Trot mooring advice please

B

bushwacka

Active Member
Joined
7 Nov 2010
Messages
48
Visit site
Quite new to boating and have never used a Trot mooring. Just wondering if I should consider this as a better option than a swing or are they quite tricky to master single handed with a a heavy-ish displacement 35 footer? Any other downsides I need to consider? Thanks.
 
I have been single handing for 30 years and I am very good at all of it now. But I have never found a good way of getting on to a trot. Unless no wind no tide. And still tricky. Anchoring. Swinging moorings with a happy hooker. marinas I am good at . I had a trot once and did not do a lot of sailing. They are not for single handers and I would not want one with a crew of 6.
 
The best way to use a trot is to buy a pontoon from Walcon at next boat show and have it towed back by workboat and rigged with stout chains if you can. Or buy a boat and a half share in such a pontoon already in situ.
 
jetgo888 said:
I have been single handing for 30 years and I am very good at all of it now. But I have never found a good way of getting on to a trot. Unless no wind no tide. And still tricky. Anchoring. Swinging moorings with a happy hooker. marinas I am good at . I had a trot once and did not do a lot of sailing. They are not for single handers and I would not want one with a crew of 6.
Click to expand...
I'm not convinced as I've singlehanded on and off our trot mooring lots of times. I always leave a line connecting the strops on the fore and aft buoys connected together. It has three very old and battered fenders on it so it's obvious and easy to pick up. Tide actually helps. Approach into the strongest element (9/10 the tide) and stop the boat alongside the connecting line. Pick the lineup with a boat hook and keep hold of it as you wonder forward to retrieve the strop(s) that it's secured to . Drop a mooring strop over a forward cleat and then keep hold of the connect line as you go aft and pull the strops to the boat to hook on aft. Simples.

Occasionalyl with a weak tide and strong wind blowing across the mooring, I've had to get a line onto the strops (our dinghy is on davits on the back end of the mother ship so it's no great sweat) and winch the boat into position in between the fore and aft buoys.

In dire emergency just choose the up wind/up tide buoy and approach it as a swinging mooring. Get yourself hooked onto that and then sort out getting the back end of the boat onto the aft buoy. It's a bit more scary as you can't just overshoot because on the one side will probably be another boat and in between you've hopefully left your floating pick-up line.
 
If I had to choose it would be a swinging mooring but you do get used to a trot. If you tackle it as John Morris has suggested, once you have the bow secured, in some manner (even with a temporary short strop to the fore and aft line), the boat will lie quietly whilst you sort things out.
For getting off it is a huge advantage to split the fore and aft line in the middle, this will allow you to leave in any of four directions, depending on conditions.

With a 30 footer you can manhandle things most of the time, I think with 35ft you have to come in more accurately to the buoy. If the trots are tight on length I would certainly look for an alternative.
 
Never liked my trot mooring, I always thought the boat was held unnaturally against wind and tide, much prefer my swinging mooring, the boat can lie natural.
 
My last attempt at picking up a trot mooring was not attended with the success I had hoped for; to put it mildly!

There was a strong cross-wind blowing me onto the unbuoyed rope connecting the two buoys, which got under the turn of the bilge. (There was not room to try an upwind approach.)

The mooring had obviously not been used for a long time and the buoys and ropes were festooned with black slime, weed, barnacles etc.

The fore and aft buoy ropes were streaming in the current and in danger of getting caught up in the propeller.

It was not my finest hour but after a lot of messing about and cursing I managed to get secured.

Next time I'd go somewhere else!
 
ashtead said:
The best way to use a trot is to buy a pontoon from Walcon at next boat show and have it towed back by workboat and rigged with stout chains if you can. Or buy a boat and a half share in such a pontoon already in situ.
Click to expand...
38mess said:
Never liked my trot mooring, I always thought the boat was held unnaturally against wind and tide, much prefer my swinging mooring, the boat can lie natural.
Click to expand...

Have had trot moorings, almost lead to divorce! Have had the mooring around prop and pickup line pinned against the keel in strong wind despite approach from leeward. On the single trot it seemed the wind always came from the wrong side for getting off, so the messenger line would have to be re-routed to windward.

Moved to a mid river pontoon, mooring up heaven! Marriage now safe. But I have had 7k damage done to boat by the pontoon during a storm (insurance paid).

Would choose a swinging mooring if I could. Approach into wind, pick up, tie off job done. No side loads on boat in strong winds. Not done single handed but must be easier than a trot.
 
I never have had difficulty picking up or leaving a swinging mooring single handed with 3 boats over 30 years. I have had difficulty picking up and leaving trot berths. Given a choice I would prefer a swinging mooring although if I really wanted a berth in a particular location I would accept a trot if no choice
 
I've been on my riverside trot for 20 years now, I mostly/nearly always sail on my own. Arriving is never that difficult but leaving when the wind is blowing me onto the bank is a PITA as I have to lay a kedge across the river to pull the boat off the bank.
With a fore and aft mooring, I never worry about the boat coming off the mooring when I'm at home, even in this lockdown, on a swinging mooring, it would be a different matter!
 
Trots are not impossible to master but a faff at best and stressful in a cross wind.
A swing mooring is much easier because you can motor up onto it from down wind or down tide, whichever happens to be strongest on the day. If you are worried about a swing mooring a trot might have you biting your nails to the quick.

First the positives.
Trots are cheaper than swing moorings.
There is more availability.
They are often a bit closer to the dinghy launch point.

Now the negatives...
Trots come with lots of rules.
You usually have to face the boat a certain way.
When you leave to go on your adventure you fist have to link the two buoys. This stops the rest of the line of trots getting out of position.
As you depart you have to keep prop clear of rope in the water.
There is invariably another trot a few metres away so manoeuvring can be tricky in windy conditions. On your return you have to time your approach so you can fish the linked line out of the water again without fouling it. It's invariably picked up some weed in your absence so you smell like a kipper and the deck needs a wash. Then there is a fair bit of faffing to get the boat in the middle with port and stbd lines just so. This is usually at a time when you have a number of other things to do when you want to leave the boat.

Without wishing to jinx my next trip out I'm not bad at manoeuvring having made most of the mistakes many years ago. There are lots of tricks to mitigate some of the issues I mentioned but it's still a faff at best and a bit nail biting in tricky conditions.

My less experienced Co owners were mighty relieved when I suggested coughing up a bit more cash for a swing mooring. When you are coming home tired and late on a grey blustery day the extra fee feels like money we'll spent.
 
Hello. joining this thread rather than start a new one

I have a question about trots on a river/estuary with a significant tidal flow that can carry large lumps of fallen timber in winter.

Small displacement boat with a transom hung rudder that cannot be tipped. Currently on a swinging mooring so any logs would glance off the bow.

The mooring is soon changing to a trot, so 50% of the time the stern will be facing the current.

Should I be concerned ?

If it's a risk, is there any way to mitigate it ?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts
 
Last edited:
We moored a centaur for many years on tidal medina on trots and while it didn’t have stern hung rudder many later Westerly did and seemed quite happy on trot moorings and on pontoons strung between trots. I guess the builders of westerly when they moved to stern hung rudders in I guess late 1970s/early 80s considered issues like those you raise -you might ask on westerly owners association or the association for your vessel maybe?
 
LadyInBed said:
Position your boat close to the stern trot buoy.
Use twin mooring lines, one to each stern quarter cleats to keep the buoy centered (I have twin lines at the bow as well).
At home, sleep well at night when it blowing a hooley down at the boat.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was wondering if the stern trot buoy could be used as a fender.

Appreciate your reply, ta

I only have the option of a single bow line, but that should be OK

The boat's only small 16ft Treeve cove boat, but it's a work boat

Sleeping well at night is just as important as rowing to the boat without trepidation of what you will find :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

mogmog2
Maxwell windlass 10 VW looks interesting (to a windlass noob)
2 3
Replies
59
Views
1K
mogmog2
mogmog2

Share this page

Top