Mooring on pilings

[NB Alnwick]

It is the fact that I often see piling fall over that prompts the question.

 

This happened at Napton a few years ago - when BW drained the pound the piling collapsed - the water pressure was all that had been holding it up . . .

[howardang]

My first choice would be permanent mooring rings, where that's not possible my preference is always to attach to piling. I feel that it is usually more secure than pins, and also has the advantage of being quicker and hence as i'm normally on my own I don't have to find something to attach the boat to whilst hammering the pins in.

 

However, my piling hooks came with the boat when I bought it secondhand and are of a design that neither I nor anyone else who has yet seen them has seen before. But they are supurb.

 

 

 

The two images above show the side and 'front' (canal) side in the 'insertion' position - basically you hold it by the 't' piece and slide it in behind the piling. Once the main body hits the top of the piling, then a wedge connected to the 't' piece slides down the 'back' of the main body and locks it onto the rail. The photo below shows this position from 'behind'.

 

 

I realise It's not that easy to visualise from these photos, and it took a while to work out what they were when I got the boat! Next time i'm out i'll try and remember to take some pictures of them 'in situ'

 

Once in place they don't rattle and will never fall out. To remove, you just catch hold of the 't' piece and lift. The only problem is some places where the piling has been rammed a few times it may not be possible to find a location with enough clearance behind the 'rail' for it. In those cases I get the chains out.

 

If anyone has any idea where they came from, please let me know as people who see them in use keep asking where they can get them!

They are called Wedgits and were designed and manufactured by Stuart Sampson of First Mates Guides fame (among other things) but they are no longer made. Some more info about them can be found on the First Mates guide website by clicking on this link which also gives ifo on making one your self.

 

http://www.canalmate.co.uk/CANALMATE/main.htm

 

This will take you to the main page, then follow the links to "the boat" and then "Stuart Sampson" where the details you want are at the bottom of the page.

 

I hope that is helpful

 

Howard

[RLWP]

Howard, the actual links are "boat" and "Her Skipper". And as you say, there are the instructions, including zinc to garnish!

 

Wonderful

 

Richard

[Chris J W]

Howard, the actual links are "boat" and "Her Skipper". And as you say, there are the instructions, including zinc to garnish!

 

Or an even more Direct Linky

[ditchcrawler]

Or an even more Direct Linky

Great thanks.

[Ange]

Well actually no. Like Speedwheel I tend to use pins because you get a more comfortable mooring. Its boats tied on piling hooks with near vertical mooring lines (perhaps also set perpendicular to the boat) which rock about when boats pass - however slowly they go. Mooring with lines slightly more horizontal and to pins set at an angle about a foot back from the bank (providing you do not cause an obstruction) makes for a much more comfortable mooring with little or no snatch from passing boats.

 

But I appreciate hooks are a lot easier to use.

 

Paul

 

Yep you're right Paul - apologies. The answer to my question is that some people are ignorant of piling hooks, chains, etc, but there are also boaters who prefer pins. As someone who finds mooring with pins to be the least preferable option I found that hard to understand, but we're still quite new to this and maybe we're just not very good at using pins yet (the only time we've unintentionally left the side was on pins during a particularly rainy period - a party widebeam went past us at about midnight when we were in bed - we sensed something wasn't quite right with our world and looking out of the bedroom porthole found ourselves looking down the canal rather than across it!! We must have been quite a sight in our nightclothes getting the boat back to the bank and mooring her again!)

 

Personally, we'll stick with the piling hooks whenever we can, but will investigate chains

 

[Tiny]

Absolutely it would, if it was beginning to "give" then never mind the wash, the load is unacceptable

 

A BW engineer did say that so long as it hasn't fallen over it is doing it's job, but you shouldn't hasten a process that has started. If the piling is sound it will take it. If it's brand new it is almost certainly sound, it took BW a while to work out the piled depth and the tie backs needed but this is understood now, although I suppose a rogue contractor might make a mess of it.

 

 

When BW piled Tixall years back - to give a nice wide towpath - they included the bit where the local (tame) voles had the bank well full of tunnels. Soon after it was completed the piling along the vole section bent horribly. BW fixed it a number of times as it collapsed again and again. After the latest collapse - some years back - the surrounded the area with defra rash and let the grass grow.

 

Unfortunately the voles left when the piling arrived so no-one has won - though boats could moor across the voles area (and feed them fruit - but not get too close) before the piling, then fishermen and massed walkers and many moorers came and now no-one can moor to that bit.

[Tiny]

Howard, the actual links are "boat" and "Her Skipper". And as you say, there are the instructions, including zinc to garnish!

 

Wonderful

 

Richard

 

As Stuart says on the site the modern BW cheapo piling (circa 2000-now plus) is much tighter than the old stuff and they make catching ropes and chains easier. If you do get a problem a mooring pin an a lump hammer can be used to prize the metal apart enough to get the rope/chain out.

 

On the much older railway rail metal piling and concrete you can often slip a fit of rope though a gaps then make it into a loop to tie your mooring rope through. But if the loop gets jammed overnight then getting it out can be impossible so expect to lose a few bits.

[nb Innisfree]

One disadvantage with Wedgits is that someone can cast you off if the line has slackened sufficiently? whereas a chain is secure.

[Peter R]

One disadvantage with Wedgits is that someone can cast you off if the line has slackened sufficiently? whereas a chain is secure.

That is the only thing I don't like about them. One thought I had was to replace the t-bar with another loop, so the mooring line could be passed through both, effectively locking the 'wedge' in place until the rope was untied.

 

I don't think it's a major issue as the majority of people would have no idea that it would come loose if they lifted the t-bar. In my photos, you may also notice a shackle attached to the wedge with a bit of cord - with the wedgit in place the shackle can be attached to the ring which then prevents the wedge being lifted. OK it only needs the shackle undone or the cord cut, but hopefully would put off anyone who was just wondering 'what happens if I pull this bit?'

 

And if someone really wants to set you adrift, i'm sure they'll manage it however you attach the boat!

[John Orentas]

After 30 + years of narrowboating I finally cracked this problem during the final couple of years.. Mooring pins in the towpath are not good as they can damage the structure of the bank and can be a danger to walkers at night.. As the use of steel pilling is now close to universal some form of mooring to them is the obvious way to go, hooks can be OK but they are a bit vulnerable to being kicked off by vandals, simply falling off as mooring lines slacken, or just pinched.. Anyway I have never quite trusted them..

 

That leaves Goat Chains, I managed to keep the same pair for 20 years but deploying them when the grass was wet or in a doggy walkies area is not pleasant..

 

I devised a method which not only dispensed with the need to kneel on the ground but it does not even require bending down, it needs no more than a '2 ft stick with a hook on the end', I acquired a particularly short window pole some time ago.

 

Dangle one end of the chain behind the horizontal element of the pilling* using one hand, with the other, hook the hanging ring of the chain and pull it upward so the two rings are together.. "I have always favoured the use of old climbing rope for mooring lines", so create a loop in the line and push it through both rings and then take it back to your bollard or 'T' stud and pass it over.. Tie off in the usual way but note that you now have 4 lines, boat to bank..

*Sometimes to prevent jambing of the chain it is better to select a gap in the pilling that has a tie-rod passing through it..

 

Goat Chain:- 3-4 feet length of open linked chain, each end fitted with a ring 2-3 inch dia. ring fabricated from typ. 6mm dia m/s round bar.

 

Reading this you will say, Hmm bloody obvious I knew that.. But try it, it will change your life..

Edited April 25, 2010 by John Orentas