Practicalities of twin mooring lines

Stemar

Stemar

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Jissel lives on a tidal mooring in Portsmouth Harbour. Currently, the chain comes over the single bow roller and the end loop is dropped over a samson post. We anchor quite a lot and, since open heart surgery 18 months ago, I'm finding manoeuvring the anchor from its chocks onto the bow roller and back a bit of a pain, especially as space between the genny furler and the pulpit is limited.

One option would be to build a kind of bowsprit, extending maybe 40cm from the bow on which the anchor could live, but this isn't something I want to do without the appropriate strength calculations, and I lack the knowledge to do them.

The alternative would be to leave the anchor on the existing roller and have twin mooring lines coming in through the fairleads port and starboard. I'm thinking along the lines of a pair of 20-25mm 3 strand polyester lines with hard eyes spliced in the bottom and shackled to the bottom of the buoy in the same way as the chain is now and a larger soft eye to go over the samson post. A foot or so of suitable water hose would reduce chafe at the fairleads.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm particularly keen on ideas as to how I might be able to use such a system with a single pickup buoy. A snap shackle connecting the two might work, but I do wonder how well the shackle would stand up to being immersed when we aren't on the mooring, possibly for several months during the winter.

Thanks in advance
 
We use two mooring lines which pass through a large ring on the upper end of a rod which transfers load through the mooring buoy to the riser.
This is our preference to relying on a pickup line that quickly becomes filthy and needs to be secured in an area also used to handle head sails.

This provides a backup in a blow, you can double one line with a cow hitch on the ring for extra security and its easy to transfer the mooring line across to the tender if it is to be left on the mooring prior to slipping and visa versa. We take the mooring lines aboard and they are available for use at another mooring or in the marina.
You will need to become adept at using a mooring aid (such as the Moorfast Telescopic Mooring System) to get a line through a mooring ring but we have operated in this manner for nearly 20 years - obviously through preference and despite becoming more ancient as each year passes.

We have a short bowsprit as you described along which the anchor is secured after weighing and is always ready to slip without faff if required in a hurry.
The weight of the anchor when stowed and strain of the rode when deployed develop significant twisting forces on the bowsprit as there is no counterbalancing force on the opposite side. Our bowsprit is a relatively short wooden affair of 8" cross section secured by substantial iron cranse and heel fittings, fore and bob stays.
 
Stemar said:
The alternative would be to leave the anchor on the existing roller and have twin mooring lines coming in through the fairleads port and starboard. I'm thinking along the lines of a pair of 20-25mm 3 strand polyester lines with hard eyes spliced in the bottom and shackled to the bottom of the buoy in the same way as the chain is now and a larger soft eye to go over the samson post. A foot or so of suitable water hose would reduce chafe at the fairleads.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm particularly keen on ideas as to how I might be able to use such a system with a single pickup buoy. A snap shackle connecting the two might work, but I do wonder how well the shackle would stand up to being immersed when we aren't on the mooring, possibly for several months during the winter.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I can't see why that wouldn't work.

I am fairly sure that I've previously moored to a buoy via bow fairleads, and even when I used the bow roller I normally had a second 'lazy' line taken back through a fairlead in case the main mooring warp failed.

I think, though, it might be more practical to have two pick up buoys, one on each line. This would save having to faff about trying to separate the two lines, and park one of them, when there might well be some weight coming on the line(s). Easier, I think, to pick up one buoy and get it secured quickly, and then pick up the other at your leisure.

On the topic of the anchor, have you thought of getting an aluminium alloy anchor to save weight? The Fortress is an awkward shape to get through restricted space, and if its anything like its Danforth forbears quite keen to trap fingers, but I believe there's a reasonable range of other lightweight anchors now available. They do tend to be pricey, but probably not compared to having a bowsprit arrangement made.
 
The system you describe, two strops, with soft eyes on the inboard ends, through fairleads dropped onto mooring cleats is exactly how my boat is moored all summer (for the last 10 years or so).
It works well.
I only have one pick-up buoy, attached to one of the strops, but the strops are polypropylene and float.
To moor single handed, I position the boats so that it stops at around the main buoy which supports the riser, with the buoy slightly on the lee side, so that as the boats drifts back I can hook either strop with the boat hook and get it onto the mooring cleat before the load comes on.
If I'm quick I can pick the second strop up and pass it round the forestay and get it onto the cleat before it loads up. If I don't make that I wait for the "bounce", the load comes onto the mooring and the momentum of the boat stretches out it a bit, it then rebounds and the strops go slack, which give me a window to get the second strop onto the cleat.
The only slight problem I've had is the two strops getting twisted together, however the boat is secure once one strop is attached and it's fairly easy to sort the twists out with a boat hook.
I tried fastening the two strops together, but found having to untie or unclip them took too much time and it was easy to miss the opportunity to get the boat secured by at least one strop before the mooring loads up. The boat weighs 16 tons (14m long), and I simply can't hold the boat in any kind of wind, so I need to get it secured quickly.
The strops are connected to the main riser under the main buoy.
 
Last edited:
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Nowadays, Aluminium anchors are becoming popular because of their high strength and very low weight. Handling and moving around an Aluminum anchor is so much easier.
Click to expand...

True, but the budget doesn't allow for a lightweight new generation anchor.

Ian, how well do your strops stand up to UV? Given that I have to pay for new chain for my present strop every couple of years or so, would I be right in thinking that they would last just as well? Do you make up your own, or buy them ready made?

My boat's only 24 ft and about 3 tonnes, so most of the time, I can hold her against wind and tide, though it was a bit of a struggle this morning in a blustery 6.
 
I can't remember last time I changed them, but quite number of years ago.
They last longer than the chain, the main problem is wear as they pass through the fairleads. I use layflat hose (like fire hose, but smaller) to protect the rope, and that works moderately well. With a hard eye on one end and a soft eye on the other, it's not a simple job to replace the hose.
I think polypropylene is quite good in UV, I have some orange polyprop' tying down my garden shed (Ilive in a windy part of the world), that's been there for at least 30 years and still seems OK
 
I do what you propose albeit on a fore and aft mooring. The two bow strops are 30mm multiplait nylon. They are not even protected and are currently on their fourth season with virtually no sign of wear. There is one pickup buoy for the bow and the two strops are joined by Inglefield clips which are very quick to undo.
Inglefield clips are on short spliced loops through the soft eyes. (Ditto for the stern strops. The two pickup buoys, bow and stern, are again joined by Inglefield clips.)

https://www.pinbax.com/index.asp?Details=28651&mc=Hardware&sc=Hooks%20and%20Clips&ssc=Sister%20Clips,%20Inglefield%20Clips
 
My mooring pennant - or pennants if I go down that road, hook over a samson post a foot high. I think that if they jump off, it'll be the least of my worries :nonchalance:

Alahol, thanks for the idea about the Inglefield clips - that could be a good way to keep them together, so the buoy picks up both lines. Either that or I use polyprop so it'll float.

This is starting to look doable, so I'll take some measurements over the next few days. Am I right in assuming that the length of a pair of rope pennants would be about 18" longer than the current chain to put the boat in about the same place?
 
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