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Old 27-04-2019, 07:13   #1
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Abaco Moorings

..been reading on Active Captains several complaints about moorings being very close in certain Abaco Harbors...didn’t think much about it until coming into Man o War Cay.. Curious as to why the controlling/owning marina(s) don’t advise those vessels looking for moorings about size limitations before picking up their moorings...

Only thing heard on vhf between vessel(s) looking for mooring and marina was “Moorings are available..” Next thing seen is a 65+’ MV and 20 feet of line with dingy being dragged behind trying to fit in where a 40 footer barely fits between mooring balls..

Is this a common practice and how do most deal with this..?
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Old 27-04-2019, 08:22   #2
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Re: Abaco Moorings

A mooring field should have vessel length and weight limits defined by the swing diameters, so as to mitigate against playing tag with the neighbor's vessel and in particular to maintaining a fairway through a crowded field. Always a PITA when someone is occupying a hole in the water that was intended to be the pothole to cruise through on the fairway.

In addition there are limits imposed so as to not exceed the holding capacity of the permanent anchor and the tackle [heavy and light chain, hardware and line] under worst case conditions in order as to not cause the moor to drag on the bottom or to break the rode.

A 65' MT is likely pushing or exceeding the load limits of many mooring equipment configurations during adverse wind or swell conditions, and / or as to intended safe swing radii.

If I recall correctly, a recommended scope of mooring chain is not less than 2.5 to 3 times the depth at high tide consisting of the riding [lighter] chain length equal to maximum depth of water at high tide with ground [heavier] chain the remainder. Note: The mooring chain could be longer, providing for a scope of 3.5 to 4. The recommended length of the pendant line(s) from buoy to chock is to be about 2.5 times the height of the freeboard of the vessel. Never understood why the word pendant is pronounced pennant.

My understanding of the eco friendly mooring systems which do not have lengths of damaging ground chain can provide for yet shorter lengths of rode from anchor to buoy but by using stretchable floating line materials will stretch considerably in length under full loading [e.g., 12 to 17 feet], but their all in the swing radius can be made shorter than a traditional, non-eco friendly chain mooring system because the peak loading can generaly be lessened with their shock absorbing stretchy rode, at least up to the point of loading to maximum stretch.

Therefore, a mooring field provides for considerably great occupancy capacity than temporary anchorages due to the shorter scope [e.g. 3:1 versus 7:1] and thus shorter swing radius. Mooring fields are generally intended to be comparatively "cozy" which coziness can be a bit unnerving when vessels sail and swing differentially from each other. But putting a long, high windage vessel in a spot designed to accommodate a shorter [lower windage] vessel is problematic.
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Old 27-04-2019, 08:30   #3
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Re: Abaco Moorings

As to how to deal with an oversized vessel in a mooring field.

I suspect that one may find that the skipper of such vessel is not likely to be receptive to finding other accommodations when and if you suggest for the vessel to moor elsewhere, or the boat may not be occupied as the crew may have gone ashore. Therefore, one may need to have discussions with the harbor or mooring field master regarding such potentially oversized vessel's mooring. Or you can simply chose to move your vessel to a safer mooring location to provide for the larger vessel's needs and / or to mitigate against the prospect of their vessel dragging down or breaking free and drifting onto your vessel. If in doubt, don't stay put, find another hole in the water to occupy.

The mooring field situation is not unlike a crowded temporary anchorage, the only difference being there is a permanent anchor and typically shorter scopes.
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Old 27-04-2019, 09:02   #4
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Re: Abaco Moorings

Mooring balls in the Abacos are a sketchy proposition to begin with.
Expecting details on limits or maintenance is somewhat optimistic.
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Old 27-04-2019, 10:53   #5
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Re: Abaco Moorings

Quote:
Originally Posted by boatpoker View Post
Mooring balls in the Abacos are a sketchy proposition to begin with.
Expecting details on limits or maintenance is somewhat optimistic.
Exactly right. That's just how it is in the Bahamas
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Old 27-04-2019, 11:26   #6
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Abaco Moorings

Quote:
Originally Posted by boatpoker View Post
Mooring balls in the Abacos are a sketchy proposition to begin with.

Expecting details on limits or maintenance is somewhat optimistic.


I can’t for the life of me figure out why people want to pay $20 a day for a mooring that may likely part in bad weather, and as you say has other issues as well.
I’ve paid for two moorings and been here since before Christmas, one in the Park and one night in little Harbor just cause there is no good anchorage nearby.
The rest of the time I’ve anchored out, away from other boats and I know my anchor will hold.

Jus there other day someone posted on a Facebook page that the wife follows that they had talked to Emmitt at Hatchet Bay and asked him to install moorings.
I can’t for the life of me understand why?
Why do people want to pay for something substandard?
What is wrong with anchoring? Just avoid the bays that only have mooring balls, and anchor out and dinghy in.
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Old 27-04-2019, 12:01   #7
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Re: Abaco Moorings

That's the same thing I've been finding. We were at Man-O-War for a while in our 43' catamaran and were limited on which moorings we could swing comfortably on.

We're now in Black Sound (Green Turtle) and SUUUUPER close to another boat. We have the dinghy in tight, but I should probably either lift it on the davits or put it off to the side of our boat in order to minimize risk of it donking into their mooring.

At Treasure Cay the moorings were comfortably spaced, but several of them had drifted. Apparently they had boats on them during massive storms and no one has bothered to move the moorings back where they belong.

When we were down in the USVI the moorings we used were government regulated and properly spaced.
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