Mud weights

[Tiller1]

I've noticed a few narrow boats use mud weights to moor up in places where it's impossible to tie up.

 

Can anyone recommend what is required in terms of sufficient weights, positions, warp and chain to prevent a full size narrow boat from shifting into the middle of the canal when boats go past?

 

I saw one boat deploy them fwd, aft and middle for example.

[magnetman]

I think It is possible to damage the clay lining of the canal (puddling clay) with mud weights. Not sure its a good option personally.

[Tiller1]

I think It is possible to damage the clay lining of the canal (puddling clay) with mud weights. Not sure its a good option personally.

I thought that was only a problem using an anchor.

[magnetman]

Possibly. Not sure really - I wonder what CRT thinks of it?

[Tiller1]

Possibly. Not sure really - I wonder what CRT thinks of it?

If it means more visitor moorings are freed up for others, that's got to be a good thing.

 

I'll ask next time I see a C&RT official.

[gazza]

Couple of 56lb weights fore and aft and it won't shift much.

 

Give it a few yanks up and down to rinse the worst of the cack off before hauling back on board.

 

I sometimes use a mud weight as belt and braces against scrotes letting the ropes go.

 

Essential on the middle levels and for stopping in out of the way places like Whittington mere.

Having done a good bit of Broads boating I wouldn't be without mud weights.

[KevMc]

Couple of 56lb weights fore and aft and it won't shift much.

 

Give it a few yanks up and down to rinse the worst of the cack off before hauling back on board.

 

I sometimes use a mud weight as belt and braces against scrotes letting the ropes go.

 

Essential on the middle levels and for stopping in out of the way places like Whittington mere.

Having done a good bit of Broads boating I wouldn't be without mud weights.

 

224lb to hold a 20ton boat? Sounds a lot more convenient than banging mooring pins into stony/rocky/cement towpath .... can anyone explain how such a little weight works please ... I might invest in some

[Tiller1]

 

224lb to hold a 20ton boat? Sounds a lot more convenient than banging mooring pins into stony/rocky/cement towpath .... can anyone explain how such a little weight works please ... I might invest in some

My question was based on not being able to bang pins in. I can say the few narrow boats I've passed with mud weights didn't move so it seems to work.

 

I've also been told it's a good option on the Thames if you wan't to avoid mooring fees!

[gazza]

 

224lb to hold a 20ton boat? Sounds a lot more convenient than banging mooring pins into stony/rocky/cement towpath .... can anyone explain how such a little weight works please ... I might invest in some

Try it, you'd be surprised. A good fling in and they tend to settle in the putty, a good bit of effort is needed to get them out again. Some use studs, dollies or pulleys to gain an advantage for retrieval.

[churchward]

I think It is possible to damage the clay lining of the canal (puddling clay) with mud weights. Not sure its a good option personally.

A mud weight won't do any damage. It will just sit on the errm mud. In any case given that many people complain about the lack of dredging the weight will be a long way away from any clay lining in the structure of the canal bed. An anchor digging in is another matter.

[Tiller1]

Try it, you'd be surprised. A good fling in and they tend to settle in the putty, a good bit of effort is needed to get them out again. Some use studs, dollies or pulleys to gain an advantage for retrieval.

Thank you for this Gazza.

[gazza]

Thank you for this Gazza.

No problem.

 

56lb weights can be had on eBay, a better cheaper source is your local scrap metal merchant.

[system 4-50]

Don't buy them until you might use them. I have 2 x 56lb mud weights that I've had for 5 years and never used, and being flat-bottomed pear shape, are a pain to store.

[Jim Riley]

Cast your own, cement and gravel on a bucket, piece of chain on the mixture fasten to. Or go to your local hardware store and ask for a long weight.

[magnetman]

Cast your own, cement and gravel on a bucket, piece of chain on the mixture fasten to. Or go to your local hardware store and ask for a long weight.

If you do that you'll still be there the next day

If you can get old brake rotors (discs) bolt three or four of them together it should make quite a good mud weight. My local tyre and exhaust centre leave them outside for people to take as they ate virtually worthless scrap. I use a single one as a dinghy anchor - several of them stacked is going to be pretty good I expect.

 

Typo

Edited August 22, 2016 by magnetman

[ditchcrawler]

Well as you are normally only mooring in 3 foot of water so the mooring line will only be 3 foot long and hanging straight down to the weight I don't think you have a hope in hell. Just consider how much a boat moves when moored with the lines at right angles to rings on the bank.

[magnetman]

I agree - I can't really see mud weights holding a narrow boat on a small canal. Useful as an extra option but not really going to do the job.

 

Possibly ok on rivers ?

 

 

Spud legs would work but pretty sure CRT would be very upset about them being used !!

Edited August 22, 2016 by magnetman

[Iain_S]

I'd think a mud weight's effectiveness would depend on how far it sank into the silt.

 

I once laid a temporary mooring in a canal basin using assorted steel wheels joined by a chain, and had great difficulty lifting it It had held a work boat with a Christmas tree on it through a full gale, so the weights worked well. (Total weights would have been between 1 and 2 hundredweight, if I remember correctly)

 

On the other hand, I tried using a 56 lb (approx) weight at the end of a 30 metres of rope to hold the stern of Gamebird (26' Sea Otter) against the incoming tide on a tidal river, as I didn't want the anchor to have to re-seat itself when the boat swung on the tide. Didn't work! ;(

[Scholar Gypsy]

Cast your own, cement and gravel on a bucket, piece of chain on the mixture fasten to. Or go to your local hardware store and ask for a long weight.

 

As here. Like others I doubt this would hold a narrowboat on a canal, when a boat passed faster than it should.

 

 

[tiller2]

Apparently I've been knobbled by someone called Lady Cassandra, so I've just come back as Tiller2 to say thank you everyone for the information on the mud weights.

[Horace42]

I've been narrowboating quite a while and have never heard of mud weights and I have never seen them in use.

That is logical if they are used underwater. Does the name imply they sink in the mud, and that is what holds the boat in place - similar to an anchor but with digging into the clay.

I can't sat I have ever seen them laid on the bank. - judging from what I have read here - they must be quite large - so not easy to overlook.

Talking of poor quality places to moor - I bought a couple of spiral mooting pins - they are screwed in - not hammered - but I have never used them yet.

[Jrtm]

We had a bollard that turned into a mad weight when we tied up to it.

[ditchcrawler]

I know this is an old post but I was searching the CRT website for info and their thought on mud weights. I found a bit at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/boating-blogs-and-features/boating-team/keep-calm-and-slow-down and the word MUD WEIGHT is a clickable link. Guess where it take you. here.

[TheBiscuits]

On 23/08/2016 at 13:10, billybobbooth said:

We had a bollard that turned into a mud weight when we tied up to it.

[Theo]

I tried to strap Theodora to a stop when approaching a lock on the HNC.  It removed the bollard and a section of the coping.  I didn't dp that again!

 

N

 

 

Mud weights can be useful when reversing in a wind.  Helps to stop the bow paying off.

 

N