Mooring stakes

[magnetman]

If you can get them in deep enough with about a foot or less sticking out they are pretty good. I reckon one would normally be alright. 

 

 

[Quattrodave]

4 hours ago, IanD said:

It also helps to use a pair at each end, both at an angle leaning away from the boat but at right angles to each other and with the second one through the loop of the first one, with the rope through both loops. Helps stop them pulling out either from boat moving or scrotes... 😉

 

Defiantly! Used this method on the broads soft banks many years ago, works very well!!

[adam1uk]

4 hours ago, IanD said:

And to state the obvious, knock them in with the loop facing away from the boat so the rope goes behind the pin, then any stress is on the pin not the loop...

 

It also helps to use a pair at each end, both at an angle leaning away from the boat but at right angles to each other and with the second one through the loop of the first one, with the rope through both loops. Helps stop them pulling out either from boat moving or scrotes... 😉

You say it’s obvious, but I reckon more than fifty per cent of the stakes I see in use have the D towards the boat, and the rope being held only by it and not the stake itself.

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, adam1uk said:

You say it’s obvious, but I reckon more than fifty per cent of the stakes I see in use have the D towards the boat, and the rope being held only by it and not the stake itself.

 

I know -- I should have said it's obvious to anyone who thinks about it... 😉

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

8 hours ago, magnetman said:

My favourite overall are these ones

 

 

Quite hard to find but they are absolutely brilliant mooring pins. Sadly I don't have a surplus. 

 

 

One of the ones I have has STANDALL forged into it. Same company made road drill fittings I think. 

 

 

 

I also have these ones from the US via Keighley in Yorkshire. They did send 3 by courier for a decent price. 

 

 These are military Tirfor winch pins about 3ft long, used to secure winch holding plates into the ground. So may find them on Military Surplus sites.

[gatekrash]

8 hours ago, magnetman said:

Mooring pin porn 

 

 

39 inches long. And a bag!! 

 

 

They're identical to the ones we use in the coastguard for creating holdfasts for lowering people over the cliff.

 

First stake banged in at a 15 degree angle in line with where you want the strain, next stage banged in same angle about 2 foot behind it. Both stakes driven in to at least 3/4 of their length. Then run a strap from the top of the front stake (which is why they have the collar at the top) down to the foot of the rear stake and tighten.

 

To prove how good that setup is we have tried to jerk them out using a landy and they go nowhere, even in crap ground.

 

I've got a few on the boat and another pile in the garage, the coastguard tend to write them off once they've been driven through rock or stony ground - with enough work on the sledgehammer they will go through just about anything, but it bends the tips, which is when they get rid of them.

 

[cuthound]

2 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Depends on the canal... we've just come back on the Middlewich and it was so shallow there really wasn't a need to moor!

 

On my first visit to the Middlewich Branch back in the late 70's, I was just coming out of a bridge hole on a blind bend, when I was struck by a boat travelling so fast he couldn't stop. My stern had just exited the bridge ad he pushed my stern firmly into the the shallows, and proceeded through the bridge, leaving me stuck.

 

No amount of poling, moving crew to the front or revving would move the boat. I had to wait until some kind soul towed me off!

[MtB]

3 hours ago, magnetman said:

If you can get them in deep enough with about a foot or less sticking out they are pretty good. I reckon one would normally be alright. 

 

 

 

And I'd add to this, however much you manage to knock them in, always tie to the stake down at gorund level. More and more these days I'm noticing boats with mooring stakes knocked only about half way in and the line tied onto the very top of the stake! A guaranteed method of ensuring they get ripped out when the first speeding boat goes past. 

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, adam1uk said:

You say it’s obvious, but I reckon more than fifty per cent of the stakes I see in use have the D towards the boat, and the rope being held only by it and not the stake itself.

I go along with that

[Onewheeler]

12 hours ago, Mark R said:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185822030164?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=TnnhK9cHTTW&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=THaSCMSZQzq&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

I can’t imagine these would be good in hard ground but has anyone had any experience of them in softer ground?

They're only useful in undisturbed ground. They're great in turf over topsoil, difficult to get into gravelly stuff, and we've bent most of our set of four on first use (admittedly on a 35 T boat when a 400 T commercial passed).

Edited October 1, 2023 by Onewheeler

[ditchcrawler]

16 hours ago, adam1uk said:

You say it’s obvious, but I reckon more than fifty per cent of the stakes I see in use have the D towards the boat, and the rope being held only by it and not the stake itself.

between 46 and 50 seconds into this video for starters 

 

[magnetman]

Another potentially good mooring stake would be a goat or pony tethering stake. 

 

Goats will wander so unless one has good fencing a tether is wise. My mother used to keep goats yars ago but I never took the time to inspect the tethering post. I suspect it was quite a nice article. 

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

Talking of the incorrect use of mooring implements 

[magnetman]

Going back to mooring pins I found this one quite a number of yars ago in the Grand Union. It is a blacksmith forged item from wrought iron and quite a complex bit of work. The working end may be cast. 

 

I do wonder if this was actually boat related or perhaps a telegraph anchor screw. It was in the canal. 

 

It would have been a right bugger to screw in and out but the boat would not be going anywhere once done !

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

Going back to mooring pins I found this one quite a number of yars ago in the Grand Union. It is a blacksmith forged item from wrought iron and quite a complex bit of work. The working end may be cast. 

 

I do wonder if this was actually boat related or perhaps a telegraph anchor screw. It was in the canal. 

 

It would have been a right bugger to screw in and out but the boat would not be going anywhere once done !

 

 

I would say it was a pole anchor as you said 

[magnetman]

These look interesting 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jayzod-Securing-Animals-Canopies-Included/dp/B093BMRN19/ref=asc_df_B093BMRN19/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=518792915998&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17092901626509928721&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007326&hvtargid=pla-1339771865949&psc=1

 

 

18 inch ground screws with a 14mm socket at the top so they can be screwed in using a cordless drill. Then the top eye threads inside the 14mm hex head at the end. 

 

They aren't particularly large 9mm steel bar and 400mm depth but a couple of these each end would probably hold the boat in most ground conditions. 

 

Very handy to be able to use a power tool. 

 

 

Put two in line with the rope then fix them together with a piece of chain and shackles then tie boat to the closest one. 

 

Seems to be interesting. 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by magnetman
double post

[Phoenix_V]

On 01/10/2023 at 12:30, magnetman said:

Another thing I have used before is sawn off wrecking/aligning bars. Used to find a lot of them with the magnet. I still have 3 or 4 nice old blacksmith forged wrecking bars. The big ones about 5ft long. 

 

1.5m aligning bar £27. Cut the wedge orf with the angel grinder. Mind the peening though it will be sharp. Worth regularly dressing the cut end with a grinding disc. 

 

 

 

Never tried it but I do wonder if the answer in reality is to have a triangular steel plate with three holes and a ring in the middle. Hammer three pins into the holes right down to the plate then tie boat to ring. 

That way one could use shorter pins and get more grip. 

 

 

 

 

There were some hammer-in ground screws but not sure if they were available here I think it was a Dutch product. 

 

Looked quite interesting.

Spirafix that was it. 

These ones are designed to be inserted using a hammer not by twisting. Removal is by twisting. 

 

no

Available here with a better head https://www.spirafix.com/products/30mm-ground-anchors/anchor---spirafix-30mm-b-type/?Page_ID=3610&refpid=118741&id=900962. We have these and they are very good, you hammer them in  and they rotate as you hammer, the only problem is that the head tends to get damaged by the process of hammering them in.

[magnetman]

Yes I put the Spirafix up earlier in the thread. 

 

They do protector 'hammer caps' for them but they are quite expensive. 

 

These little screws with 14mm hex ends seem interesting but maybe only suited to smaller boats. The quiet installation is nice. 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

On 01/10/2023 at 09:31, Mark R said:

I’m just about to buy a set of new mooring stakes and wondered what people’s opinions were regarding the best design.

 

I was thinking of buying 2 straight ones and 2 with a single d loop so I can secure one with another at opposing angles. Would I be better buying 4 with ‘D’ loops instead, with the boat tied through two loops of both sides?

Returning to the OP’s original question. 
Id reckon for most Narrowboats on most canals then 4 stakes/pins with ‘D’ loops is sufficient if used correctly. 

🤷‍♀️

Genuine question, Where are people using these corkscrew style ground anchors and such like?

I can only imagine on Rivers where you might have more room to hammer such things a yard or more in from the bank. 

They seem a bit over the top for most Canal banks and look like they’d cause a whole lot of damage if used incorrectly (too close to the bank edge for instance). 

 

One memory of the KandA (I think around Pewsey) is a long stretch of bank broken apart with the use of stakes/pins. You could see the clear groove in the bank side left by the stake/pin. 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by beerbeerbeerbeerbeer

[magnetman]

45 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Returning to the OP’s original question. 
Id reckon for most Narrowboats on most canals then 4 stakes/pins with ‘D’ loops is sufficient if used correctly. 

🤷‍♀️

Genuine question, Where are people using these corkscrew style ground anchors and such like?

I can only imagine on Rivers where you might have more room to hammer such things a yard or more in from the bank. 

They seem a bit over the top for most Canal banks and look like they’d cause a whole lot of damage if used incorrectly (too close to the bank edge for instance). 

 

One memory of the KandA (I think around Pewsey) is a long stretch of bank broken apart with the use of stakes/pins. You could see the clear groove in the bank side left by the stake/pin. 

 

 

I think mooring pins might be against the byelaws but the CRT never enforce byelaws anyway. 

 

Good point about bank damage. 

 

It seems to me if one were to use a screw such as the ones with the 14mm hex top it would cause less damage than a hammered in pin IF it didn't move. Screw in, screw out. 

 

Hammering pins in hard where there is an old stone canal bank is bad. 

 

 

It is important to not misunderestimate the effect of mooring pins and the running engine in gear when stationary problem. 

 

Both of these activities are liable to cause significant damage. 

 

In fact the mooring of boats to towpaths should probably be outlawed unless there is pre-installed hardware ti facilitate this. 

 

 

[Chris Lowe]

If mooring somewhere dodgy you could always use silent pickets, & make yourself a fence at the same time.

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

37 minutes ago, Chris Lowe said:

If mooring somewhere dodgy you could always use silent pickets, & make yourself a fence at the same time.

 

 

an electric fence,

ran off the domestic batteries,

Nice 👍 

 

[Chris Lowe]

9 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

an electric fence,

ran off the domestic batteries,

 

 

Not quite, thats a WW1 silent picket , designed to screw into the battlefield quietly at night for your barbed wire fence.

[magnetman]

We can make short work of the barbed wire with this. A family hair loom. 

 

 

19 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

 

an electric fence,

ran off the domestic batteries,

Nice 👍 

 

 

We used to have 12v electric fence to keep the geese in. Obviously their wings were also clipped. 

 

One day I had a pee on an electric fence when I was about 9 yars old. Quite nasty. 

 

I did it again to ensure it was not some random fluke and it wasn't. Quite a jolt I can remember it to this day. 

 

 

In the intervening 40 yars I have specifically avoided urinating onto live 12v electric fences for a number of different reasons. 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

We can make short work of the barbed wire with this. A family hair loom. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 'family heirloom (WW1 wire cutter)