Protecting boat from mooring buoy

[SeawingsHK]

Hello

(Please let me know if this is well discussed and on another thread)

I am going to put my Beneteau 45 on a swinging mooring with a large mooring buoy in a drum shape. The Beneteau's hull is dark blue.

I'm told by other owners on the moorings the boats hit the buoy a lot as they move between tides / winds and it causes damage overtime. A number of other mooring buoys have polystyrene somehow attached around the rim.

I thought I'd see if anyone on the forum knew of methods or products to solve this that is better than polystyrene.

Thanks

Matt

[Montanan]

It will occasionally rub on the buoy so soften the upper edge of the buoy. Similar to the rub of a bumper on a dock which will leave marks on the boat overtime.

Apply a rubber fender strip around the can buoy.

https://www.niri-rubber.com/produk/mooring-bouy/

Or a Foam fender:

https://www.ytmarinefender.com/portfolio/mooring-buoy/

Heck an inflated vehicle inner tube will work to keep the hard bits apart.

[capt jgw]

I made a ring of plywood that was larger than the buoy and wrapped pool noodles around it's perimeter. On this mooring the mooring lines attached to the buoy through a loop on top, I just put that loop through a slot in the plywood and attached the lines above it. Worked great, the boat just bumped against the soft noodle and no damage was done. Quiet too, without the ring the steel buoy made a lot of noise when it banged the hull. I had to make another one every year, if I was doing it now I'd try the pvc sheet from Home Depot. Comes in 3/8"x4'x8' I believe. Other guys there had variations on the theme, one welded up a spoked ring in aluminum, another used a bicycle tire and rim. My prior idea was carpet draped over the buoy, that didn't work at all. The marina has since switched to plastic buoys so the protection is no longer as critical.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by SeawingsHK

Hello

(Please let me know if this is well discussed and on another thread)

I am going to put my Beneteau 45 on a swinging mooring with a large mooring buoy in a drum shape. The Beneteau's hull is dark blue.

I'm told by other owners on the moorings the boats hit the buoy a lot as they move between tides / winds and it causes damage overtime. A number of other mooring buoys have polystyrene somehow attached around the rim.

I thought I'd see if anyone on the forum knew of methods or products to solve this that is better than polystyrene.

Thanks

Matt

Hi, you could consider replacing the large buoy with a smaller buoy that is designed to be picked up when moored and stored on deck, if the mooring is too heavy for the smaller buoy to support then add a longer rope to it to facilitate retrieval. Of course you can only do this if you are the owner of the mooring.

[Pegu Club]

One can purchase mooring “balls” that are padded/soft sided, that will mitigate any potential damage, we did so when we were in a mooring field in Pine island bay, next to the Thames river in Groton Ct. they work quite well, have a look at Defender Marines offerings,

Fair winds,

[mlydon]

Much depends on the local. I’m in 15ft of water on the Hudson. The constant current changes, etc, really tangle up pennants coming off a ball. The few who use them to float chain use Taylor round (ball) fenders. I don’t bother. My pendants are 20 ft long, and I have pickup sticks on each pendant with about 6 ft of light line to the loop. When I’m off the mooring, the chain and swivel are on the bottom, and the pendants are held vertically by the pickup sticks. When I’m on the mooring, the length is just long enough that the pendants are out of the mud. Picking up the mooring, I only have to lift up a few feet of chain off the bottom (important, as I’m using 3/4” top chain, a 1” swivel, anD some honkin shackles = heavy) to make all fast. If you’re in deep water, you’ll HAVE to float your chain - try the round Taylors, sized just big enough that you only have a hemisphere above water - they’re soft, and won’t bang up your boat.

Matt

[SeawingsHK]

Thank you all for the ideas. I do own the mooring but government regulates the type so won't change the buoy. I'll try to explore some of the ideas and protect it with padding. Thanks again.

[JPA Cate]

mining truck inner tube?

Ann

[Miss Daisy]

Hi SeawingsHK,
I feel your pain and understand the challenges here in HK. I would try to measure up the mooring buoy and have someone fabricate a PVC sleeve with some padding inside, leaving a hole in the middle for the spinner and lines. It's not ideal but at least will offer some protection from the buoy and I reckon will be better than the cut down car tyres or pool noodles most people use. Keep the measurements though as expect you'll probably only get a couple of years out of a covering.
Good luck!

[wrwakefield]

I have successfully used stand-offs fashioned from the likes of schedule 40 PVC pipe or schedule 80 plastic conduit (e.g., 1.5-2" size)

e.g., Cut a 10ft length in half (or whatever length you need), chamfer the sharp corners (ID and OD) so they won't chafe the line, run your mooring lines through the pipe to the boat bow cleats.

In my case, I ran individual mooring lines through the mooring eye (with chafe protection on each line) back to the same cleat on each of 2 bow cleats. (Two seperate lines and stand-offs.)

Pass the 2 lines going to the same cleat though one stand-off (or one line inside with the returning line outside of the stand-off). Adjust lines to keep pipe semi-tight between boat and buoy.

Run additional lazy (slack) mooring line(s) without stand-offs if desired.

In case this is useful.

Cheers, Bill

PS: Edit: If the mooring float is large enough (like some of the commercial ones we see in Alaska) you might be able to use fenderboards amidships with taught bow and stern springlines to the buoy to keep the boat in place.

[team karst]

Good timing. Today, in my endless quest to solve a shallow mooring: I have a couple empty jugs lifting up the mooring chain. The jugs remain 4’ underwater. That was necessary to avoid the chain from getting trapped under the mooring block corners. The u/w jugs cant now contact the hull. The bow bridle keeps the mooring well centered, even with the reversing/ fighting wind and current.

[team karst]

Closeup of mooring/ lionfish habitat.
Those jugs are 4 ft underwater, the concrete is around 7’ deep. Lionfish at 7 o’clock