any mooring tips?

[Paul C]

With the greatest respect to forum posters who provide good information and impart knowledge, some of the boating knowledge you're not going to learn from an internet forum, but from practical experience. If you've not done it before, or if you're going to be single handing a lot of the time (some things which are easy for 2 or more people can be a bit of a head scratcher on your own), then the RYA course is very valuable.

[junior]

Are you actually laughing out loud all the time?

[Bettie Boo]

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.

Very well written and informative - thanks for the tips to us novices. I learned more from this post than Dave trying to show me how to tie up

Greenie for you sir!

[nicknorman]

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.

Do you mind! It's taken me years to beat this out of Jeff. I can't abide great reams of knitting that take ages to untwine, when a simple clove hitch takes about 2 seconds to undo. Very important when you see a boat coming and just have to quickly pull out right in front of it whilst still attaching the tiller etc.

What's a clove hitch lol.

Very easy to do, very hard to describe in words so best to look it up on the internet and see the piccies / vids lol.

[nb Innisfree]

Do you mind! It's taken me years to beat this out of Jeff. I can't abide great reams of knitting that take ages to untwine, when a simple clove hitch takes about 2 seconds to undo. Very important when you see a boat coming and just have to quickly pull out right in front of it whilst still attaching the tiller etc.

 

Very easy to do, very hard to describe in words so best to look it up on the internet and see the piccies / vids lol.

Fair enough on the knitting front but I have had clove hitches tighten up when they've had a lot of tension applied, I once helped a holiday boater whose centre line clove hitch locked solid on a lock bollard when his boat rose against it, it was a pig made worse by the line being under a lot of tension, a watermans hitch would have been easy to release especially so in an emergency.

[Graham Davis]

Ok looks simple. So do you tie that not to the boat or the mooring post.

 

As has been said several times here, it is better to tie ON the boat.

[nicknorman]

Fair enough on the knitting front but I have had clove hitches tighten up when they've had a lot of tension applied, I once helped a holiday boater whose centre line clove hitch locked solid on a lock bollard when his boat rose against it, it was a pig made worse by the line being under a lot of tension, a watermans hitch would have been easy to release especially so in an emergency.

Yes they can be difficult to undo under tension, but I would never tie up my boat whilst transiting a lock so wouldn't have that problem! I have never had difficulty undoing one following "normal" mooring.

[Sas]

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.

 

 

I'm with Bettie in praise of this - thanks so much for posting. Is there any way of saving posts like this to a personal 'favourites' file please? I just know I'll refer back to this and several others

[FidoDido]

Ok looks simple. So do you tie that not to the boat or the mooring post.

I'm going to be in a marina most of the time lol so don't think I'll need an anchor there lol

 

At Trent Lock (can walk there from Sawley), there are a pair of working boats owned by Chris Deuchar. He wrote a very good book covering just about anything to do with Boating - "The Boaters Guide to Boating". Its about £4.50 IIRC.. They may sell it in Sawley Chandlery, but I'm sure a visit to Chris on his coal boat would be more informative, and he can sell you a book direct.

 

The other book to think about getting hold of is "Going it Alone" by Colin Edmonson.. Again, less than a fiver.. https://www.waterways.org.uk/shop/search?search=going+it+alone

 

Nothing better than learning yourself, though.. Ask other boaters what they are doing, go check out some folks going through some locks and watch to see what they do. Go look at some boats tied up at moorings and see how they've done it.. Note, do not look at BW / CRT working boats, and think that tying up with a bit of blue string tied round some piling is a good idea....

[Phil Ambrose]

When Iworked at The Swan at Horning on the Broads I always had a sharp knife in my bag because of the number of times moorers had used a macrami knot and when the tide came in they could just not get away, so surgery needed.

Phil

[tjderby]

Thanks people.

[Guest]

Sas, on 30 Mar 2014 - 12:10 PM, said:Sas, on 30 Mar 2014 - 12:10 PM, said:

 

 

I'm with Bettie in praise of this - thanks so much for posting. Is there any way of saving posts like this to a personal 'favourites' file please? I just know I'll refer back to this and several others

 

If you click on the number at the top right of a post in a thread (in the case of Nick's post number 7) keep clicked on it and drag it to you browser tool bar and you can drop it on there and save it like any other favourite or bookmark.

 

You can keep your favourite posts in a folder just like any other browser favourites.

 

(You will likely end up with it just being a favourite called called '#7', to change its name just right click on it an select 'rename' and give it a name of your choice)

 

To look at the post again just click on it on your tool bar and you will be taken straight to it.

Edited March 30, 2014 by The Dog House

[dor]

If you do use a piling hook, try and put it behind where a retaining bolt goes through. Otherwise the hook can be pulled between the piling and the rail and jam.

[Naughty Cal]

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.

In this case I would agree that some training is in order. And also some reading up on boating. It's kind of important to have some knowledge before setting out into boat ownership if you are to have any chance of enjoying it. Stuff like knowing that Sawley is on the non tidal Trent for example!

[Kendal]

"The Boaters Guide to Boating". Its about £4.50 IIRC.

I can thoroughly recommend this book to novice and experienced boaters alike. I felt much better prepared after reading it when I was starting out, and there's such a lot of useful information in it I challenge anyone to say they didn't learn something (except for Chris of Course!). It's available on Amazon for £4.46 plus £2.75 p&p or free delivery if you buy something else total over £10

[phil5]

Hi tj ................ you won't be in any danger of your boat floating off down the river if you're in Sawley Marina. It's on a navigational cut of the Trent which is also flood protected. It did flood last winter but not this !

I'm trying to learn a few knots too but there's always someone around here who'll happily help you tie up or give advice.

 

Look forward to meeting you when you arrive - I'm sure you'll like it here - it's nice

[Sas]

 

If you click on the number at the top right of a post in a thread (in the case of Nick's post number 7) keep clicked on it and drag it to you browser tool bar and you can drop it on there and save it like any other favourite or bookmark.

 

You can keep your favourite posts in a folder just like any other browser favourites.

 

(You will likely end up with it just being a favourite called called '#7', to change its name just right click on it an select 'rename' and give it a name of your choice)

 

To look at the post again just click on it on your tool bar and you will be taken straight to it.

Many thanks DH! Have a greenie !

[Neil2]

If you are yachting you need to know quite a few knots for different purposes, but on a motor boat/ narrowboat you really only need to learn three "knots". Everyone should be able to tie a bowline (and there's several ways of doing it but you really should get someone to show you). clove hitch and the "round turn and two and a half hitches" which sounds more complicated than it is. and is the best way to tie up to a stud/bollard/ ring.

 

As already mentioned, it's always best to tie up by routing the line back to the boat if you can, and if you have a T stud or cleat, just remember OXO - one turn round the stud, one figure of eight and another round turn, or two if you are paraniod. It will not work loose and can be released in seconds.

 

 

[Cloudinspector]

I use a round turn and two half hitches for mooring, very simple once you've done it a few times.

 

http://www.animatedknots.com/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

[Richard10002]

I tend to use a Boatmans hitch, a clove hitch, or a round turn and two half hitches, (sometimes not a full round turn).

 

I like OXO on a cleat, but not on a T bar - don't know why.

Rarely use a bowline.

If a clove hitch, or anything else), gets so tight you can't undo it, you can use a rolling hitch, (I think that's what it's called), and a winch or pulley type system to loosen the line, and release the hitch - not easy, but sometimes necessary.

[tjderby]

Hi tj ................ you won't be in any danger of your boat floating off down the river if you're in Sawley Marina. It's on a navigational cut of the Trent which is also flood protected. It did flood last winter but not this !

I'm trying to learn a few knots too but there's always someone around here who'll happily help you tie up or give advice.

 

Look forward to meeting you when you arrive - I'm sure you'll like it here - it's nice

Hi Phil how long have you been in sawley? Still negotiating with the mooring office at sawley at mo. They wanted £3015 pa for residential mooring. And that's with a 10% discount lol. Don't mind paying £280 a month. See what they say. Cause I like the environment there. Edited March 31, 2014 by tjderby

[Neil2]

I tend to use a Boatmans hitch, a clove hitch, or a round turn and two half hitches, (sometimes not a full round turn).

 

I like OXO on a cleat, but not on a T bar - don't know why.

Rarely use a bowline.

If a clove hitch, or anything else), gets so tight you can't undo it, you can use a rolling hitch, (I think that's what it's called), and a winch or pulley type system to loosen the line, and release the hitch - not easy, but sometimes necessary.

The rolling hitch is the most underrated of knots you can use it for all sorts of things and it's very easy to learn. Just to confuse matters I think what most folk call the rolling hitch is actually a tautline hitch which most boy scouts will know as the method of securing tent ropes.

 

I agree you don't often use a bowline on a narrowboat but there will surely come a time when you have to tie a loop in a rope so you need to know how to do it properly.

[Paul C]

Personally amazed at the number of people who are recommending a clove hitch. It is a rubbish knot, one with the ability both to jam, and to slip. That takes some rubbishness.

 

A boatman's hitch (AKA various other names) is much better, doesn't jam, and can be done and undone under tension, which is rather important on mooring lines at certain times.

 

Also please don't end up being one of these people: "the lock only takes 15 minutes for the 2 boats ahead of me to use it, so I'll just stand here and hold the centre rope instead of tying a knot to the conveniently-placed bollard, because I'm so fearful of having to tie a knot that will hold the boat and actually I don't have anything better to do than be a statue for 15 mins, although personally I am desparate for the loo, or would like to go and talk to the others at the lock who are all having a laugh about something."

[Dharl]

If you are yachting you need to know quite a few knots for different purposes, but on a motor boat/ narrowboat you really only need to learn three "knots". Everyone should be able to tie a bowline (and there's several ways of doing it but you really should get someone to show you). clove hitch and the "round turn and two and a half hitches" which sounds more complicated than it is. and is the best way to tie up to a stud/bollard/ ring.

 

As already mentioned, it's always best to tie up by routing the line back to the boat if you can, and if you have a T stud or cleat, just remember OXO - one turn round the stud, one figure of eight and another round turn, or two if you are paraniod. It will not work loose and can be released in seconds.

 

 

Greenie for you Neil!

 

would agree that those three knots and the OXO (have even done a OXXO before now but that is OTT!) are the three most practical and useful knots to learn and practice....as well as how to coil a rope correctly !

 

As someone else mentioned it is worth booking you self on to a RYA inland Waterway Helmsman's course. As well as getting the hands-on experience of 'boat driving' you will also have the opportunity to ask questions of an experienced boater face to face.

[Ssscrudddy]

I was taught to use a "Boatmans slip" which I cant find any refernce to... but it is exactly the same as this "Boatmans hitch".
Very easy to do & undo when needed, without undoing itself