Problem with mooring pennant

Sneaky Pete

Sneaky Pete

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
920
Location
In the shadows of Faslane.
Visit site
My swinging mooring has just had its annual service. I now have a problem with it in that I have difficulty putting the pennant onto the bow roller. I think that the pennant is too short it is at about 60 deg to the water and it seems that I am trying to lift the riser. I have read that the pennant should be about 2.5 times the freeboard. Does anyone have any technical advice on this problem?
 
I prefer the strop(s) to be more like 45 deg to the horizontal and the strop lenght about 3 to 3.5 m and more importantly to be made of polypropylene so that it floats and therefore easy to pick up.
 
Has the pennant been replaced? If so sounds as if it is too short. Contact person who maintains the mooring. Otherwise has the mooring been inadvertantly moved to a deeper spot?

Don't fancy a polyprop mooring strop......

Regards
Donald
 
On my mooring, a short pennant gives a far better motion on the yacht in rough weather, those with long pennants snatch.
The limit is when pulling the bow down stops the cockpit draining.
What works best varies from place to place and boat to boat though.

Picking up the mooring in strong winds, I used to take the pick-up line to another cleat and run a line through the pennant eye giving me a bit of a 2:1 to get the pennant on the cleat in a controlled fashion in my own time. Some people even winch the buoy up short to get the pennant on.

Having a short pennant also keeps the buoy off the bow in light wind vs tide conditions.

YMMV.
 
Sneaky Pete said:
My swinging mooring has just had its annual service. I now have a problem with it in that I have difficulty putting the pennant onto the bow roller. I think that the pennant is too short it is at about 60 deg to the water and it seems that I am trying to lift the riser. I have read that the pennant should be about 2.5 times the freeboard. Does anyone have any technical advice on this problem?
Click to expand...

If it's the same pennant as before and if it is attached below the mooring buoy, has it got itself wrapped round down there and a bit stuck?
 
Sneaky Pete said:
My swinging mooring has just had its annual service. I now have a problem with it in that I have difficulty putting the pennant onto the bow roller. I think that the pennant is too short it is at about 60 deg to the water and it seems that I am trying to lift the riser. I have read that the pennant should be about 2.5 times the freeboard. Does anyone have any technical advice on this problem?[/QUOTE
I flagged up this problem here a while ago when I related my severe problem in picking up my mooring in rough conditions - I could just get the loop onboard when the bows went down but couldn't get it onto the cleat before the bows rose and dragged the loop overboard again. There were a number of grumbles here about moored cruisers with long strops causing problems for dinghy racers. My solution was to add a pick up line with small buoy and that means that at least I can secure the boat to the mooring and then use a winch or other manoeuvre at my leisure.
Click to expand...
 
I find this happens on mine also. When we came back last week I could hardly get the strop on the deck but did in the end manage it. Went to the boat last night and the strop is back to its normal length ! I can only presume it gets wrapped around the riser with the change of tides etc and eventually unwinds itself
 
Sneaky Pete said:
My swinging mooring has just had its annual service. I now have a problem with it in that I have difficulty putting the pennant onto the bow roller. I think that the pennant is too short it is at about 60 deg to the water and it seems that I am trying to lift the riser. I have read that the pennant should be about 2.5 times the freeboard. Does anyone have any technical advice on this problem?
Click to expand...

There is no fixed rule on this. Personally I like the pannant to slightly lift the riser since this limits the movement of the boat. Others like a long pennant and the boat wandering about with slackness in the pennant. What oakleyb says above is relevant too.
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Don't fancy a polyprop mooring strop......

Regards
Donald
Click to expand...
Liros 3 strand Polypropylene is used widely for mooring strops, hard wearing, flexible and it floats
Click to expand...

Terrible UV degradation and unlike nylon not a shock absorber. My pennant has a pick up bouy on the end making it easy to hook.

Horses for courses

Regards
Donald
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top