Mooring Rode Cut, Help remedying

[skipmac]

If you can't go with a real mooring like a large mushroom or helical then you need a larger anchor and all chain from anchor to the ring on the ball where you will attach two mooring lines to the boat.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Wannabes00n

Hello,

About two weeks back a boat partner of mine received an alarming call from the Coast Guard at 9:30pm. Our J24 was adrift and had just floated by their dock. Fortunately at first light she was found fairly safe high and dry on sand/mud/shell not far from the Coast Guard Station. no readily discernable damage was found except pride of course. Without much ado we were able to pull her off at the following high tide.

We are trying to dissect how she came to be adrift. The boat lives in the municipal mooring field about a 1/4 mile W from the CG dock here in Charleston. We had a 24 lb anchor on the bottom which I thought was more than enough for this relatively light boat. 12 feet of chain from the anchor to shackle and then 30-40 feet of rode from the shackle to another shackle attached to a mooring ball. Max depth is probably 16 feet on a big tide but again pretty light boat. A 10 painter from the mooring ball secured the boat to the bottom. The boat was found with ball still attached and shackle still on ball. No anchor line in sight.

You can see the boat well from a bridge and often times I would see the boat "sailed" over the mooring meaning the line must be up under the keel. My thoughts are the probably excessive growth on the bottom sliced the rode. Perhaps a passing boater could have somehow sliced the rode between ball and the chain on a low tide.

Any thoughts on this? Any thoughts on how to prevent the boat from "sailing" up over a mooring while being a ideally good neighbor in a public mooring field? I dont believe someone intentionally cut us but this is possible.

Thanks for your expertise,

Richard

I didn't see thimbles mentioned?

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Wannabes00n

Hello,

About two weeks back a boat partner of mine received an alarming call from the Coast Guard at 9:30pm. Our J24 was adrift and had just floated by their dock. Fortunately at first light she was found fairly safe high and dry on sand/mud/shell not far from the Coast Guard Station. no readily discernable damage was found except pride of course. Without much ado we were able to pull her off at the following high tide.

We are trying to dissect how she came to be adrift. The boat lives in the municipal mooring field about a 1/4 mile W from the CG dock here in Charleston. We had a 24 lb anchor on the bottom which I thought was more than enough for this relatively light boat. 12 feet of chain from the anchor to shackle and then 30-40 feet of rode from the shackle to another shackle attached to a mooring ball. Max depth is probably 16 feet on a big tide but again pretty light boat. A 10 painter from the mooring ball secured the boat to the bottom. The boat was found with ball still attached and shackle still on ball. No anchor line in sight.

You can see the boat well from a bridge and often times I would see the boat "sailed" over the mooring meaning the line must be up under the keel. My thoughts are the probably excessive growth on the bottom sliced the rode. Perhaps a passing boater could have somehow sliced the rode between ball and the chain on a low tide.

Any thoughts on this? Any thoughts on how to prevent the boat from "sailing" up over a mooring while being a ideally good neighbor in a public mooring field? I dont believe someone intentionally cut us but this is possible.

Thanks for your expertise,

Richard

I've moored two boats (San Juan 28 and Tayana Vancouver 42) since 1995 to a buoy 24/7/365 in Puget Sound.

As your boat was found with the buoy and shackle attached my guess is that the shackle pin (the other side of the shackle) backed out...was it moused with stainless steel wire? That is a common problem with shackles and was one of the first upgrades on my mooring system; use the largest shackle possible and mouse it. You didn't say how long since deployment of the system this occurred but it doesn't take long for the threads on the shackle to rust away and the pin to back out.

Now, if the buoy bottom shackle pin is still in place then the attachment knot came undone. After twice losing a leg of my three-legged system over the first few years I switched from using a professional Eye Splice with thimble to a Fisherman's Bend knot with thimble and have not had a problem. While eye splices have 90-95% effectiveness and the Fisherman's Bend 76%, the quality of the splice is all important...I can tie a good Fisherman's Bend.

I service my three-legged system every three years completely replacing the center bridle and all shackles...my mooring expense over 25 years is very, very low.

Your 24lb. anchor is sufficient but is it compatible with the bottom. All three of mine are traditional steel fluke Danforth type and work well with the mud bottom. I would use a 7 to 1 ratio for the total rode (16x7-112')...you have 12+40(?)+10=62'. Each leg of my system is 308' for a tidal depth of up to 40'.

Over time I have been surprised by the amount of sea growth on the lines...that's a good thing as it adds a natural forming kellet weight to the line keeping the anchor imbedded in the bottom. The down side is that after enough years you can forget about the practicality of ever retrieving that line.

Lastly, keep a record of what you use, dates of servicing, and some photos.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by MJH

As your boat was found with the buoy and shackle attached my guess is that the shackle pin (the other side of the shackle) backed out...was it moused with stainless steel wire? That is a common problem with shackles and was one of the first upgrades on my mooring system; use the largest shackle possible and mouse it.

Definitely a common mistake, and good advice, but his post seemed to suggest a rode failure.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

Definitely a common mistake, and good advice, but his post seemed to suggest a rode failure.

Maybe redundant, but no mention of a thimble If the rode only had an eye splice. It would quickly chafe through.

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Maybe redundant, but no mention of a thimble If the rode only had an eye splice. It would quickly chafe through.

Yea, my advice was focused on how to make a safe mooring in future, but you're right, we really should find out what went wrong with his current set up.

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by Wannabes00n

...we "anchored" a mooring ball and then tied off the boat to the mooring ball so we did not have to take anchor everytime we sail.........

Hmmmm.......What exactly do you do for brakes on your boat if you leave the anchor behind? Say some part of your rudder gear self destructs as you're coming into the channel and you lose all steering. Now you're adrift, with the wind and waves cheerfully pushing you towards the break water. No way to stop the unfolding disaster without your anchor.

A 24# anchor is a breeze to pull up and small enough to stow easily.

For me an anchor is like an American Express card. Never leave home without it.

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Nani Kai

Hmmmm.......What exactly do you do for brakes on your boat if you leave the anchor behind? Say some part of your rudder gear self destructs as you're coming into the channel and you lose all steering. Now you're adrift, with the wind and waves cheerfully pushing you towards the break water. No way to stop the unfolding disaster without your anchor.

A 24# anchor is a breeze to pull up and small enough to stow easily.

For me an anchor is like an American Express card. Never leave home without it.

Yea, the thought crossed my mind too. I used to do the same as him, kind of, leaving my main behind (which was working as a stern anchor) attached to my mooring and dinghy when I went sailing. But my #2 anchor was in the roller and ready to go if I needed it.
It is definitely ill advised to go sailing with no anchor at all.

[JimsCAL]

You need a real mooring, A 24 lb. anchor does not qualify. Not even close. A mushroom mooring for a boat like a J24 would be about 250lbs, with 1/2 inch lower chain, 3/8 inch upper chain, with total scope of at least 3 to 1 going to the mooring ball. A mooring can be made up using two or three extra heavy anchors spread out in a circular pattern, connected by chain to a central point, with a chain going from that point to the mooring ball. A third option is a helical screw mooring.

Check out www.mushroommooring.com for lots of good info on how to put together a proper mooring.

[Shaneesprit]

Hmm
Get a tractor wheel with the tire on and inflated
Set a 1inch eye to the wheel, you can use a 1 inch chain
Then with the wheel on the beach looking like a bowl and the loop out of the top fill it with concrete - now you have a mooring block with some buoyancy.
It may or may not float at this point, when the concrete is dry take it to your mooring position, attach a shackle and 5 meters of 1 inch chain and another shackle lock both shackles with stainless locking wire. ONLY use branded lifting shackles.
Now you need to know the Maximum possible height of water? Add 2 meters to this number, and attach a chain and a swivel to the buoy. Now you have a mooring!

Forgot to add - obviously you have. To slash the tire to ensure it sinks

Personally my riser chain is 3/4 Inch as are my shackles. 8m CAT so 2500KG boat.
My ropes from boat to buoy are over an inch thick, and personally my swivel is at the top just under the buoy.

Then always have a heavy gauge rope from buoy to boat, well not one but two as the first one on the anchor roller will often fail without warning.

I have never heard anyone use an anchor as a mooring with a buoy like that.

[Shaneesprit]

My mooring is very shallow but it’s on an 8 meter tide so I can see it at low side - as it’s professionally fitted - I don’t need the tire
But I have to inspect it every year - if it’s deep that’s also a professional job

That’s over 3ft in diameter and at least 1ft thick

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Shaneesprit

Attachment 217345

My mooring is very shallow but it’s on an 8 meter tide so I can see it at low side - as it’s professionally fitted - I don’t need the tire
But I have to inspect it every year - if it’s deep that’s also a professional job

Yup, but that is way more than the scope you suggested in the previous post. A mooring scope should be 3:1.

[Shaneesprit]

I have 5 meters of ground chain
and 10 meters of Riser

That’s 15meters on an 8 meter ride plus 2 for the waves
You don’t need 3:1 on a block, but that would be a minimum on a anchor.
That was professionally installed and all moorings location are approved by a club and checked by the harbour master - although the mooring and equipment is mine. You can’t put a boat on it until it’s inspected every year - can only use April - September

If I had 3:1 I would hit another boat, for me personally I think the 5 meter ground chain is to long but that’s the standard.

[Captn_Black]

"Now you need to know the Maximum possible height of water? Add 2 meters to this number, and attach a chain and a swivel to the buoy. Now you have a mooring!"



Then why did you suggest this for OP? Your situation may be different, but in his case it would result in him pulling up and dragging the mooring.

[Cadence]

A 24# anchor is a lunch hook not a mooring.