Mooring pendant, 1 or 2?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Clivevon

What shock? You are on a short strop - its not like you will be sailing around your anchor chain.

A mooring buoy isn't going to move with the wind. A boat will.

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by Cadence

A mooring buoy isn't going to move with the wind. A boat will.

I guess it depends on your boat - mine has a lot of underwater surface area. Water is around 800 times denser than air, so a moored sailing cruiser on a short strop will normally lie quietly to the tide - no shock. Motor boats with all that superstructure & not much underwater area will be more affected by the wind, but the tide will still usually rule.

[Montanan]

Double bridle, twist proofed. Floats or pool noodles on each bridle will aid in keeping it floating so as to not wrap under the mooring ball.

[deblen]

two pendants to the mooring ball but as the boat swings with wind and tide within a few days two lines are twisted up, occasionally knotted around the ring on the top of the mooring chain where they can chaff.

So maybe one line is better? The main mooring pendant is seriously oversized with a very large thimble and eye spliced into the end that attaches to the mooring chain where I use a heavy Crosby shackle.



Your 2 pendants (strops) should each have thimbles at the mooring end to prevent rope melt/chafe.Tying/looping a rope to metal under or near water will guarantee rapid wear. It may be ok for overnite in flat calm.

Each thimble should be individually shackled to the top eye of the swivel just below the mooring float. The boat can then swivel 360 around the buoy w/o snarling.

You lash rugged comm. fish. net floats(toggle floats) to the mooring ball end of the pendants to prevent chafe & marine growth.
The floats will also float the pendants up tightly to the mooring ball preventing them from snarling the chain.

This is all explained in Maine Sail link. He drew from many yrs experience ,tests & observations on the Maine coast,where many boats,especially comm. fish.,have no choice but to moor 365 days/yr. in often violent wx.


Also,never leave your anchor in the launcher-it may chafe the pendants or get knocked overboard. Do not run your mooring line thru your launcher-it puts unnecessary strain & wear on launcher & mooring line.


Cheers/Len


Some pics of my boat/mooring a few years ago. I learned a few things since.
Won't upload here. Will do later.

[deblen]

A nasty surprise Aug storm a few yrs ago. I have learned a bit since.

[deblen]

I have no affiliation with any products or suppliers in this,or my previous posts. / Len


https://www.offcenterharbor.com/hm-h...moorings-1804/

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by skipmac

After several years on the wait list I've finally gotten a mooring. However my experience with boats has been mainly anchoring or at a dock which has brought up a question.

When anchored I am usually on the boat or only away for short periods so one anchor on chain rode with a snubber and the chain secured as backup.

However I will be leaving the boat on the mooring for extended periods, occasionally when I'm traveling. My conservative side wants to use two pendants to the mooring ball but as the boat swings with wind and tide within a few days two lines are twisted up, occasionally knotted around the ring on the top of the mooring chain where they can chaff.

So maybe one line is better? The main mooring pendant is seriously oversized with a very large thimble and eye spliced into the end that attaches to the mooring chain where I use a heavy Crosby shackle.

Maybe that's safe enough and avoids the tangle and potential problems?

Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island has a mooring requirement that might solve your dilemma. It's basically designed to limit the swaying of boats in an often tight mooring field. It uses one line from the ball through the forward cleat and then back to the rear cleat - sort of a triangle. If you go to their website, they show exactly how it's done. https://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/...ules/#moorings

[MJH]

Originally Posted by skipmac

After several years on the wait list I've finally gotten a mooring. However my experience with boats has been mainly anchoring or at a dock which has brought up a question.

When anchored I am usually on the boat or only away for short periods so one anchor on chain rode with a snubber and the chain secured as backup.

However I will be leaving the boat on the mooring for extended periods, occasionally when I'm traveling. My conservative side wants to use two pendants to the mooring ball but as the boat swings with wind and tide within a few days two lines are twisted up, occasionally knotted around the ring on the top of the mooring chain where they can chaff.

So maybe one line is better? The main mooring pendant is seriously oversized with a very large thimble and eye spliced into the end that attaches to the mooring chain where I use a heavy Crosby shackle.

Maybe that's safe enough and avoids the tangle and potential problems?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

I have used two lines to my private 24/7/365 buoy mooring since 1995. They are attached to the buoy chain swival below the buoy. The two lines are attached to a three foot 2×2 with bungee chord which provides some flotation and leverage when the boat swings around the buoy. Line twisting occurs but could be prevented with a swivel but that would add one more possible failure point...I choose not to.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Uncle Bob]

The difference between locations globally is quite remarkable. Here in Australia, where I am at least, most of the private moorings consist of an appropriate weight, a length of heavy ground chain, a length of lighter chain that acts as a springer, a swivel and a rope riser that attaches to the boat. There is a small pickup buoy on a short line attached and when picking up the mooring that buoy is on the fwd deck, no float for anything to tangle or twist around. Works really well.

[HankOnthewater]

Originally Posted by Kelkara

I'm going to ask a stupid question ... there must be a good reason, since nobody seems to do it ... but if chafe is the concern, then why not use a length of chain instead?

Not stupid at all. Every professional fisherman that I have seen on a mooring, was using all chain.

As far as two pendants crossing each other, and then getting the line between buoy and bow progressively shorter, I always had 2 swivels on my mooring; one very large on or near the bottom weight, and another one just under the float. The two pendants then both attach to a large shackle above the 2nd swivel...... Although I must say I always used one pendant, always in PE 3-strand (called silver rope in Oz), of sufficient diameter. And of course good chafe protection on the bow. This lasted me over 10 years with my previous boat.
I have prepared many ropes for other boats, and most of the times owners stipulated two pendants, particularly if they had two cleats on the bow, one each side. Not a problem as described above.

I noted some photos, that the mooring location is subject to quite a swell. Indeed then I would use a more stretchy line, and if possible a longer line. But chafe will become more of an issue.

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by deblen

A nasty surprise Aug storm a few yrs ago. I have learned a bit since.
Attachment 240836

Attachment 240837

Attachment 240838

Looks a lot like my boat when it is tied to the dock in the marina when the wind comes across a long fetch from the northeast and the swells pass uninhibited through the entrance to the marina. On occasion the swells may wash over the finger piers. Lots of rolling, rising and lowering of the boats. There being a bit of a worry that the mast and shrouds may make contact with a neighboring boat. Odd to stand on a finger pier and see the boat deck sometimes lower than the dock then the bottom of the hull is higher than the dock. Looks worrisome, but really no issue so long as the boat is properly tied to the docks, if the boat is not tied properly then it can be damaged or sunk by making contact with the dock, getting under it, or being placed on top of it. The sail boats roll and pitch much more than the powered boats due to the rounded hulls, but they place much less stress on the dock lines than the power boats.

[JimsCAL]

I am definitely in the minority in my harbor as I only use one pennant line. However it is oversized for the boat - 1 inch for a 11,000 lb 33 footer. If you go with 2, they should not be of the same length. Here's a good article with lots of food for thought about moorings.
https://marinehowto.com/mooring-pend...ughts-musings/

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by Montanan

Looks a lot like my boat when it is tied to the dock in the marina when the wind comes across a long fetch from the northeast and the swells pass uninhibited through the entrance to the marina. On occasion the swells may wash over the finger piers. Lots of rolling, rising and lowering of the boats. There being a bit of a worry that the mast and shrouds may make contact with a neighboring boat. Odd to stand on a finger pier and see the boat deck sometimes lower than the dock then the bottom of the hull is higher than the dock. Looks worrisome, but really no issue so long as the boat is properly tied to the docks, if the boat is not tied properly then it can be damaged or sunk by making contact with the dock, getting under it, or being placed on top of it. The sail boats roll and pitch much more than the powered boats due to the rounded hulls, but they place much less stress on the dock lines than the power boats.

On the other hand, like me, you could be behind a lock gate. It can be a bit of a pain at the very busiest of times but it is good to know you are in a totally sheltered marina - no pitching & hardly any rolling ever. The strain on your gear must be high - you must have good old fashioned cleats - sized for the job & properly secured to a strong deck.

[Clivevon]

Originally Posted by JimsCAL

I am definitely in the minority in my harbor as I only use one pennant line. However it is oversized for the boat - 1 inch for a 11,000 lb 33 footer. If you go with 2, they should not be of the same length. Here's a good article with lots of food for thought about moorings.
https://marinehowto.com/mooring-pend...ughts-musings/

Interesting article - I have never seen a setup like that in my life. Over here we normally use a single strop (pennant, pendant..), much shorter than shown in that article, minimum 40mm diameter, maybe 50mm for up to a 40 foot boat, with no flotation on the strop other than maybe a pickup buoy on the end of a thinner line. The strop is designed to come over the bow roller, with a large eyesplice to drop over your cleat, bitts, samson post, whatever. I take the point about removing the anchor but a lot of bow roller sides have plenty of chafe potential too so the strops usually have some sort of chafe protection built in - usually plastic hose.

I think it comes down to where your moorings are - how exposed they are -the ones in the pictures look pretty horrendous to me.

[ve0hak]

Originally Posted by skipmac

However I will be leaving the boat on the mooring for extended periods, occasionally when I'm traveling. My conservative side wants to use two pendants to the mooring ball but as the boat swings with wind and tide within a few days two lines are twisted up, occasionally knotted around the ring on the top of the mooring chain where they can chaff.

I had fairlead fail in a storm last February and one pendant (or "junk" as we call them here) chafed nearly through (and also damaged the rail). You definitely want two, one slightly slack (lazy). If the place is prone to having weather, a third as backup wouldn't go amiss.

Knotting might be related to the way they are shackled to the chain. We shackle to separate links in the chain skipping one link in between and that seems to work well. Tide amplitude can be > 4m at springs, sometimes quite a bit of swell and high winds in winter. Haven't had a problem with tangling or knotting.