Mooring techniques

[parasal]

I know...avoid it but not always possible.

 

Intersted to know if there are any handy tips I am missing out on for mooring where the bank is quite narrow?

 

I`ve never had any trouble before but mostly due to speeding hire boats I managed to loose a front pin yesterday and returned from lunch to wandering boat! Luckily I hadnt consumed too much beer and secured it fairly easily but now panicking while at work that it wont be there when I get back!

 

Is it better to not put the pins too deep so as not to "sever" off pieces of bank? Sloping away from canal? Slack ropes?

 

Any advice gratefully recieved!

 

sal

[saltysplash]

I know...avoid it but not always possible.

 

Intersted to know if there are any handy tips I am missing out on for mooring where the bank is quite narrow?

 

I`ve never had any trouble before but mostly due to speeding hire boats I managed to loose a front pin yesterday and returned from lunch to wandering boat! Luckily I hadnt consumed too much beer and secured it fairly easily but now panicking while at work that it wont be there when I get back!

 

Is it better to not put the pins too deep so as not to "sever" off pieces of bank? Sloping away from canal? Slack ropes?

 

Any advice gratefully recieved!

 

sal

 

Deep is good, and mark the mooring stakes with something so walkers dont trip on em.

 

fore and aft springs will reduce your forward and backward movement and reduce the wear on your bow and stern stakes

[RLWP]

I know...avoid it but not always possible.

 

Intersted to know if there are any handy tips I am missing out on for mooring where the bank is quite narrow?

 

I`ve never had any trouble before but mostly due to speeding hire boats I managed to loose a front pin yesterday and returned from lunch to wandering boat! Luckily I hadnt consumed too much beer and secured it fairly easily but now panicking while at work that it wont be there when I get back!

 

Is it better to not put the pins too deep so as not to "sever" off pieces of bank? Sloping away from canal? Slack ropes?

 

Any advice gratefully recieved!

 

sal

 

Hi Sal,

 

the main culprit for pulling pegs out is your own boat. If it can surge backwards and forwards its momentum will easily pull a pin out. We always try to run the ropes out as far forwards and backwards as possible to prevent the boat surgiing. We always knock the pins right in and make sure the rope is right on the ground to reduce the lever effect and tie off back on the boat.

 

This works for us.

 

Richard

[parasal]

Deep is good, and mark the mooring stakes with something so walkers dont trip on em.

 

fore and aft springs will reduce your forward and backward movement and reduce the wear on your bow and stern stakes

 

Is that the type you get for marine boats? They are rubber and hold some "slack" in the rope for you?

Anything in black rubber sounds good to me!!

[mayalld]

Is that the type you get for marine boats? They are rubber and hold some "slack" in the rope for you?

Anything in black rubber sounds good to me!!

 

Nope.

 

A spring is a rope that goes bacwards from the front, or forwards from the back of the boat.

[rjasmith]

Is that the type you get for marine boats? They are rubber and hold some "slack" in the rope for you?

Anything in black rubber sounds good to me!!

 

Sorry but you'll have to lose that image of the black rubber I'm afraid!

 

Springs are just terms for additional mooring ropes. The normal ones (proper term for them escapes me just now) should lie at an angle just ahead of the bow and back from the stern but the springs are run to two other pins or rings at an angle almost parallel to the hull side. The bow one to a pin as far back towards the stern as poss and the stern one to a pin as far forward towards the bow as poss. They should actually cross over each other near the mid point of the boat length. It's probably easier to draw but if you have a recent Waterways World Mag there was an article on mooring techniques by Chris Deuchar which covered it.

 

Richard

[saltysplash]

Is that the type you get for marine boats? They are rubber and hold some "slack" in the rope for you?

Anything in black rubber sounds good to me!!

 

 

Those rubber thingies are used to lessen the effects of snatching or snubbing and I think tend to save deck cleats from being ripped off as the rope snatches in lively conditions,

 

Dont think they would work on canals as its not a case of the bow going up at the same time as the stern going down in a swell, its a case of the boat moving backwards and forwards with the flow of the water as a boat passes or approaches

 

Springs, is a term used to describe the actual rope used as Mayalld describes above

 

 

edited to add

 

this link may assist in describing them

 

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VLg6Lx5...2&ct=result

Edited July 14, 2008 by saltysplash

[RLWP]

Those rubber thingies are used to lessen the effects of snatching or snubbing and I think tend to save deck cleats from being ripped off as the rope snatches in lively conditions,

 

Dont think they would work on canals as its not a case of the bow going up at the same time as the stern going down in a swell, its a case of the boat moving backwards and forwards with the flow of the water as a boat passes or approaches

 

Springs, is a term used to describe the actual rope used as Mayalld describes above

 

See also the diagram in post 11 of This thread

 

Running the mooring lines well foward and backwards gives a lot of the benefits without the extra ropes.

 

Richard

[parasal]

Those rubber thingies are used to lessen the effects of snatching or snubbing and I think tend to save deck cleats from being ripped off as the rope snatches in lively conditions,

 

Dont think they would work on canals as its not a case of the bow going up at the same time as the stern going down in a swell, its a case of the boat moving backwards and forwards with the flow of the water as a boat passes or approaches

 

Springs, is a term used to describe the actual rope used as Mayalld describes above

 

And you`re definate its got nothing to do with black rubber??

 

Best get some more rope and another mooring pin then!

[LEO]

Hi,

 

I use 2 pins at each end of the boat, each pair hammered in at an angle and crossing, tie the mooring lines to the crossing point, these and a 'spring' at each end will hold the boat secure under vitually all circumstances. Speeding boats and deep draughted boats can pass with complete impunity.

 

Nothing worse than someone 'belly aching' if they can't be bothered to tie up correctly.

 

Albi

[parasal]

Hi,

 

I use 2 pins at each end of the boat, each pair hammered in at an angle and crossing, tie the mooring lines to the crossing point, these and a 'spring' at each end will hold the boat secure under vitually all circumstances. Speeding boats and deep draughted boats can pass with complete impunity.

 

Nothing worse than someone 'belly aching' if they can't be bothered to tie up correctly.

 

Albi

 

I`ve seen a center line secures by one pin going back to secure on the boat fore and aft but I have concealed rails and there is nowhere to attatch the rope!

 

I hope I`m not belly aching..

[saltysplash]

And you`re definate its got nothing to do with black rubber??

 

Best get some more rope and another mooring pin then!

 

 

 

ok ok, use the rubber......dont forget to get something to rub onto the welt marks

[parasal]

:

[LEO]

Hi,

 

Definately not, but it saves a lot of problems if owners tie 'em up tight (boats that is). I moor second boat in on a BW linear mooring and boy, do most boats pass at a good speed - never cause me any problems though. Tight lines, springs and fenders save lots of frayed tempers.

 

The only time I have complained was years ago, when 2 all males crews on a pair of Bridgewater hire boats came through going 'hell for leather' north, 2 abreast, with a crewman each on the roof each armed with a quanting pole tring to knock the other off. They had just left the pub - now that did warrant a visit to Mike Foster!!

 

ATB

 

ALBI.

[alan_fincher]

.......now that did warrant a visit to Mike Foster!!

I'd be interested how he viewed that, as I was told he was himself once apprehended when driving his vintage Bentley away from a pub when he should not have been!

[LEO]

A,

 

True, but as the well know comedian says - 'it's the way I tell 'em'. He did get someone to intercept them and curtail their hiring of the boat.

 

ATB

 

ALBI.

[kerching]

I know...avoid it but not always possible.

 

Intersted to know if there are any handy tips I am missing out on for mooring where the bank is quite narrow?

 

I`ve never had any trouble before but mostly due to speeding hire boats I managed to loose a front pin yesterday and returned from lunch to wandering boat! Luckily I hadnt consumed too much beer and secured it fairly easily but now panicking while at work that it wont be there when I get back!

 

Is it better to not put the pins too deep so as not to "sever" off pieces of bank? Sloping away from canal? Slack ropes?

 

Any advice gratefully recieved!

 

sal

How did you know it was hire boats which did the deed, as you were in the pub?

[tidal]

I don't know if this is of any use.......I never could draw........but it's just one version of what rope goes where.

 

 

In an ideal situation obviously

[howardang]

Is that the type you get for marine boats? They are rubber and hold some "slack" in the rope for you?

Anything in black rubber sounds good to me!!

No, what you are describing is a snubber.

 

Howard

[alan_fincher]

No, what you are describing is a snubber.

 

Howard

Although in canal terms a "snubber" is also the long line used to tow a butty with a motor boat.

[howardang]

Although in canal terms a "snubber" is also the long line used to tow a butty with a motor boat.

This is what he was asking about - if a boats mooring rope is passed through one end, wrapped aroun the snubber a few times and them fed through the other end, and then made fast in the normal way, it absorbs some of the strain when the rope comes under tension.

 

http://www.marinemegastore.com/product-product-ECS_3980.htm

 

Yes I was aware of the other definition of snubber, but thanks anyway.

 

Howard

[Chris Pink]

Bigger stakes bang them right into the ground. Life's too short to do the 6 mooring pin macramé

 

 

One of the things in the OP was the 'narrow' bank and there is no real solution to this other than asking BW if they would be so kind, when not attending meetings about signage, to repair the bank at that point

[parasal]

How did you know it was hire boats which did the deed, as you were in the pub?

 

We were sat in the pub watching them speeding by!

 

 

Thanks for all the help; I got back to a rescued boat(thankyou Beehive landlord!) but with my new mooring lines and a spring deployed all seems good so far....fingers crossed!

 

And Chris....I happen to be the Nebnett Thrubwell macrami champion of 1974

[tidal]

Life's too short to do the 6 mooring pin macramé

 

Takes a few minutes, prevents boat moving, reduces damage to bank from pins moving, reduces damage to boat fittings when boats go past too fast.......... even on a narrow bank

 

Can't see why anyone would want to moor properly then

 

Oh yeah!

Forgot to add using springs allows you to get into and out of tight moorings WHATEVER the wind is doing without breaking into a sweat

[parasal]

Not sure if this will work but thought you may like to see the most excellent(and accurate) diagram of mooring macrame that Clivo did for me...its really very good!

Edited July 16, 2008 by parasal