quayside mooring

[stephenmartin]

Apart from constantly adjusting bow/stern and spring lines lines as well as keeping an eye on fenders....

Is there a foolproof way of mooring up to a non floating quaysied without hanging my boat

 

[Stoaty]

Long lines for and aft then you won't have to keep adjusting them.

 

[Iota]

long lines with weights attached should do it

Iota

 

[Alfie168]

Can you expand on that a wee bit Stoaty (or someone else, all advice welcome).

So we put a long line on the bow, and a long line on the stern...so what stops it floating off the quayside at high water and bashing against the quayside/other boats. What I'm asking is..how do you maintain a constant tension without constant attention (which is what I think the OP is asking..or it may just be..how do I get a nights sleep of course /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

And what do you do with the springs to stop you going fore and aft?

Tim

 

[ebbtide]

In addition to long lines fore and aft I advocate a snap block running up and down the shroud or main halliard with a short line ashore to a bollard, lampost or whatever.

 

[Iota]

weights on the lines keep you in.

Iota

 

[Stoaty]

If you have long lines for and aft, as the tide rises and falls the length of the rope does not need to be adjusted as the boat is simply lifting the ends of the rope up and down. Go into the garden and cut your washing line in half in the middle you will find you can lift the ends up and down as much as you like without adjusting the length. The long lines also stop the boat from moving for and aft. Try walking to one end of your washing line while tightly holding the ends. If you tie the lines to cleats on the side of the boat furthest away from the wall you will find that the boat is naturally pulled into the wall in a gentle way. It's a good thing that the boat is not too tight against a wall. It's better to let it sit off a little bit, so it gently moves in, the fenders touch and it gently moves out.

I hope that helps it's a hard thing to explain but an easy thing to do.

 

[Stoaty]

Here's a picture of a little dredger lying against a wall. Just 2 long ropes are needed.

 

[Searush]

Allow just enough warp to reach the boat when aground/ or at low water. The further aft/ forward you fasten the warps to the quay, the less difference there is between the length required at high/ low water. This is because the arc tracked by the cleated end of the warp is closer to a straight line. Use springs of a similar length from bow & stern to help reduce fore & aft movement. You will need large fenders (I use 24" sphericals) or a scaffold plank between normal fenders & the wall.

Beware of lines to shrouds/ mast etc, for holding you in. If they get any real strain on them due to being over tight, or boat leaning away from quay when grounding, then you may lose your mast. I generally let the boat float free. If I need to go ashore, I grab the ladder with a boat hook. A steady pull will bring it within reach & a temporary light line ashore from a shroud can be set up.

Weighting the warps & springs works well if you have sufficient suitable weights. Buckets of water would do. Permanent Quayside moorings usually have a length of chain in them for that reason & to reduce chafe over the edge of the wall.

Look at what the others do, they will have evolved a good system for that location over the years.

 

[William_H]

As explained it is all about angles of the ropes. So the picture explains it very well except that if the bow rope were actually run from the stern forward and the stern rope from the bow aft then the rope could be longer (smaller angle). The small angle long rope allows for more rise and fall while still essentially holding the boat in one fore and aft location.

however obviously the long ropes at a small angle will do nothing to hold the hull in to the side of the wharf quayside. The best answer would be again long ropes to the quayside and long ropes to something out in the water to hold it off. But neither of these will work next to a quay.

To minimise the problems you need to secure ropes to the quay somewhere near mid tide range. So the rope will feed up to the tie point on low tide and down to the tie point on high tide. (possibly under water at high tide). At the stern you can tie the rope onto the far side of the transom and lead it a little aft to clear the transom making the rope as long as possible. At the bow you don't have so much choice (as the boat is pointy there.)

At the bow and stern might be a good place to run the ropes through a pulley mounted out over the water so the rope can have a decent weight on the end so it naturally pulls the boat in by the force of the weight. But can handle the rope elongation necessary as the tide drops.

All this from one who reckons 1 metre is a high tide range. good luck olewill