Be aware rusted mooring ball in 0nly 2 years

[landonshaw]

Went to the boat on Friday to do some stainless polishing in the bow. Noticed that my mooring ball looked strange, but thought a rope got tangled under it and turned it upside down. Went out Sat to clean teak but first went to the ball. It turns out that the eye hook on the bottom of the ball had rusted completely through and the shackle to the chain broke free.
Now I attach a chain to the screw on the bottom, run it up to the ball. attach to the bottom of the ball, continue and attach the chain to the top ring on the ball, continue and attach my mooring lines to that chain. In essence, My boat is attached straight to the chain that is attached to the screw on the bottom. The mooring ball is only holding the chain up.
Always new to inspect the ball, thought that the rod that runs through the ball would be the bad point. Luckily I attach to the chain and not the ball, if so, I would have been on the hard. I put in the screw and chain only 2 years ago. Aloisius

[GordMay]

Indeed, that's always been recommended practice.

[landonshaw]

I agree, although it is hard to find a mooring down here that you are actually attached to the chain. The moorings you pick up have the chain going to the ball, then mooring lines coming off the top of the ball to your boat. I only use the mooring balls in the area if I am in a restricted National Park, otherwise I anchor. Feel safer.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by landonshaw

... The moorings you pick up have the chain going to the ball, then mooring lines coming off the top of the ball to your boat ...

Were I to moor, rather than anchor; I'd treat those as mere "pick up lines", and attach my own bridle to the chain.

[DennisM]

I always attach the "pick up lines" to my cleats. Why do I suddenly feel like Blanche DuBois, relying "on the kindness of strangers"?

[landonshaw]

Good idea if you can get an attachment to the chain. Generally there is so much stuff groing on the chain, it is hard to tell chain from growth, then to find the spaces in the links. There are moorings all over, but few places where you have to pick up. This is in Leewards and Windwards. So it is generally not a concern to me. If a storm is coming, I always use my own acnchor / anchors, never a mooring that I did not put in. I get out of the area at times and will look at it as a possibility. Thanks

[chrisjs]

I have always thought that the only reason for the top position on the double ended mooring ball was to attach a pick up stick. The approved mooring set up in our area requires the upper chain to extend continuously through the center of the mooring ball and end in an oversize shackle that cannot pull back through the ball. Mooring pennants are then shackled individually to that oversize shackle. The upper (smaller size) chain is then attached via another shackle to a much heavier ground chain, then to the mooring mushroom anchor or similar. The mooring ball itself is only intended to act as a float, not as a functional part of the attachment to the ground anchor.

[landonshaw]

when you say "The approved mooring set up in our area requires the upper chain to extend continuously through the center of the mooring ball and end in an oversize shackle that cannot pull back through the ball. Mooring pennants are then shackled individually to that oversize shackle."
would that qualify the shaft that runs through the ball as a continuation of the chain?
My problem was that that shaft on the bottom rusted out in two years. I attach the chain from the bottom to the bottom loop, (bottom of the shaft) then ran it on the outside of the ball to the top loop, attaching both with shakles, then attached my mooring lines from the boat to the chain directly.
The bottom loop rusted, but because I run a continuous chain, my boat stayed attached to the mooring chain and did not go aground.

[HopCar]

I think that chrisis is talking about this type of mooring ball.

[125Miles]

I dive every month to do some bottom cleaning and with some air left I go inspect every link of chain from top down to the mushroom. Just a few days from doing so I got a call from harbormaster about my boat beached..... sailors nightmare came true... Well, what happened is that threads inside the shackle and on the pin rusted away and got loose. It looked like solid ¾ shackle last time I saw it down on the bottom and the thing was just two years old. It never occurred to me to unscrew and screw pin back just to check it also there was no way to tell visually that the threads are gone. Lesson learned, I know what that little hole at the end of every shackle pin used for.... Probably a good idea just to replace shackles every other year as well....

[Printbr]

Always be sure to use the same metal throughout the system. Dissimilar metals will most always rust very quickly. I would guess that you had dissimilar metals in between the shackle, chain and or retaining wire.

[DumnMad]

Chain in the aerated top water will act as an anode to the chain in the oxygen deprived bottom water hence the rapid corrosion of the links at the surface. Good sense to not trust the links at the surface. Many mooring areas are in places with fresh water on top and don't have the problem to the same extent, OTOH in tropical waters with high salt content such mooring look very risky to me.

[Jim Cate]

It is this story and all the others like it that have lead us to nearly always lie to our own ground tackle. I watch in amazement when folks come into a new harbour and blithely pick up a random mooring...

We know several boats that have gone ashore from hired moorings. The owners of said moorings will always say that they are inspected and in great shape.

Incidentally, in this area (Pittwater) there are thousands of moorings. The local practice is to use heavy polypropylene pendents and to change them fairly often. There is usually a bit of heavy chain at the bottom leading to the anchor. This seems to minimize the corrosion problem.

Cheers,

Jim

[Ex-Calif]

Our mooring tackle is probably 5/8 rope attached to the floor with a shackle. The mooring ball is attached to the rope about 6-10 feet down just to float the rope eye. The eye has a pennant and ball about 8 inch circumference.

Hook the pennant ball, haul up the eye and attach to cleat or attach your own bridle to eye.

Shackles are inspected yearly.

[markpierce]

I'd never be comfortable leaving my boat moored or anchored without someone aboard.