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any mooring tips?

tjderby

By tjderby
in General Boating

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Paul's Nulife4-2 Influencer

Paul's Nulife4-2

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Well, What sort of mooring Have you got, You say you're on a River So is it -

Tidal, What's the Range, is it a Floating Pontoon, or Bank Side will you always be at same mooring or CCing which might take you onto the Canals or The Sea, ect ect.

There are slightly different mooring methods for different applications

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

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Try to tie up to something already there, such as bollards (but not on lock landings, water points etc), rings or piling. If tying to piling, use chains (available from chandlers etc with one large ring and one smaller ring) rather than piling hooks. The latter tend to bend and extract themselves from the piling. Put the rope through the ring or chain and tie back onto the boat. I always use a clove hitch since it is quick, easy and secure, though there are probably better knots. If tying to a bollard, tie onto the bollard with a clove hitch and then also tie back onto the boat.

 

If there is nothing suitable already there, you have to use mooring stakes but, depending on the type of ground, I would be nervous about leaving a boat on stakes for a long time unattended since they can tend to work loose and pull out especially if there are speeders about. Always knock stakes in at an angle of around 30 to 45 degrees with the top away from the line of the mooring rope. If the stake has a little loop at the top, don't use this to take the load of the boat. Put the rope round the main part of the stake and also through the little loop (loop pointing away from the boat). The loop is to stop you losing the stake, not to take the load of the boat.

 

Tie the boat out slightly, ie ropes going from boat to shore at an angle, not at right angles to the shore. The main load is fore/aft, not in/out. If on a river remember that water levels can and do change significantly and quickly. Don't tie the boat up such that it's pulled under water if the level rises! The area just above a weir will suffer less change of level than the area just below the weir. Use springs in such cases - a spring is a rope running a good way along the bank (one rope in each direction) - this keeps the boat in 1 place whilst allowing it to rise and fall significantly as the level changes. On many rivers you can tie up to poles which allow the rope to slide up and down the pole as the level changes.

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tjderby Collaborator

tjderby

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Well, What sort of mooring Have you got, You say you're on a River So is it -

Tidal, What's the Range, is it a Floating Pontoon, or Bank Side will you always be at same mooring or CCing which might take you onto the Canals or The Sea, ect ect.

There are slightly different mooring methods for different applications

It's at sawley on the river Trent. Not confirmed yet. So yeah its a tidal river. The pontoons are fixed. They have rings that raise with the water level. Which they say you should moor to. Especially since sawley as a habit of flooding. As for tying tight. I would like to be able to untie it lol.

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Lockie Junior Collaborator

Lockie Junior

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It's at sawley on the river Trent. Not confirmed yet. So yeah its a tidal river. The pontoons are fixed. They have rings that raise with the water level. Which they say you should moor to. Especially since sawley as a habit of flooding. As for tying tight. I would like to be able to untie it lol.

 

Think you mean Non-Tidal.

 

Regards,

Lockie.

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

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It's at sawley on the river Trent. Not confirmed yet. So yeah its a tidal river. The pontoons are fixed. They have rings that raise with the water level. Which they say you should moor to. Especially since sawley as a habit of flooding. As for tying tight. I would like to be able to untie it lol.

Point of order: the Trent is not tidal at Sawley. But of course the level can change with the weather.

 

Anyway, if tying to rings on poles then just loop through the ring and tie back onto the boat's T stud or whatever with a clove hitch. It looks a thin and simple knot but never slips. Allegedly when pulled really tight it can be difficult to loosen but I have never had a problem with that in many years of boating.

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Paul's Nulife4-2 Influencer

Paul's Nulife4-2

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If you're unsure, if and when you pick up the boat,take a few pictures of how it's moored,and copy it,

But I would also recommend you asking someone to show you a few methods.as it's easier to actually see a demonstration,than try and understand a written description.

Edited by Paul's Nulife4-2
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lampini Proficient

lampini

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What's a clove hitch lol.

 

 

Just this once i'll google it FOR you.. !

 

 

 

There's a great book i have at home which tells you the basics - when i get home on monday i'll post the amazon link..

 

 

....

 

Lol

Edited by lampini
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nebulae Proficient

nebulae

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A good trick when mooring on rivers,where there is a strong flow,moored to pins or risk of being cast adrift,is to deploy your anchor slightly upstream and away from the bank.say 20ft of chain/rope.Makes for a more restfull nights sleep,I find.

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Lockie Junior Collaborator

Lockie Junior

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A good trick when mooring on rivers,where there is a strong flow,moored to pins or risk of being cast adrift,is to deploy your anchor slightly upstream and away from the bank.say 20ft of chain/rope.Makes for a more restfull nights sleep,I find.

 

Don't think thats the greatest idea in this case, especially with the narrowness and busyness of that stretch of the Trent. It would either get knocked out or snare some unsuspecting passing boater. Also what happens if someone moors in front of him?

 

Regards,

Lockie.

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nb Innisfree Veteran II

nb InnisfreeDonate to Canal World

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I would say don't use knots to secure to the boat, they can be a sod to undo. Instead, If you can, run the mooring line through the mooring pin eye or mooring chain and back to the boat and wrap it in continuoue figures of eight between boat Tstuds/bollards and finish with a couple of half hitches. Really it's a form of watermans hitch already mentioned.

Edited by nb Innisfree
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Kendal Community Regular

Kendal

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Point of order: the Trent is not tidal at Sawley. But of course the level can change with the weather.

 

Anyway, if tying to rings on poles then just loop through the ring and tie back onto the boat's T stud or whatever with a clove hitch. It looks a thin and simple knot but never slips. Allegedly when pulled really tight it can be difficult to loosen but I have never had a problem with that in many years of boating.

 

This is spot on. I used to moor at Sawley (admittedly quite a while ago and I couldn't wait to leave) and never had any problems using this method of mooring up. I'm a big fan of the clove hitch, which is particularly good for bollards, and super quick to do - loop under loop under and you're done, takes less than a second

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Richard10002 Veteran II

Richard10002

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Do the 2 day RYA Inland Waterways Helmsmans Course. You will learn loads about everything to do with boating, and you can ask for specific help with this, and other, issues.

 

I had been yachting for about 30 years, and used to bean officer in The Merchant Navy, but i still learned new things. Worth every penny IMHO.

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