Mooring buoy technique/protection

[mikedefieslife]

It seems the French islands like to have large tall mooring buoys with big steel (often rusty) rings on the top.

I tend to take a mooring by taking a line from each bow cleat, looping through the eye of the mooring, then back to its original cleat.

I presume this is what most people do. As a multihull owner then, how do you stop the mooring ball going underneath the boat then having the steel ring smash on the underside of the hull each time it rises and falls?

I had this all night last night, with gouges and scratches out of the paintwork. I think some monohullers had a similar issue as I saw three other people at the bows of their boats trying to fend off the overly excited moorings.

[slug]

Don’t tie to big steel mooring bouys

There is no way to defend

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

It seems the French islands like to have large tall mooring buoys with big steel (often rusty) rings on the top.



I tend to take a mooring by taking a line from each bow cleat, looping through the eye of the mooring, then back to its original cleat.



I presume this is what most people do. As a multihull owner then, how do you stop the mooring ball going underneath the boat then having the steel ring smash on the underside of the hull each time it rises and falls?



I had this all night last night, with gouges and scratches out of the paintwork. I think some monohullers had a similar issue as I saw three other people at the bows of their boats trying to fend off the overly excited moorings.

Shorten your two mooring lines. They already should be short enough that each one doesn’t allow the mooring to reach the other hull (each one less than the distance between your hulls). Since it sounds like your bridgedeck is closer to your bows than the distance between the hulls, shorten each mooring line even more until the mooring can’t reach your bridgedeck either.

This drawing attempts to draw to desired result. Sorry, I’m not an artist.

[Tin Tin]

I agree with fxykty we used this technique all all mooring buoys, not just steel eyed ones. Some folks who are strong enough bring the buoy on deck and put up with the mess. The slight downside it that the catenary spring effect of longer mooring lines is lessened, but usually not a big deal. If the mooring ball is at maximum stretch at high tide/swells then also a potential problem. We have seen some mooring balls submerged on king tides.

[Toccata]

The other problem with having the boy onboard is the loss of the buoyancy effect of the mooring ball itself.
When the chain is stretched out on todays short scope moorings, the buoyancy (of the mooring ball) replaces the catenary affect of the long chain by having to be pulled under water at full stretch of a mooring line. (I think this is a correct interpretation?)

[malbert73]

That could be an issue but in heavy conditions when you need catenary effect it won’t hit your boat. with my “outdated” raked bow I have an easier time than plumb bowed monohulls- I just cinch up the ball tight under the tip of bow. If breeze comes up I release my line and drift back to use full mooring tether.
This of course doesn’t work if you are leaving the boat on a mooring long term

[mikedefieslife]

The problem I had is bows don't really stick out past the centre birdgedeck any more than 15cm.

I had a night of no banging last night. Super tight mooring lines, then a line around the hulls preventing the buoy from going underneath, and a big fender stretched across.

Fortunately I leaving today.

[Tin Tin]

Did not realize till now that OP has a Prout 35, yes that mooring would be a PITA. If you are headed to USA you will have a large number of strong tide against wind mooring fields in east coast where mooring balls rarely stay in front of the boat for very long.