Mooring pendants are hitting anchor - Sundancer 260

paulns

New Member
Jan 21, 2016
2
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Boat Info
2012 Sundancer 260
Engines
350 Mercruiser w/Bravo III
I have been using a mooring for years and have always had an issue with the mooring pendants hitting the anchor on my Sundancer 260. I have tied the pendants together about 8ft from the eyes to effectively shorten the pendants so that when the boat swings in the wind they do not get fouled in the anchor. They still hit the anchor so I have to watch for chafe but they do not get hooked up in the anchor any longer. I have added some hose over the pendants to manage the chafe.
I have recently changed my mooring ball to a Taylor Made one where the mooring chain comes up through the center of the ball and the pendants attach at the top of the ball instead of the more traditional method where they are attached below the ball. This should lesson the issue of tangled pendants during calm weather.
This has unfortunately worsened the issue of pendants hitting the anchor. In fact, they are now getting caught up in the anchor as the pendants are more horizontal now that they begin a few feet above the waterline with this new bouy. Any amount of wind or sea makes this worse.

I was thinking of adding a line attached to the bow eye (traditionally used for a trailer winch line) that would hook over both pendants while they are still attached to their cleats to keep them below the level of the anchor. Maybe using a large ss carabeener?? This would put some pressure on the bow eye but I'm thinking not too much?

Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a solution? Removing the anchor is a pain and I really only want to do that when there is a storm forecast.
Any issue with using the bow eye? Any better ideas??

Thanks

Paul
 

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No issue with using the bow eye. Most who use the bow eye to moor or anchor attach their snubber to the bow eye and hook the snubber directly to the pendant. When unhooking and setting out underway, simply hook the end of the snubber to a fixture on deck and leave the other end on the bow eye. This is done all the time on larger trawlers and the like that have a high bow in order to have their attachment point to the boat several feet lower thus reducing scope in an anchorage.
 
What about lengthening the pendant so it's angle remains lower towards the water?
When we take a mooring I put at least twenty feet between the boat and mooring ball.
Just a thought.
 
For some reason your anchor chute seems absurdly long in that photo. That could be part of the issue. The pendents could also be too long. The longer they are, the more horizontal they will be and therefore catch the anchor. Perhaps dramatically shortening them will help. I know that one year I installed a nice set of long pendants and it cause a lot of issues with the boat swinging around too much.

Here’s a photo of my 270 AJ at its mooring. You can see that the pendants are much shorter than yours. This setup worked very well for the 11 years I was on a mooring.

upload_2022-8-1_9-42-10.jpeg


As to the bow eye, my in-laws did this for years with their 270 DA. They used a bronze snap hook to the pendant. I don’t recall exactly how they went through the process of hooking it up, because it was beyond arms reach from the bow.
 
As to the bow eye, my in-laws did this for years with their 270 DA. They used a bronze snap hook to the pendant. I don’t recall exactly how they went through the process of hooking it up, because it was beyond arms reach from the bow.

The larger boats just leave it on the eye and attach the other end to the forward deck somewhere when not in use. Maybe they did that.
Nordhavn-47-Seabird-JMYS-Trawler-Listing-1.jpg
 
The larger boats just leave it on the eye and attach the other end to the forward deck somewhere when not in use. Maybe they did that.
View attachment 131446
That's a neat way to do it.

They did something different. He usually rowed out to his mooring and did an unhook/hook maneuver from the row boat. But I can't recall what he did in the interim. Doesn't really matter - they are in a slip now.
 
I have been using a mooring for years and have always had an issue with the mooring pendants hitting the anchor on my Sundancer 260. I have tied the pendants together about 8ft from the eyes to effectively shorten the pendants so that when the boat swings in the wind they do not get fouled in the anchor. They still hit the anchor so I have to watch for chafe but they do not get hooked up in the anchor any longer. I have added some hose over the pendants to manage the chafe.
I have recently changed my mooring ball to a Taylor Made one where the mooring chain comes up through the center of the ball and the pendants attach at the top of the ball instead of the more traditional method where they are attached below the ball. This should lesson the issue of tangled pendants during calm weather.
This has unfortunately worsened the issue of pendants hitting the anchor. In fact, they are now getting caught up in the anchor as the pendants are more horizontal now that they begin a few feet above the waterline with this new bouy. Any amount of wind or sea makes this worse.

I was thinking of adding a line attached to the bow eye (traditionally used for a trailer winch line) that would hook over both pendants while they are still attached to their cleats to keep them below the level of the anchor. Maybe using a large ss carabeener?? This would put some pressure on the bow eye but I'm thinking not too much?

Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a solution? Removing the anchor is a pain and I really only want to do that when there is a storm forecast.
Any issue with using the bow eye? Any better ideas??

Thanks

Paul

Your anchor is way forward as mentioned, but to simplify this, just extend the pennant(s) with another line while at that mooring. They look to be ~8' which is very tight. Get another line ~15-20' long and string it through the eyes of the pennants and attach it to your boat that way.
 

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