Mooring Tackle Help, Please . . .

[MoonlightSailor]

Hi All!

About to leave for round the world and need a good all-round system for tying up to moorings around the world. Can anyone point me to a good set-up for what I will most likely encounter round the world? Thanks!

Matt

[Cheechako]

You mean to mooring balls? or to pilings/ docks?

[MoonlightSailor]

Mooring balls...:-)

[Hydra]

Depending on the situation, I use different setups:

- If the mooring area is reasonably calm and the mooring not too heavy, I tie both ends of a hawser to the mooring ball, then pull it out of the water to prevent if from bumping on the bow.

- If there is some chop in the mooring area, I want to have some stretch and chafe protection in the system. Then, I use this Snap hooks / mooring hook / simple / length 100 spliced to the end of a line that is also protected from chafe at the fairlead. For safety, I add a length of chain, longer than the line, shackled to the mooring ball.

- When I had a permanent mooring, I used 2 strong lines tied directly to the swivel, very short to keep it out of the water, and I pulled the mooring ball on the deck.

Alain

[charliehows]

fyi in australia most mooring buoys have a light rope attached to the hawser so you have to pull up the hawser - i use a 20mm rope one end looped on my samson post, the other through the mooring hawser then back up to the post. some places there are bigger buoys with hawser attached to the top of the buoy - its pretty obvious from the size of the hawser when you can tie to the buoy direct. whats the setup over there?

[twistedtree]

The biggest problem I've run into is when the mooring ball only has an eye (i.e. no pennant line) and is too heavy to grab with a boat hook and lift up to thread a line through the eye. We have too much free board to be able to reach down and thread a line through the eye, and this has made attaching to some mooring balls very difficult. I've seen others struggle with this too.

We've tried coming along side the ball where there is less free board, reaching over to thread a line through, then walking the ball forward and cleating off the line at the bow. It works well OK in calm conditions, but resulted in disaster one time in windy conditions. We got blown across the mooring and ended up with it fouled on a prop.

I bought one of the snap hooks that Hydra provided a link too, but haven't tried it yet. Hydra, have you had good success with it?

[Hydra]

twistedtree,
Yes, the snaphook is easy to use, provided that the eye on the mooring ball isn't too thick. My snaphook was sold with a holder to be affixed on a handle. I just went to a DIY store and got a wooden rake handle for it.

If your yacht has too much freeboard, even at the stern, you could consider using the dinghy.

Another solution is to throw a line with a wide eye at the end on the mooring ball, the other end being made fast at the bow. The eye sinks below the ball around the chain, and you now have time for something more permanent.

Alain

[Kettlewell]

Tieing up to a mooring while world cruising is a rare experience--don't plan on doing it much. Typically, most moorings I encounter already have a mooring painter attached and it is just a matter of picking up either the line or a pick up buoy and putting the painter on your cleat. Some areas require you to use your own line, and what I like to do is run my line through the eye on the mooring and back to the boat, so I can just release one end of the line or the other to drop the mooring. I just use an ordinary dock line. Where are you expecting to find moorings? They are pretty rare outside of very developed areas.

[S/V Antares]

Kettelwell . As one who spends lots of time on Moorings I must dissagre with your technique if I understand it. . In a blow all boats wander and sail left and right ...and a loop will chafe at the ball. Twin lines with Bowline knots or Spliced eyes will prevent the chafing at the ball end. I have rescued a boat with a 7/8 line loop that chafed through in about 6 hours of real crappy weather.

[Kettlewell]

Sure, better to tie off eventually if you need to because of the weather, but when you first tie up the easiest and fastest way is to pass a line through the eye and cleat it off. If the wind picks up and the line is sawing a bit you can tie off another line with a bowline, but I sometimes just run a piece of plastic tubing down the line so that it rests in the eye. Having that first line on the mooring makes it a lot easier to tie off the second line if you need to. Then when you get ready to go you release the tied line first, and you can just slip the other line when you're ready to go. Still, the long and the short of it is that it is pretty rare on the East Coast of the USA to supply your own mooring painter--most of the time one comes attached to the mooring. World cruising you will be at anchor 99% of the time.

[S/V Antares]

Kettelwell, You are so correct. First.. get it done. It is the sawing issue that you mention that has caused me distress with adjacent boats on a few ocasions. Funny how some boats wander more than others. Cheers!

[Jim Cate]

Moonlight, I don't know just where in your proposed circumnavigation you think you'll be taking up moorings, for our experience is that they are not common.

But, fwiw, we know far more cruisers who have come to grief on strange moorings than those who have lost their boats on their own ground tackle.

So, IMO you would be far better off spending your time and money on improving your ground tackle and your anchoring skills than worrying about tying up to moorings.

Funny, I think that is what everyone else is saying...

Cheers,

Jim

[Palarran]

Awhile ago there was a thread asking a question about blue water sailing. One of the regular posters commented that if you have to ask this question, you may not be ready to set off on the journey.

I'm really no pro, but I do sleep better on my own anchor then on a mooring ball. Lately, when I do grab a mooring ball for a daystop, I'm doing it off my stern. It's much easier to just reach down a few feet and grab the eye then use the boat hook.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MoonlightSailor

Can anyone point me to a good set-up for what I will most likely encounter round the world? Thanks!

A warp or 2 seems to work ok in adapting to whatever is in front of me - not really sure what "set up" there could be?

FWIW I prefer to secure my warp(s) to the chain beneath any mooring bouy (big bouy does not equal big chain or big deadman - also gives me half an idea of the mooring condition) - even if that requires a trip to the bow in the dink. (obviously if we are talking about a bouy that is made out of steel and the size of a dink that not practical ).

[Roaring Girl]

Mooring balls of various kinds are becoming more common in the Med to protect the seabed, and we get a lot of amusement watching people mess it up!

If the top of the buoy has only a small eye or other reasons it's hard to get at, we use the following. Get one piece of weighted chain - a bicycle lock which is plastic coated is ideal. Wrap this round the rope (rather like a snubber, securing the ends. Hold both ends of rope on board (cleating one end off. As you approach the ball, throw loop over ball so that weighted section sinks and catches on the riser. Cleat off both ends.

You're now attached and can adopt whatever method of properly tying up suits your boat and the conditions (which may vary as people have said.

This is particularly useful single handed in a strong tide but generally, get attached and then sort out your lines. We just use ordinary mooring warp for buoys usually but would use chain etc in bad weather, over a long period or if leaving the boat unattended.