Swinging mooring bridle - is this OK?

shmoo

shmoo

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Going into our 6th year sailing we now feel grown-up enough to spend the summer on a swinging mooring, after the relative security of marina berths. The boat is 36ft and we will be at Levington on the Orwell.

I don't want to use the anchor roller becuase the side cheeks are worryingly sharp-looking.

I have made up a bridle from 18mm 3 strand polyester in a Y with soft eyes at the boat end and a thimble to shackle to the buoy. I plan to cross the lines over a fender on the boat as I have always done this in the marina to stop snatching. There are lengths of neoprene hose to stop chaffing at the fair leads.



Something like this: (top is bridle, bottom is arrangement in use)
mooring.JPG

What does the panel think? Will I go down one day and find the boat drifting to Holland?
 
Bow roller will not usually cut through your lines, after all it is designed to work with your anchor warp!

I have had different boats on swinging moorings for nearly 20 years, and have never even come close to chafing through.

We do however, have THREE lines on the buoy all separated on the ring, 1 lighter one to pick up comes from the riser through the anchor roller, goes around the windlass drum, and two heavy lines through the fairleads, onto the main cleats.

Your system has a single point of failure at the mooring buoy, mine has several points of failure from boat to buoy to riser chain.

Keep a broom and a bucket handy, because your decks will get covered in green slime and mud every time you pick up the mooring.


I love being on a swinging mooring, its just so much closer to reality than a clanking marina with noisy pontoons and no views.
 
If you have a central cleat or bollard on the deck then chain from the buoy over the bow roller, lashed into position if not held captive with a drop nose pin. Permanent loop in the chain and a pick up buoy on a shortish line on the chain.

I think the weak part of your bridle could be the splice in the middle. Two separate lines would give you two chances.
 
Firstly - when you are on a swinging mooring you don't need to worry too much about snatching - there is a lot of give in the system (mainly the chain to which the mooring is attached) so you don't need to bother with the fender.

My first recommendation would be to go with chain all the way from the buoy to the cleat. Anything else is second best, If you don't like chain then 25mm nylon or polyester is okay. In that case if you value your boat you will still use a length of chain in case the rope chafes

However you lead it on to the boat make sure it can't jump out of the fairlead. That means either over the bow roller with a pin in place or through fairleads of the closed type.

In many ways I think swinging moorings are much better for the boat than a marina but there is a lot of motion involved and you are putting all your faith in one (or at most two) ropes so you have to get it right.
 
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I don't want to use the anchor roller becuase the side cheeks are worryingly sharp-looking.


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I wouldn't worry about that - bow roller's always been fine for us.

We have a 36mm pick-up line attached to the buoy - lead it through the bow roller - the eye at the end slips over the windlass - nothing to it.

DSC00191.jpg


Despite considerable current - see above - it's held our 13T in place without any trouble.
 
Swinging moorings do vary.
My experience is based on a fairly exposed mooring.
Its particular location causes daily rotation in the same direction, so any plural lines to the buoy are prone to tangling, unless the buoy is hauled up short under the bow.
The swivel is still a single point failure in this case. (Don't have a problem with that, its visible and easy to check).
I found chafe of ropes to be a problem, because my boat had its cleat some way back from the bow, behind the anchor locker. In a swell, the stretch of the nylon was enough to eat through plastic tubing etc. I initially got around that by having chain on deck (as an aside ss chain is now affordable), but latterly put a serious cleat very close to the bow. This reduced the length of rope stretching to about a foot rather than four, eliminating the problem.
Just my experience, different boats or different places will have different issues.
Hope that helps.
 
I agree with most posters. Get a decent bollard fitted, they are very cheap. Use more than one strop from the buoy and if twisting isn't an issue, shackle to different parts of the riser chain. I started with chain and nylon, but settled on nylon. My gunwhale was smooth so I used to let the secondary strop run over it. Have one strop shorter so that it is the main one. If it fails the other, fresher, one takes over.

bollard.jpg


It's the shackles that will let go first. Usually the mousing wire or cable ties go and then the pin unwinds. The best bet is to peen over the threads on the pin so they can't undo. There is a right way to put shackles on so that the upward tug on the mooring chain tends to tighten the pin.
Inspect the mooring strops and shackles every time you go to the boat, easy enough as you're in the tender anyway.
Every month or so lift the buoy onto the deck so you can check the swivel and shackles properly. A spare halyard will make that easier if your riser chain is heavy or there's a bit of current running. Even on a lake it can get a bit choppy.

Feb01.jpg
 
Should be absolutely fine. If you are really worried or it is in a very exposed position a chain running through the roller shackled to the bouy but left slack would act as security in case anything does chafe or break. It also helps if you can pick up the bouy with a rope and one of the propriatory hooks to your windlass first, winch in the bouy and replace it with your bridle before releasing it, reversing this procedure when you let go. I always use soft nylon line for bridles and such myself because it stretches. With your "fender snubber" though you should be good.
 
I go with the seperate strops. A lot depends on local conditions, depth, tidal range, current, exposure to winds etc. Short steep waves are the killer on a swinging mooring.

I have used rope for 35 years on 3 different moorings, 2 different boats. It is quieter & has some stretch to reduce snatch. I always make one strop slightly shorter than the other so the longer one is an unstressed standby. I also use a canvas firehose/ sling or big poly tube to protect the strops where they pass thro' the bow roller.

Only time I ever had a problem was very early on, before I used 2 strops, I had a strop break. It also bent the substantial SS bow roller & tore it off the bolts thro' the deck. So the forces can be quite strong when snatching occurs in wind over tide storms.

Your suggested system looks weak at the splice & increases stress at the fairleads by crossing the bows. Keep the strops as straight as possible. Look at what others have done at your location.
 
Searush,
If the first strop is weak enough to break, the second will follow in due course, it just buys you a little time!
Agree absolutely about snatch, you have to find what's right in the circumstances. I find getting the buoy very close to the bow, with some weight on the strop was best for my boat, the buoy moves with the boat, with no jarring as the lines go tight. This may only work in deepish water with a heavy riser.
Gaupa, yours wouldn't do at all, we get wind over tide that would gouge that shackle down the side of the boat. Just shows it must a bit different at your mooring!
 
Used a 3m length of chain attached to a separate pick up buoy (the sort with an integral handle), grabbed the pick up buoy with the boat hook, pulled on deck and looped the chain over the cleat. I also put a piece of clear plastic pipe over most of the chain, stopped it marking the deck and it also made the chain loop over the bow roller more easily. Always used a light line to tie over the chain on the cleat cos I'm paranoid.

Rope will work well and not chaff, but I slept easier knowing there was chain there.

Sat on board in 40 knots and not a hint of snatch as the size of gear down to the sea bed was a great big shock absorber.
 
I absolutely agree with everyone who has said take two completely independent strops to the buoy, one slightly longer. Also I would not use chain - it's too harsh and will rust.

18mm is not man enough. Go for at least 22mm three-strand polyester.

The shackles, as other have said, are the week point. Check them regularly

The other dodgy point is the swivel in the riser which you should also check. Make sure it is swivelling properly, not just that it looks undamanged.

A swinging mooring is generally easier on a boat than a marina berth where the topsides rub up against and bash the pontoon as well as surging along it and snatching hard.

The only problem with a swinging mooring is the boat over-riding the buoy when the wind is against tide. This can be cured in two ways:- 1) Rig a stout, short bowsprit with a ring in the end through which the strops are lead. This keeps the buoy clear of the bow. 2) Moor to strops which are slightly shorter than the distance from buoy to cleat so that you have to lift the mooring buoy an inch or two. This will hold the buoy just under the stem but clear of the forefoot (unless your boat is very plumb stemmed). This method also removes any chance of snatch loads on the cleat, reduces the risk of the lines tangling and also of chafe because there is no movement.
 
thanks, folks, for all the thoughtful replies.

I think what I will do is to use two separate strops (soft eyes at boat end and thimbles at buoy end) coming together at a shackle through the buoy ring.

We don't have a center cleat at the bow and there doesn't seem to be a hard point to fit one. Even the side cleats look a little undersized, which it why I want to use them both, and protect them from snatch.

Next hurdle will be mustering up the bottle to use the dingy in the nasty chop thrown up in the Orwell in a fresh nor-wester on a flood tide...
 
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Next hurdle will be mustering up the bottle to use the dingy in the nasty chop thrown up in the Orwell in a fresh nor-wester on a flood tide...

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We used to be up on Wolverstones moorings and I did appreciate their launch rather than a dinghy ride!

Lifejackets a must - whatever the weather
 
Don't connect the strops to the ring on top of the buoy. Most manufacturers warn against this. Connect to the riser chain.

I might add that I stopped using chain to the foredeck as it did rust much more quickly than the submerged chain.
 
Personally, I do use the eye on top of the buoy.
Then your swivel is out of the water and has a better chance of actually swivelling.
I capsize the buoy at least every 4 months to check for corrosion etc, so I'm happy that the 20mm rod is strong enough.
Also I put a lock nut on the bottom of the rod, in addition to the original nut. The lock nut is drilled through 4mm, tapped M5 and a zinc plated allen put into it, with serrated washer and threadlock. A bit involved, but it isn't going to undo, and can be undone if required. We have had big probs with anything involving underwater swivels, the moorings just wind up! Must be the Portsmouth water and our tidal pattern.

Didn't mean to be rude about Guapa's mooring, just saying you need different solutions in different circumstances.

Re rope sizes, just get the biggest that can easily go through the fairleads etc, bearing in mind you may have to pull part of an eye splice through. You only need a couple of metres after all. A thin rope will chafe quicker becuase it stretches more and frets against things.
The pro's around here seem to weld shackles. I tend to change the pin for a bolt, add a locknut and serrated washer and do it up with a socket set. The nearest I come to grief is relying on mousing the shackle. I guess the torque on the pin must be more than I thought. At least use stout mousing wire, such as 'old coathanger' or the fattest of the plastic coated garden wire is useful, but I won't rely on mousing where the shackle is pivotted by the wave action.
 
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Next hurdle will be mustering up the bottle to use the dingy in the nasty chop thrown up in the Orwell in a fresh nor-wester on a flood tide...

[/ QUOTE ]

Get a RIB or a GRP tender - an inflatable's not up to it.
Experience... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Dart Harbour insist that boats are secured to mooring buoys with chain. We have had reports in the press of two occasions when boats moored with rope in Braye Harbour, Alderney overnight have broken free with loss of life in each case. We also carry a length of chain so we can secure the boat with a loop through the mooring buoy eye with both ends on the samson post.
Where you are worried about snatch I suggest you fit an extra line with a rubber compensator which is shorter than the chain and takes the srain until you get very bad conditions.
 
Lots of good advice here, but one more idea (not mine - a previous owner's idea but worked well for me).

My first boat, a very heavy long keel 27', had two rings fitted to the bow roller - one either side. Two mooring chains independently attached to the main chain under the buoy, both attached by rope to the pickup buoy.

Grab the pickup buoy and hook up rope to foredeck post, then shackle one chain each side of the bow roller. Pretty much bombproof unless the main riser fails, and easy to use (I was usually single-handed). I replaced the D-shackles used at the bow roller with screwup quick links which were easier to fit on a heaving foredeck.

Sorry, haven't any photo to illustrate. Dinghyman might be able to oblige, he has that boat now.
 
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