Mooring Buoy Aid

K

ktcanuck

New Member
Sep 13, 2010
275
1000 Islands Ontario
Boat Info
'96 420 Aft Cabin
2012 310 Merc RIB/2011 9.9Merc2S
Engines
420 3126 Cats.
I boat in 1000 Islands area of New York/Ontario. Mostly we anchor out but we often pick up a mooring can. My last boat, a 30 foot express cruiser, allowed us to do this easily by passing a long line aft to the swim platform where the buoy could be easily reached and the line threaded through. A walk back to the bow and the boat was secured.

My current boat is an aft cabin where it is not easy to pass a line aft to the swim platform and then return it to the bow. There are a number of devices to permit the threading of the line through the buoy ring. This site shows some of them:

http://sites.google.com/site/yachtind/our-competitors

A couple I like, especially the one who is confidently hosting links to competitors since he uses the mooring line itself rather than an intermediary light line. But I can find nothing for sale here in the US/Canada.

None of these are perfect but a couple will work for me. Does anyone know where such devices can be found here in North America, or do you have a better mouse-trap to solve this issue? My search has been fruitless so far.

Keith
 
why not just put a competent person on the bow and hook the mooring like that......the only time i hook a mooring ball from the stern and walk to bow is when i am alone
 
wetpaint said:
why not just put a competent person on the bow and hook the mooring like that......the only time i hook a mooring ball from the stern and walk to bow is when i am alone
Click to expand...

Because the bow is too high for someone to safely reach down and connect to the ring.
 
Ah, I take it these mooring buoys do not have pennants attached. In New England, public moorings are equipped with pennants, so it is just a matter of using a boat hook. The lack of a pennant does complicate things. I can't say that any of these products instills any confidence. Our boat is roughly the same size as yours and lives on a mooring all season. I wouldn't use any of the devices shown for anything other than a lunchtime stop over, and certainly not for an overnight. The mooring ball threader looks like a good idea, if mooring balls in your part of the world come with rings the size of a basketball hoop. Otherwise it would probably be a oneway ticket to divorce court!

Sorry I can't help on this one.
Henry
 
Looks like a cool hook. I like the idea, it seems make the job easy.
 
Right, There is no pennant to make the job easy. There is a ring on top of the float which sits about a foot off the water.

The one I like best so far is this:

http://sites.google.com/site/yachtind/product---threader

I want a device to help pass my mooring line through the ring when all is done. Having been caught in a microburst at anchor (my Bruce held!) there will be no half measures. If I can't find anything here I will order overseas.
 
Never saw anything like that one.....pretty cool, if it works. I had to watch the video a couple times just to figure out what the hell the thing does.
 
Henry Boyd said:
Ah, I take it these mooring buoys do not have pennants attached. In New England, public moorings are equipped with pennants, so it is just a matter of using a boat hook. The lack of a pennant does complicate things. I can't say that any of these products instills any confidence. Our boat is roughly the same size as yours and lives on a mooring all season. I wouldn't use any of the devices shown for anything other than a lunchtime stop over, and certainly not for an overnight. The mooring ball threader looks like a good idea, if mooring balls in your part of the world come with rings the size of a basketball hoop. Otherwise it would probably be a oneway ticket to divorce court!

Sorry I can't help on this one.
Henry
Click to expand...

Not trying to be smart a$$ but I can't help but point this out... The OP has 420 Aft Cabin, roughly? :huh:

:grin:
 
JimG said:
Not trying to be smart a$$ but I can't help but point this out... The OP has 420 Aft Cabin, roughly? :huh:

:grin:
Click to expand...

Geez there's always one in every group, pick, pick, pick. Its just details.

But seriously, I focused on; "My last boat, a 30 foot express cruiser,....". That being the case, I'm now definitely sure none of the clip on gizmos are sufficient for a 420 aft cabin. Our little 280 is required to have two 3/4" pennants in the bow on 3/8" top and 1/2" bottom chain. None of that hardware looks even close to being equivalent to a 1/2" shackle.




Henry
 
I think I may have an easier solution, one we've used for years, and it doesn't require any fancy tools.

Run a line from your boat cleat all the way back along one side of your boat to a cleat at the stern. Have an 8"-9" carininer clip on that end of the line that you fasten it to the stern cleat with. When it's time to moor, you approach the buoy and bring it alongside the stern. The person at the stern simply reaches over and clips the caribiner to the mooring bit. The you back the boat down so the boat is away from the mooring bit. It's important to use floating line for this.

When you're ready to leave, moor forward so the mooring bit is again back at the swim platform. Have your first mate just reach out and unclip the caribiner from the mooring bit and fasten it to the stern cleat. You're now ready to leave.

GW and I have used one of these lines for years and it's very easy.

GFC
 
Gofirstclass said:
I think I may have an easier solution, one we've used for years, and it doesn't require any fancy tools.

Run a line from your boat cleat all the way back along one side of your boat to a cleat at the stern. Have an 8"-9" carininer clip on that end of the line that you fasten it to the stern cleat with. When it's time to moor, you approach the buoy and bring it alongside the stern. The person at the stern simply reaches over and clips the caribiner to the mooring bit. The you back the boat down so the boat is away from the mooring bit. It's important to use floating line for this.

When you're ready to leave, moor forward so the mooring bit is again back at the swim platform. Have your first mate just reach out and unclip the caribiner from the mooring bit and fasten it to the stern cleat. You're now ready to leave.

GW and I have used one of these lines for years and it's very easy.

GFC
Click to expand...

That is an approach I hadn't thought of, thanks.

northern said:
We have one of these. It works well.
Simple to use fits on end an alminium pole normally used for pushing off dock.
http://shop.catalinaowners.com/detail.htm?group=802
Click to expand...

I have looked at these and they will work but I am hoping to eliminate the need for an extra line. These are available in USA at least. Thank you.
 
Henry Boyd said:
Geez there's always one in every group, pick, pick, pick. Its just details.

But seriously, I focused on; "My last boat, a 30 foot express cruiser,....". That being the case, I'm now definitely sure none of the clip on gizmos are sufficient for a 420 aft cabin. Our little 280 is required to have two 3/4" pennants in the bow on 3/8" top and 1/2" bottom chain. None of that hardware looks even close to being equivalent to a 1/2" shackle.




Henry
Click to expand...


Henry,
The large snap hooks that are available from Wichard are very strong. We use one whenever we bareboat in the BVI's as mooring is now more common there than anchoring. We have never had one fail even in heavy winds. If fact, we connected a 43' sailboat to a mooring eye with the Wichard hook when hurricane Omar hit the islands in 2008. The boat was still there in the morning. We ALWAYS run at least one other line to the mooring just to be sure but the Wichard hook on a 5/8" line has never failed. This is the one we use.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|2186|312065&id=125980
 
JimT said:
Henry,
The large snap hooks that are available from Wichard are very strong. We use one whenever we bareboat in the BVI's as mooring is now more common there than anchoring. We have never had one fail even in heavy winds. If fact, we connected a 43' sailboat to a mooring eye with the Wichard hook when hurricane Omar hit the islands in 2008. The boat was still there in the morning. We ALWAYS run at least one other line to the mooring just to be sure but the Wichard hook on a 5/8" line has never failed. This is the one we use.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|2186|312065&id=125980
Click to expand...

How do you remotely remove these from the buoy on departure?
 
We have only used the snap hook on moorings that have pennants that are long enough to pull onto the deck to attach and disconnect. When we attached to mooring eye we used the dinghy to run forward and attach and release after we were secured to the pennant.

This website shoow a quick release line that can be used in conjunction with a boat hook.

http://www.proboat.co.uk/item.asp?n...Anchoring_Mooring&dep=1&prod_id=438&cat_id=24#
 
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