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What mooring line length should you have for a 48ft narrow boat?


Piran

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23 minutes ago, Piran said:

I am trying to choose between 10m and 12m for my stern and bow mooring lines - any advice ? 

Assuming you wish to moor correctly and minimise movement when boats come past - You need both lines to go out at 45 degrees (forwards and backwards) and you also need two lines for 'springs', the length of these will depend on circumstances but if you get 2x the same length as the boat it should cover most instances.

 

My boat is 36 feet and I have 2x 12 metre lines and 2x 15 metre lines.

 

Your lines should go from the boat, around the pin / ring / bollard & back to the boat and be tied off on the boat. If you are mooring on rings or bollards You should be able to 'leave the mooring' without getting off the boat.

 

The Thames: Hermitage Community Moorings | Wanderlust

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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21 minutes ago, Piran said:

I am trying to choose between 10m and 12m for my stern and bow mooring lines - any advice ? 

Either of those should do the job. But when you go proper boating you will need a selection of ropes/lines. You can never have too many ropes. I suggest you get the basic mooring lines and also buy a long length of rope between 12mm and 14 mm diameter. Experience will soon tell you the lengths you will need to suit your type of boating needs.  

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I'm on a roll tonight - before all the h'experts tell me I'm talking cahones.

Alan's scheme is fine for 'proper' boats with loadsa' freeboard where you can get  two line fore and  aft. On a NB that's quite a challenge.

IME I fi dind trying to moor any where on CRTs towpath is a nighmare unless you moor using the copious amounts of ArmCo stuff. In which case the Y springs need to be shorter.

 

"INCOMING"

 

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2 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

I'm on a roll tonight - before all the h'experts tell me I'm talking cahones.

Alan's scheme is fine for 'proper' boats with loadsa' freeboard where you can get  two line fore and  aft. On a NB that's quite a challenge.

IME I fi dind trying to moor any where on CRTs towpath is a nighmare unless you moor using the copious amounts of ArmCo stuff. In which case the Y springs need to be shorter.

 

"INCOMING"

 

 

I have never found it a problem to moor a NB correctly, you simply adapt.

 

If you look on C&RTs website, that is how they explain to moor a NARROWBOAT

 

 

 

Also check the website "Narrow boating for beginners", where they show this illustration on the page "overnight mooring"

 

 

Mooring – Page 3 – Narrowboating for Beginners

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6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I have never found it a problem to moor a NB correctly, you simply adapt.

 

If you look on C&RTs website, that is how they explain to moor a NARROWBOAT

 

 

 

Also check the website "Narrow boating for beginners", where they show this illustration on the page "overnight mooring"

 

 

Mooring – Page 3 – Narrowboating for Beginners

Ferzakerly!!

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1 hour ago, OldGoat said:

I'm on a roll tonight - before all the h'experts tell me I'm talking cahones.

Alan's scheme is fine for 'proper' boats with loadsa' freeboard where you can get  two line fore and  aft. On a NB that's quite a challenge.

IME I fi dind trying to moor any where on CRTs towpath is a nighmare unless you moor using the copious amounts of ArmCo stuff. In which case the Y springs need to be shorter.

 

"INCOMING"

 

The problem when mooring up most narrowboats is because they only have a T stud and 2 dollies. Mooring rings on the towpath are usually in the wrong place! The solution is to fit extra fittings to the boat to secure lines to.   

 

Compare Alan's drawings on his post #3 and post #9

Edited by PhilR
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I have never found it a problem to moor a NB correctly, you simply adapt.

 

If you look on C&RTs website, that is how they explain to moor a NARROWBOAT

 

 

 

Also check the website "Narrow boating for beginners", where they show this illustration on the page "overnight mooring"

 

 

Mooring – Page 3 – Narrowboating for Beginners

The slight problem with the mooring lines shown is that they represent a considerable trip hazard for people getting on and off if you choose to have a spring at both bow and stern. Personally I tend to just have the spring at the stern and tell people to get off at the front. Yes the bow will move out slightly, but on a 60' boat securely moored at the stern, the movement is hardly worth worrying about.

Edited by Wanderer Vagabond
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2 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

The slight problem with the mooring lines shown is that they represent a considerable trip hazard for people getting on and off if you choose to have a spring at both bow and stern. Personally I tend to just have the spring at the stern and tell people to get off at the front. Yes the bow will move out slightly, but on a 60' boat securely moored at the stern, the movement  hardly worth worrying about.

But compare that with the drawing on Alan's post #3. And visualise the springs attached to the boat where they don't impede access to the boat.

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I have never found it a problem to moor a NB correctly, you simply adapt.

 

If you look on C&RTs website, that is how they explain to moor a NARROWBOAT

 

 

 

Also check the website "Narrow boating for beginners", where they show this illustration on the page "overnight mooring"

 

 

Mooring – Page 3 – Narrowboating for Beginners

Maybe I am getting a bit thick, but I don't understand this. There is a forward running front line at 45 degrees, and a rearwards running back line at 45 degrees, assuming the boat is moored moderately tight to a good bank what purpose do the inwards running lines serve apart from creating a trip hazard???.

 

And the "tie your boat up properly" people always insist on springs, but these ropes are not springs, which way is correct? 99% of the time I use just a single rope at each end and often leave a bit of slack in them, will I go to Hell ?

 

.......Dave

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1 minute ago, dmr said:

Maybe I am getting a bit thick, but I don't understand this. There is a forward running front line at 45 degrees, and a rearwards running back line at 45 degrees, assuming the boat is moored moderately tight to a good bank what purpose do the inwards running lines serve apart from creating a trip hazard???.

 

And the "tie your boat up properly" people always insist on springs, but these ropes are not springs, which way is correct? 99% of the time I use just a single rope at each end and often leave a bit of slack in them, will I go to Hell ?

 

.......Dave

You didn't read post #3 from Alan?

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3 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

And the "tie your boat up properly" people always insist on springs, but these ropes are not springs, which way is correct? 99% of the time I use just a single rope at each end and often leave a bit of slack in them, will I go to Hell ?

 

.......Dave

I doubt if you will go to hell, with slack in the rope you will experience more movement of the boat.

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2 minutes ago, PhilR said:

You didn't read post #3 from Alan?

But post #3 is talking about springs which are generally impractical on a narrowboat, but Alan does not have a narrowboat and he is telling us how to moor a sea going boat, which is exactly what I used to do with a sailing boat, but something I very rarely do with our narrowboat ?.

 

 

..................Dave

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15 minutes ago, PhilR said:

But compare that with the drawing on Alan's post #3. And visualise the springs attached to the boat where they don't impede access to the boat.

I'm thinking more of the average narrowboat which doesn't have 4 bollards at the back and 3 at the front, for which the second diagram is more realistic. I have two bollards at the stern and a T-bar at the bow, so any spring at the stern is going to be tied to the same bollard as the rear pulling mooring line.

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

But post #3 is talking about springs which are generally impractical on a narrowboat, but Alan does not have a narrowboat and he is telling us how to moor a sea going boat, which is exactly what I used to do with a sailing boat, but something I very rarely do with our narrowboat ?.

 

 

..................Dave

Likewise.

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3 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I'm thinking more of the average narrowboat which doesn't have 4 bollards at the back and 3 at the front, for which the second diagram is more realistic. I have two bollards at the stern and a T-bar at the bow, so any spring at the stern is going to be tied to the same bollard as the rear pulling mooring line.

I'm not suggesting extra *bollards* That would be a trip hazard in itself! Probably best if I send some photos tomorrow?

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To answer the OP, the length of mooring line does not really depend on the length of the boat as they just go from the t-stud to the bank etc. If you are going to do a fair bit of boating then a few spare ropes are a really good idea, so get two shorter ones and two longer ones. Spares are good because you will not be in a mess if one gets stolen or mangled in the prop, and on the rare occasions when you need to do the spring thing you will have a rope to do it with.  Having two centre lines one each side can also be really useful especially if you have bags of coal stored on the roof (or spare toilets, sodden old mattresses, broken generators, discarded bikes and unseasoned firewood ?)

 

...............Dave

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28 minutes ago, Jerra said:

I doubt if you will go to hell, with slack in the rope you will experience more movement of the boat.

And if a big boat goes past you even at 1mph you will bounce.

Lines at right angles to boat cause a hell of a bounce when we pass them, especially on nappy pins. 
Hence the response ‘friday’

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Just now, roland elsdon said:

And if a big boat goes past you even at 1mph you will bounce.

Lines at right angles to boat cause a hell of a bounce when we pass them, especially on nappy pins. 
Hence the response ‘friday’

From my observations with slack rope at less than 45° it doesn't need to be very big.

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20 minutes ago, dmr said:

But post #3 is talking about springs which are generally impractical on a narrowboat, but Alan does not have a narrowboat and he is telling us how to moor a sea going boat, which is exactly what I used to do with a sailing boat, but something I very rarely do with our narrowboat ?.

 

 

..................Dave

Springs (not necessarily 'full length' ) are easy to achieve on a NB, I have had about a dozen NBs and never not been able to adapt the principle of spring lines using the T-Stud and the dolly. Ideally you'd have cleats on the bow and stern extremities but you have to use what you have.

last time we had the dicussion (a few weeks ago) several forum member posted pictures of how they'd fitted bollards or cleats onto their bow, just F'wd of the cabin.

 

Spring lines should be run as near to parallel to the boat as possible and will stop surging forwards and backwards.

Bow and stern lines are at more of an angle and stop the bow or stern swinging out.

 

Combining the two stop forward and backwards movement and the bow and stern swinging out - effectively the boat is 'locked' in a cradle offering very little movement.

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