pontoons are privacy, ease of picking-up and leaving the mooring (especially single-handed), and not having to mess around with warps and fenders.

Andy

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[roger]

When in the UK we had and loved our swinging mooring in the Dart. There are several points to watch.
1. You should use chain - it doesnt chafe through. Dart Harbour Authority insist on it and there have been tragedies in Alderney where boats have chafed through their mooring lines in the course of a single night.
2. You must learn how to stop the chain and buoy from rubbing away at the gel coat. Wind over tide pushes the boat onto the buoy.
3. A pick up buoy with a long handle sticking up from it will make mooring much easier particularly when short handed.
4. Its always a pain to get to the hard, find somewhere to park,unload the dinghy, pump it up, get it in the water, fill it up with kit, put on the outboard, get out to the boat, unload the kit, remove and stow the outboard, deflate and stow the dinghy. Repeat in reverse whan you go home. Its just the sam for an iolated pontoon as for a buoy.
5. Being on the mooring without other boats rigging going clang, the gentle motion of the boat and the peace means its very difficult to get off out into that rough sea outside.

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[colvic987]

in conway there are a couple of pontoons, the club launch seems to be available at most of the sociable times if you need to get on and off, even take u out to the moorings, i have only visited this year for the first time, and a force 7 was raging out in the bay, and we were very sheltered, so it does have its advantages. as most others have mentioned, it will depend on the direction for the area, and within time you will know which wind direction is the worst for your mooring/pontoon. I am in the straits, and it has been a very bad couple of weeks, and only got on the boat yesterday,first time in 5 weeks, to get it moved and hoisted out for the winter...

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[simonfraser]

single bouy every time. you can sail past when you fail to pick it up, try that with a pontoon

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[William_H]

As stated I think moored next to a pontoon would be awefull. The fenders would be working all the time. With the mooring type we call pens the boat is next to a jetty but held out from the jetty on 4 or 6 mooring lines in a space btween 4 posts so fenders are not necessary. i found in the wake of boats going past that even a pen is unpleasant. I have been on a swing mooring now for 20 years when a pen could have been available but prefer the mooring.(not just on cost) i have an old fibreglass dinghy left on the shore and only 30 metres to row. I like the way the boat always points into the wind (tide is seldom significant) so I can easily hoist sails and sail away and back onto the mooring. Havn't had the O/b on the boat for a full year. I prefer nylon rope for the top of the mooring giving some elasticity. I use 2 ropes the primary laod taker being hooked onto an eye halfway down the prow. There is nothing to chafe on.
good luck with your new mooring. I hope you get a wetsuit and check the tackle on the bottom often.
regards will

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[DJE]

We had a swinging mooring at the top of Portsmouth Harbour for our first season. The trouble was that the moorings were laid too close together; or boats had generally got bigger since they were laid. We found that at slack water, or with wind against tide, boats were laying in different directions and bumping in to each other. We switched to a mid channel pontoon and have been on there for the last 4 seasons. We are close to the windward bank in the prevailing Southwesterlies; and so far wear on the fenders and warps has been negligible. We use plastic tubes where the mooring lines pass through the fairleads and rubber snubbers on the shortest lines. The biggest swell we get is when the police boat goes past.
I think it all depends on the degree of shelter. I wouldn't want to be on a pontoon exposed to any appreciable swell.

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[pcatterall]

Thanks for all the responses. I will now get on to the nice HM at Conwy to get on the waiting list for a mooring.
I guess that at Conwy the boat will lie mainly to tide which must be pretty strong there?
I will have to bone up on threads re mooring as my only experience has been in a Marina where belt and braces methods can be employed.
Chain sounds pretty positive, perhaps with a rope snubber.
Thanks again

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[misterg]

I guess that at Conwy the boat will lie mainly to tide which must be pretty strong there?
...
Chain sounds pretty positive, perhaps with a rope snubber.

The tide does indeed run strongly through the moorings, but this has never been a problem to us (I would say you *need* a tender with an outboard - or use NWCC launch). At slack water, however, boats end up pointing in all different directions. The mooring buoys have the attachment at the top, and in wind against tide situations, boats seem to surge forwards, and "overtake" the buoy which then rubs on the side of the boat. The buoys themselves are a soft foam, and don't seem to cause any damage (will let you know on Tuesday when Pippin comes out!), however the attachment shackes will gouge lumps out of your hull. Most boats have a trafic cone, or old fender threaded over the mooring line which slips over the shackle / swivel at the top of the buoy - I would get something of this nature sorted before you launch. See a few people hanging little patches of cloth off the bows (bound to be a name for these), but I personally wouldn't be without the cone / fender.

I haven't seen anyone using chain to connect to the buoy - everyone seems to use rope strops - some people use two.

This is my first season, and I have to say that picking up moorings is a piece of p*ss. The strength of the tide actually helps you. Scared of entering marinas, though!

Try and avoid getting a mooring opposite the marina entrance - things get bumped /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif. Car parking is a bit of a problem.

All in all, we're very happy on the river. Nice feeling to sail in or out, and see a foot or two of marina sill sticking up in the air.

Maybe see you around next season.

Andy


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