Swing Mooring Sailing Club

[Snoops888]

I work at a small sailing club where we have 50 swing moorings. We only offer spaces to sail boats. Maximum length is 26 feet and maximum weight is 4000 pounds. There is a mixture of fixed keels, swing keels and center boards. It is located in a bay where we are protected from most of the current. The floor is composed of mud and clay substances. South winds hit the fleet the hardest.
The club was recently taken over by the neighbouring canoe club. I am the only returning employee from the sailing club and therefore have been given full responsibility of ensuring the safety of the fleet since I am the only one who has any knowledge the club. This is now my third year of employment at the sailing club so I know how it operates, but I would like some advice on improvements that could be made.
We use train wheels as mooring anchors. They vary in size from 30 to 42 inches. We use 5 feet of half inch chain to wrap around the wheel. It is attached back to itself using a half inch shackle. 12 feet of 3/8ths inch chain is attached to the half inch chain using a 3/8ths inch shackle. A 3/8ths inch swivel is attached to the end of the 12 foot riser. 3 feet of 3/8ths inch chain is then attached to the other side of the swivel. A 3/8ths inch shackle is used to attach the chain to the mooring float. All shackles and swivels are secured using locking wire. Finally, members are responsible for bringing 2 mooring lines. Each must be 25 feet long and have a diameter of half an inch. Each line is attached to the chain using a 3/8ths inch shackle (also secured by locking wire).
In my passed 2 years, we have lost 2 boats due to faulty mooring lines. One member used mooring lines which were only 3/8ths of an inch. One member's mooring line thimbles were spliced poorly and cut through the rope within two days. Any suggested improvements to the clubs current methods would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, last year a boat of 4000 pounds managed to drag its mooring anchor back about 30 meters during a heavy storm. Everything was still attached properly. The member would like us to use 2 train wheels for his mooring. What is the best way to complete this action? Is there another solution to avoid this problem?
Thank you very much for your time and your help!

 

[FulmarJeddo]

You don't say how deep the water is that you are mooring in. It strikes me that you are using just a short length (15ft) of lightweight 3/8 chain. Normally a swinging mooring relies on the damping effect of a heavy ground chain. You are just relying on the weight of the sinker, that I can't quite understand how you are attaching the chain. Although at our club we don't use railway wheels, I did look into it when I set up my current mooring. From what you say it seems you are looping a chain through the centre of the wheel, so are effectively pulling from one side. It's normal to attach your ground chain through the centre of the wheel to a bar welded to the underside of the wheel. The suction of the wheel in the mud is a key part of its holding ability.

I can't see the point of the 25ft mooring lines above the buoy. You would be far better off with a longer chain and just a short mooring line. Chain is far better at damping the snatching against the sinker.

At our club we use about 8m of, I think 18mm large link chain from our concrete sinkers. We are on drying moorings, so our sinkers are dug in. At the highest tides we probably have around 3m of water. On my mooring, with a 6 ton boat I also have 3m length of 38mm ground chain between the sinker and the riser chain.

It could be worth you talking to Boat Gear Direct, also known as EYE at Levignton near Ipswich. I found them very helpful when I was setting up my new mooring.

 

[Marmalade]

I think all your problems may be solved by moving to the metric system. In addition, instead of train wheels which are prone to fail when there are leaves in the water or the wrong sort of ice - why not use wheels from an SUV or 4x4 which are much grippier and less likely to drag? Finally I'd suggest welding shackles, but again only metric welds will hold in this day and age. An imperial weld may well fail when you least expect.

 

[Snoops888]

Hello, thank you very much for your reply! The bay is about 2 meters deep. It can be 2.5 meters deep in some areas. I was told that the mooring should be 5 times as long as the depth of the water. Is this correct? Yes, we put the chain around the wheel through the center. It would be a large project to place a metal bar on each train wheel. Would it make a large enough impact to justify completing this project?
We have started upgrading our chain sizes to 5 feet of 15.87mm around the wheel, 3.7 meters of 12.7mm chain, a 12.7mm swivel and 1 meter of 9.53mm chain going to the mooring block. We try not to raise the wheels too often as it breaks the seal.
How long would you suggest the chain be for the depth of water? Also, how ling should the lines be? We unfortunately have a pretty tight budget. We inspect the top of the chains every second week, and the bottoms once a year. We replace the chains once every 2 years, or as needed.
Do you have any excess chain after the buoy?

 

[Snoops888]

Thank you for replying. How heavy are the wheels from an SUV?

 

[Marmalade]

Yes - be very careful. There are environmental campaigners and wildlife conservationists on this forum who would be very upset at the idea of you breaking a seal. As my friend from New York asks...what would be the porpoise? I agree that the lines should be howling.