Mooring Hooks

[Hank Kivett]

Is anyone out her using a mooring hook or something close to that allows you to attach you mooring line to a mooring ball by the use of some sort of boat hook. If so which one are you using and why...at my age i need all the help i can get when it comes to attempting to tie up to anything so if one these makes life easier i want it...keep in mind i am a poor boy.

[Privleoplag]

Originally Posted by Hank Kivett

Is anyone out her using a mooring hook or something close to that allows you to attach you mooring line to a mooring ball by the use of some sort of boat hook. If so which one are you using and why...at my age i need all the help i can get when it comes to attempting to tie up to anything so if one these makes life easier i want it...keep in mind i am a poor boy.

Are you talking about something to fasten your boat mooring line to the pendant line of mooring? Can it get much easier than threading the mooring line through the pendant loop and back to a bloat cleat? And it can't get easier to detach then undoing the mooring line from the boat cleat and pulling it back from the pendant can it?

[Boatguy30]

West marine used to sell something like that. Maybe made by Windline marine?

[Hydra]

I have this: Snap hooks / mooring hook / simple / length 170

It works but the spring on the hook is a bit on the weak side: it falls too easily from the attachment. In difficult situations (e.g. wind against tide and short-handed), I use it to catch the buoy before deploying a conventional mooring line. It is useful because it makes possible to be less precise in path and speed control than with the method described by Privleoplag.

Alain

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by Hank Kivett

Is anyone out her using a mooring hook or something close to that allows you to attach you mooring line to a mooring ball by the use of some sort of boat hook. If so which one are you using and why...at my age i need all the help i can get when it comes to attempting to tie up to anything so if one these makes life easier i want it...keep in mind i am a poor boy.

Hi Hank,

The short answer may be Practical Sailor's pick of devices for this: EasyMoor. At US$44 it seems like a reasonable solution.

Longer version adding some context:

In my experience, mooring balls either have only a ring on top, or also have a floating pennant you can grab to tie to.

Getting close to the ball is sometimes the most difficult step for us. What I do is tie each end of a dock line to the bow cleats- forming a loop maybe 10ft long from the bow of our monohull. Then I just have to get close enough to the mooring ball to toss the loop over it- temporarily lassoing it. [Sometimes it is helpful to put a small fishing net float- or a piece of chain- in the middle of that loop depending upon the circumstances...]

Once lassoed, I can pull the ball close enough to rig 2 lines to it (one round trip to each bow cleat; not from one cleat to the other with each piece of line...) and be done with it. Sometimes I don't like the look of the pennant, and the buoy ring is corroded enough it will chafe lines, so I either attach a shackle directly to the ring and run my lines through the shackle, or rig a short loop of chain through the buoy ring and shackle the ends together. [Out of laziness of not wanting to get up in the middle of the night, I always assume inclement conditions will ensue.]

Is attaching directly to the buoy ring the portion you are having difficulty with? I agree, it can be tricky to thread lines/chain/shackle through the ring(s) sometimes. In that case, you might benefit from Practical Sailor's pick of devices for this: EasyMoor. At US$44 it seems like a reasonable solution.

I rarely have to do this these last 20 years or so as we have very few opportunities to moor in the waters we frequent these days. [Except for the occasional large boat mooring- which we stay away from...]

In case this is helpful.

Cheers!

Bill

[Mark Thurlow]

Not sure you can get these in the US..... Hook and Moor


Welcome to Hook & Moor


Mark

[SailFastTri]

Yes Defender sells Hook and Moor Defender.com Search Results: hook and moor


Also I have a Grab & Go which works well Defender.com Search Results: grab n go


Anyone who uses the Grab & Go should be aware that the SWL is only 700 pounds, so it's real application is just to get you attached while you rig a proper shackle to a stout line. However it's great when you want to grab a mooing as a "lunch hook" or as an interim step while you launch (or retrieve) the dinghy to rig/der-rig a shackle.

[Tayana42]

We have the Hook and Moor. Only used it a few times so far. Very useful for attaching to a mooring ball which doesn't have a pennant.


S/V B'Shert

[Stu Jackson]

Happy Hooker is also another product.

[Hank Kivett]

Thanks guys for all the info...as a single handed sailor i am looking for anything that will help and i assure you it will appreciated...keep the cards and letters coming

[Hydra]

If the engine is available, it is sometimes easier to catch the mooring ball from the stern, by backing against the wind or current. Except on some catamarans, the rudder separates the mooring from the propeller and the transom is generally closer from the cockpit than the bow.

Then, it is easy to lead another line from the bow to the mooring ball.

Alain

[SaltyMetals]

I agree with wrwakefield in using the lassooing method. i call it the "John Wayne method". Virtually fool-proof but it only give a temporary attachment to the buoy but give plenty of time to sort things out later.

Now i need a little help. Just bought a boat (Jeanneau 43ds) on which i found what the label says is a "threader". Pic attached. how the devil do you use it? cannot find any docs or website that explains it.

PS:I tried 4 times to attach a pic but \m not sure it has worked.

[sailormed]

Attach pictures in the top line with the paperclip.