[alberg30] Permanent Moorings

Thu Apr 27 12:32:08 PDT 2000

Hey Brian,
Setting up a permanent mooring is somethng you want to get right the first 
time!!!!!
Chapman's book on seamanship has a good section on setting up a mooring, (at 
least my edition from the '80s does) as to chain thickness, swivel location, 
mushroom weight, etc. Always grease the shackle pins at their threads before 
you tighten them down for the last time; it will save you tremendous effort 
at seasons end if you have to open them. The grease will not prevent you from 
tightening the pin down safely, or increase the chance that the pin will work 
itself loose over the season; just the opposite actualy, because the greased 
threads can be tightened more easily.   Without the grease there, often in 
one season the threads will rust in place so badly that you will just have to 
cut the shackle with a saw. Also, use good monel seizing wire to seize the 
shackle pins in place. Make sure you have at least 3 or 4 thickness' of the 
seizing wire passing through the eye of the shackle pin, and that those turns 
are tight.  Then,when turning the wire back on itself to secure it, A) do not 
overtighten those closing turns of the wire, so they will not snap, and B) 
bury the end of the twisted wires back on itself as best you can, so it will 
not foul anything, or cut you as you work on the shackle or chain.
There are as many opinions on setting up the bowlines, or the actual rope 
that comes aboard to secure the boat to the mooring as there are sailors!!
Having once rowed out to a  32' sloop on the fourth day of a howling, North 
East early fall North Wester to find 5 out of 6 strands of the one and a 
quarter inch nylon three strand lines of the bowlines completely chaffed 
through (!), I learned that all else being equal, it is chaffe of the 
bowlines that is the most frequent reason for the boat ending up on the beach!
Ever since that day, what I have done for my boat, and helped friends do for 
theirs is the following;
First, get a bouy that allows the chain to come up through it's center, and 
then the bowlines are attched by shackle to the chain above the water.  This 
prevents barnacles from growing on the bowlines, and subsequently chaffing 
the lines.  Also, barnacles and mussels growing on the bouy will not be able 
to chaffe the lines, which I think is the most common problem. This is where 
the chaffe occured on that 32 footer's bowlines.  Even if you paint the bouy 
and the lines with anti foulling paint, by midseason, or seasons end when the 
fall storms begin, there will be barnacles and mussels present.
Even though I have the bowlines attached to the top of the bouy, to be extra 
safe, I dont just run chaffing hose on the bowlines where they pass through 
the chocks on deck; I fit good hose over the entire length of the bowlines, 
from the bouy shackle, to just short of the bowline eyes that go over the 
deck cleat.  This serves two purposes; the obvious one is that the line will 
not be chaffed anywhere along its length. the second advantage is that being 
stiffer than line alone, the hose and rope will not be able to wrap around 
the bouy, and chaffe. 
Another common chaffe point is at the very bottom of the bowlines, where the  
line passes around the thimble. What  I have done is to slit the bouy end of 
the hose lengthwise, on the 'inside' of the curve formed as the hose is bent 
around the line and thimble. The length of this slit is such that it will 
allow the hose to wrap around and cover the thimble, and go back up above the 
thimble at least 5 or  6 inches. This extra 'tail' on the hose will allow it 
to be fastened securely in place. The inside 'lips' of the slit may have to 
be trimmed alittle to allow it all to fit together.   I tape the hose in 
place with very tough packing tape, and then sieze it all together with light 
line. This increases the diameter of the thimble and splice, obviously, and 
so requires a larger, and thus more expensive  shackle on the mooring chain, 
but I think it is well worth it.
Since the bowlines are above the water, I use stainless steel thimbles at the 
bowlines spliced eyes at the bouy shackle.  After all the work you will have 
done in making these bowlines, it would be a shame to have galvanised 
thimbles rust out after a couple of seasons, in which case you have to either 
splice up new eyes if the bowlines are long enough to allow a new eye to be 
spliced in, or chuck the otherwise good lines, and start all over.  Splicing 
a new eye into weathered nylon line is not easy, either.
the last consideration is the length of the bowlines.  Some people seem to 
feel that long bowlines give the entire mooring rig more scope. A) I don't 
think that is true.  Increased scope decreases the angle of the mooring chain 
with bottom, as measured at the anchor on the bottom. The length of the 
mooring chain, between the anchor and the bouy, is the determining factor for 
this angle.  You can lengthen or shorten the bowlines all you want, without 
affecting the angle of the chain at the anchor on the bottom.  The only way 
that the bowline length would affect that angle is if the bouy is pulled 
under the water by the force of the boat pulling back on the mooring line, 
and thus straightening out the entire mooring line, chain plus bowlines.  If 
the bouy is big enough to hold up the chain as it is supposed to do, its 
bouyancy would be too great to allow this affect to be very helpfull.
B)The other disadvantage of long bowlines, is that the longer they are, the 
more likely they will wrap around the mooring chain or bouy, and chafe. Thus, 
I measure my line for the bowlines by the distance from the cleat on the deck 
to the chocks, then the height of the freeboard at the bow, plus the length 
of line I will need to make proper eyesplices at both ends, and then an 
additional two or three feet for a small boat, and four to six feet for a 
large boat, to allow for pitching of the boat
Is it alot of work to make bowlines like this?  Yes.  I like to splice, so it 
doesn't bother me.  The most difficult part is bending and attaching the  
hose at the bottom, thimballed splice.  But if you do this, you will have 
bowlines that can virtualy last forever, with the only 'maintainance' being 
replacing the seizing and tape or whatever is used to keep the hose in place 
where it wraps back around the thimble splice at the mooring end. No matter 
what you do, there is going to be chaffe at that point, but if you keep ahead 
of it, the siezing and the tape will be damaged, and not the hose, or the 
line that you are protecting.
the last question; one or  two bowlines? Ie; one extra heavy line, or two 
slightly lighter lines? Again, a personal choice, it seems.  I have always 
gone with two bowlines, figuring A) two lines will keep a more symetrical 
hold on the boat, and maybe reduce her 'sailing' back and forth on the 
mooring, and B) Considering Murphy's law, which  always applies on boats, I 
figure two lines have to be safer than just one.
One last consideration; If the bowline and it's hose are too big to fit into 
the forward chocks, a common problem on production boats in whch chocks that 
are too small are installed, you can either put in bigger chocks, or, bring 
the bowlines on deck on either side of the forstay, and make them fast to the 
mooring cleats.  Then, tie the two bowlines together with a good line, just 
outboard of the forstay. Quarter inch line is good for this, as it's small 
diameter will allow you to wrap it around the bowlines tightly, and tie a 
good square knot in.  Make this line long enough, and you can use it's tail 
to tie over the bowlines on the cleats as the saftey line, to keep the heavy 
diameter line from popping off the cleat as the boat pitches.
I know, I spend too much time thinking about these things; :),but I hope this 
helps.
Lee
Stargazer #255

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