Swinging mooring belt and braces?

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Boat (2.5 tons, fairly low windage) is currently sitting on a professionally laid swinging mooring w. chain riser and (I estimate) 22mm nylon line to foredeck cleat led through the bow roller w. anti-chafe sleeve tied in place to prevent slippage.

With the endless succession of gales up here (two bouts of F10 forecast for the coming week) thoughts turn to belt and braces. If the buoy had a ring on top I would put an extra line on this, but it doesn't. Lassooing the riser doesn't seem like a good idea as if the boat sails round the mooring the two lines could twist, thereby shortening the length from riser to bow roller and putting extra tension on the riser. This has resulted in one boat I have heard of lifting its mooring on a high Spring tide and dragging it away.

The mooring is very sheltered and my conclusion is that it is best to leave the more than adequate single line and check the anti-chafe precautions regularly. However, I thought it would be interesting to hear how others do it.

Happy New Year to one and all, hope the hangovers have subsided.

- Nick
 
with a cat of course the problem is different but there may be something in our technique that may help you. we have a big bow shackle attached to the top of the chain swivel and take two lines from that, one to each bow. you could do the same and lead one in over each side of the bow if you have a pair of suitable fairleads
 
A few random thoughts from an east coaster who also worries about these things:

Rope strop - will only last as long as the anti-chafe. Inspect regularly, and replace at the first sign of wear. Personally, I prefer chain.

Don't use the ring on top of the mooring buoy as part of your mooring setup. The lower end of the rod through the buoy is very liable to corrosion, and the assembly isn't designed to take the weight of the boat in a blow anyway. Your attachment should be by a shackle, directly onto the riser, or onto a swivel shackled dirctly to the riser.

As you say, a second line to the mooring is liable to become tangled with the primary line. Lassoing the mooring buoy is a method of picking up a mooring, not a method of securing to it. Far better to have a single line to the mooring, and make sure that it is above suspicion.

Make each of the components as large as you can physically fit - you say you are using 22mm rope. Can you fit thicker with adequate anti-chafe? Can you go up a size (or two) on the shackles you are using? The issue here is not the strength of the component when new, but the amount of meat that you can lose to chafe or corrosion before the component becomes too weak to function.

Regular inspection is vital. Check everything at the top end of the riser regularly - not just the strop. Lift the end of the chain out of the water, get in the dinghy, and examine very component. Anything you are not sure about - replace it. Far better to throw away £5 worth of shackle, than face a £5,000 repair bill

Anyway, this is turning into a rant. If you want any more ranting, PM me.
 
Nick is this your mooring or a yard one?
The obvious next line being if the latter, then what do the yard say and be careful not to do something that may negate any insurance conditions
Happy new year
see you soon
 
some time ago i was in that situation in Italy. I took a 10 meter 18mm line from the sampsonpost and tied it with a gripping knot to the mooring line left just a bit of slack init, after a night of force "X" the main line broke and i was more than thankful for the safty line.
In France a long time ago with a mooring like that i did what most others did and put on my diving gear and attached 50meters of chain (there was roomthen) brought it on deck and use 4 18mm lines and a rubber snubber as springs during the winter i would have to change a line or two even with the anti chaffing on.
 
If the mooring is your own I'd recommend having your mooring buoy replaced with a Hippo at next servicing. Having the swivel on top of the (Hippo) buoy is not very kind to your topsides but is much easier for you to inspect/change the bridle, and you can have a slack second bridle in chain as a standby in case your 22mm nylon one fails. Of 4 boats left on our club moorings this winter 1 went adrift in the last gale. Fortunately no damage done but the bridle was (allegedly) a new 16 plait warp with chafe protectors to both deck and buoy.
 
Your problem really is the chafe at the bow roller. I had a similar problem with chafe at my fairleads on a pile mooring. I changed the last few feet of the mooring rope for chain, i.e. from the cleat to just past the fairlead, and then connected the rope outside of the boat. This practically eliminates the chafe problem, which is mainly caused by the stretch of the rope, and yet still has rope as the main part of the mooring to provide the necessary stretchiness.
 
Like you i have a professionally maintained mooring. I bring the mooring chain over the bow roller and place the "eye" at then of the chain around my windlass. I then place a rope around a cleat on one side of the deck through a link in the chain and then to another cleat on the other side of the deck I then bring the rope back through the chain but through a different link and back to the cleat once more. It is this rope that takes the primary load. The windlass does not take any load at all. It's only there as a back up should the rope fail. I have been doing this for many years now and I have not had any chafing of the rope. I must be honest though and say that my boat is not on the mooring during the winter Months.

Regards.

Peter.
 
Hi Nick
If it is any consolation, look at the number of boats that survived the hell in the Indian Ocean recently on a mooring (or at anchor)

I am sure she will be OK, from experience, a long trot would be better than a short one but understand your concern with your baby out there getting hit with it.

Regards
Cameron
 
Agree with all that, here is some more...

1. Moorings often fail because a shackle fails - either the pin unscrews, despite being moused, or the shackle corrodes faster than the chain, or the shackle is of inferior quality (you need BS shackles).

2. Be really sure that your anti-chafe precautions are effective.

3. Be sure that the attachment to the boat is good...some cleats are more equal than others...
 
Re: Agree with all that, here is some more...

Good point - should have said more about shackles. We've had a fair amount of trouble with "commercial" shackles. These things dissolve in water. Life expectancy around here can be as low as 3 months. BS shackles for marine use aren't readily available locally, so I use Crosby lifting shackles. These last a season easily, and would probably do as second season if I were brave enough.
 
Re: Swinging mooring belt and braces!

Thanks everyone . . .

Just been out to the boat and checked everything . . . was looking fine, but I've added a second back-up line as per Trouville's suggestion. It's hitched to the main line, left with a couple of inches of slack, and taken over the other bow roller and fastened to the windlass, so if the foredeck cleat goes there is a backup. I've added a bit more anti-chafe where the main line touches the bottom of the windlass on its way to the centre cleat.

It was nice to be on the boat again - wind was blowing about 30 knots and there really was not much strain on anything - the joys of having a light boat with relatively small windage. Wave height under six inches.

Tonight we are being promised 70 or 80 mph gusts, although it will almost certainly be a lot less in the bay. Looks like we're all going to have a lovely week. I blame the Americans.

- Nick
 
Re: Swinging mooring belt and braces!

" I blame the Americans"

You're right, of course. All the lousy weather comes from there and the good weather from highs over the Azores!
 
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