Setting-Up a Permanent Mooring in Texas

[FSMike]

VU -
I don't think you're getting it. The idea is not to lie to the authorities. The idea is to not say anything. If they eventually approach you, you say "Gee, I didn't know that was wrong."
By the way, what does "ViribusUnitis" mean? I flunked half a year of latin and I haven't gotten any smarter since.

[ViribusUnitis]

Yea, if there's one thing I've noticed is that goverment officals can never keep their nose to their self, and as they say "ignorance is no excuse". They don't care much, they take your boat anyways. Hopefuly not for a mooring infraction, but with out knowing for sure, it's best not to tempt fate.

It almost sounds like the best bet would be to get 3 oversized "regular" anchors, and set up a mooring in a mooring field. This way I can easily move it, and still feel secure in the location of my boat. Or a nice mushroom if the bottom conditions are workable. As long as I'm not in traffic, and well removed from any municipality, everything should be good to go. If I get close to a municipality where they can clearly see the boat, I need to get approval.

In any case "Viribus Unitis" is roughly "With United Force".

I flunked Latin as well, but I found it as the name of a Austrian-Hungarian battleship. I really like the sound, and loved the meaning. I sorta hope it means with the united force of myself and my wife.

So far we've been a bit less than united.

[SteveHoiland]

Personaly I dislike moorigg bouys . They clog up harbors. Are they licensed? My worst personal experience was Oak Bay Vancover Island, British Colombia. It was a big blow coming out of the south at 25 kts. We departed Victoria and tried to drop anchor in Oak Bay which is not asmall harbor. It was completly filled up with about 200 morings with boats attached. We hunted around for about an hour trying to squeze in with no sucess. What a ****ing mess. I will never return to that part of the Island. As well with all the fish farms clogging many many coves heading north to inside passage.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by SteveHoiland

Personaly I dislike moorigg bouys . They clog up harbors. ...
It was completly filled up with about 200 morings with boats attached. We hunted around for about an hour trying to squeze in with no sucess...

How many (fewer) boats do you think might have safely occupied the same real estate at anchor?

[SteveHoiland]

Gord May,
So you feel this is the best use of harbors to fill 100% capacity with morrings. Charts indicate a good anchorage, a transient boater arrives only to find the only spot left is in 7' of water. It would be appreciated if a little was left over for travelers. Do you travel Gord?

[Alexei]

Originally Posted by SteveHoiland

Gord May,
So you feel this is the best use of harbors to fill 100% capacity with morrings. Charts indicate a good anchorage, a transient boater arrives only to find the only spot left is in 7' of water. It would be appreciated if a little was left over for travelers. Do you travel Gord?

7 feet? Man, that's all kinds of room.

Clearly you've never travelled the ICW.

[ViribusUnitis]

Originally Posted by SteveHoiland

Gord May,
So you feel this is the best use of harbors to fill 100% capacity with morrings. Charts indicate a good anchorage, a transient boater arrives only to find the only spot left is in 7' of water. It would be appreciated if a little was left over for travelers. Do you travel Gord?

Please help me work though this.

Mooring buoys utalize heavier chain and lower scope than traditional anchors. They also utalize much larger, and stronger anchors that should have a lower chance of dragging.

The shorter scope, less required safty margin, and planned placement should allow many more boats to be placed in a given anchorage than with their regular anchors.

Thus if an anchorage is tight, it would be best if it is taken up completely by properly set mooring buoys. If you had come down onto a anchorage w/o any mooring buoys, it would have likly STILL been full. Even with out the buoys, those boats have to go somewhere, they're just not going to go away because the bouys are gone. And there would have been another anchorage with all the boats left over from that anchorage.

[SURV69]

go out to where you "want" a mooring ball.

Drop the biggest weight of whatever that you can handle, with chain and such with a few feet of smaller chain attached to a small foam mooring ball. Maybe someone can drop a really big engine after dark.

Make sure the mooring ball is big enough to float at least a few feet of chain off the bottom.

Get some really good GPS readings of the mooring ball location.

Now, whenever you want, go to that particular place, drop a hook, raise the hook a couple of feet and hook the ball.

Pull it up and use it.

ust a thought . . .

[SteveHoiland]

Hay Gord, I really envy the lack of significant tidal exchange down in your neck of the woods especiously when anchoring. Up here at 48 degrees north it ain't quite that simple. You may set anchor in +7' of water and and wake up to -9' of water or less. After all the closer to the equater the less tidal exchange I believe is the way it works. I spent 3 months in SE Alaska last summer where we experienced 29' exchanges. Just try to imagine that and maintaining proper scope and not going onto the rocks when swining.

[SURV69]

BETTER YET . . .

Add a strong, but relatively short bowsprit(to hold an anchor), buy the biggest/best anchor you can afford along with 25-30 feet of the biggest chain you can afford and rode out with 100 feet of 5/8" anchor line.

Who really needs a "permanent" mooring when it's probably easier and cheaper to always have a truly "Big_A$$$" anchor along for the ride?

[ViribusUnitis]

Having a big ass anchor isn't the same.

Mooring bouys have much larger than normal anchors. A oversided anchor for a 40' boat might weigh, 100 lb?

A mooring deadweight anchor would weigh 500lb easy. From what I can see, for a mushroom 500lb might be OK, or a deadweight over 2000 lb. I wouldn't want to haul that around on a 40' boat! That plus mooring anchors require time to settle into place. Even a deadweight anchor works better once it's settled into the ground. Another option would be for a screw type anchor, which requires special equipment to set. Not something you can just drop off the bow. Finnaly there is the idea of 3 "regular" anchors, set in a ciricle, with rodes that come together to a central point. These are 3 overszied anchors, with loughts of heavy chain.

The other advantage to the mooring anchors is they tend to hold in any direction. I doesn't much matter which way the wind or current is going, they have plenty of hold to hold the boat in place.

I wouldn't want to be trying to sail a boat with any of the above mooring anchors onboard. Expecally not on the bow. They're just so heavy. And then when you need them, they won't be settled in, so they wouldn't be ready to use.

[Pete the Cat]

As a former harbor master here in Maine, I can tell you how it works here. The Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard have no interest in moorings except if they are for commercial purposes or if you wish to set them in their active waterways (which you will not do). The bottom belongs to the State out 3 miles from shore and generally they delegate the regulation of moorings to local municipalities who must hire a harbor master if they choose to manage their local harbors and waterways. His/her job is to manage the mooring field, enforce local ordinances, and enforce state laws regarding water use. Harbor masters also are part of the Homeland Security system and can legally ask to inspect your paperwork at borders--at least theoretically--I don't know anybody who actually does this. So management of local mooring fields is done by the municipalities. So the earlier suggestion that you check with the local government where you want to moor makes sense.
If you want suggestions for appropriate mooring gear, the ABYC has recommendations and drawings which are probably on a website somewhere. Hamilton Marine here in Maine has nice drawings of appropriate gear and have people who know and sell the appropriate gear as most of the boats in Maine are on mooring gear. Your local municipality may have specifications and inspection schedules you must comply with. Be sure to have your mooring equipment taken out or dived on and inspected at least every three years in saltwater. Every year we have boats damaged and lost as a result of the bottom chain rusting away and setting the vessel adrift. Makes no sense to me that insurance companies require my boat to be surveyed periodically but never ask about my mooring equipment or its maintenance.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by SteveHoiland

Gord May,
So you feel this is the best use of harbors to fill 100% capacity with moorings. Charts indicate a good anchorage, a transient boater arrives only to find the only spot left is in 7' of water. It would be appreciated if a little was left over for travellers. Do you travel Gord?

I did not suggest anything, much less that all harbours be filled 100% with moorings.

I simply asked Steve how many boats he thought could anchor safely, in an area that accommodated about 200 boats on moorings.

The implication was that it would be significantly fewer, leaving even more transient boaters out in the cold (hunting around, with no success).

A properly layed out mooring field can safely accommodate perhaps twice as many boats, as could be accommodated at anchor (with variable safety & density).

Scarce resources can be allocated on a first come - first serve basis (unrestricted anchoring), they can be managed (moorings etc), or by some combination of the two (moorings and anchorage).

When managed, the degree of management can be variable.

I generally prefer that scarce resources be managed for the maximum benefit of all. Of course, the devil is in the details.

Although I fail to see the relevance - for the record, I’ve probably spent over 2,000 nights at anchor, though not recently.

Originally Posted by SteveHoiland

Personaly I dislike mooring buoys . They clog up harbors. ...
It was completely filled up with about 200 moorings with boats attached. We hunted around for about an hour trying to squeeze in with no success...

Originally Posted by GordMay

How many (fewer) boats do you think might have safely occupied the same real estate at anchor?

[Pete the Cat]

Originally Posted by FSMike

VU -
I don't think you're getting it. The idea is not to lie to the authorities. The idea is to not say anything. If they eventually approach you, you say "Gee, I didn't know that was wrong."
By the way, what does "ViribusUnitis" mean? I flunked half a year of latin and I haven't gotten any smarter since.

As a former harbor master folks should know how we deal with this: under our state law (and I believe most states have the same or similar language in their statutes) the harbor master is specifically authorized under statute "to remove the mooring at the owners expense, plus a fine, or drop the chain to the bottom". I do not know anyone or any municipality that makes money from mooring fields or regulating them--most municipalities lose money on waterfront management in the hope that it will support visitors and commerce ashore. Properly maintained moorings are costly to install and properly care for--if itinerant boaters want to gripe about something it should be how well the harbor master manages the harbor facilities, responds to calls, and supervises the safety of the equipment there--not the fact that that there is too little room for anchoring--that is a population problem and blaming the harbor master is ridiculous. One of the harbor masters' main headaches if trying to figure out how to get more moorings in a limited space because demand almost always outstrips space and to ensure the equipment is not a hazard to others (adequately constructed and properly maintained). A harbor master's role is to ensure the safety and access to the water for all and that includes itinerants. My staff and I spent most of our time helping folks find moorings and safe anchoring places. On the other hand, we also observed folks coming into the mooring field and anchoring in places dangerous to their vessels and/or to others--always a pleasure to be cursed for trying to help them avoid damage to their vessels and liability for damage to others. It is an underpaid job that subjects folks to much abuse from a vocal subset of self-absorbed, ignorant and often wealthy boaters who think any authority is there simply to destroy their enjoyment on the water. That is why I am a former harbor master.

It is interesting that folks who spend thousands on the purchase and annual maintenance of a vessel will gripe about paying a nominal amount for a safe and convenient stay in a crowded harbor.

[Markotix]

Did you end up setting up a moor? Sorry to resurrect this post. I plan on doing something similar. I was thinking though to put a cement block or engine black and have the attaching ring below the water a few meters while I'm not there. Maybe a radio activated device to propel the ring up. It shouldn't be too hard to fabricate, but like you, I don't know where to put it. All I know I would like to be within an hour drive to Houston.