Mooring advice needed

[CascoBay]

Hi everyone, I have always kept my boat in a marina but the rising cost has forced me out on a mooring at a public beach. I have purchased all my gear as follows:

-300 lbs American mushroom
-3/4" shackle for the mushroom to chain connection
-30' of 3/4" mooring chain
-15' of 1/2" mooring chain attached via 5/8" shackle to the 3/4" chain
-3/4" swivel at the top under the mooring buoy attached to the 1/2" chain via 5/8" shackle
-18" inflatable mooring ball

All the hardware is good quality American made.

The question I have is, I am going to attach the boat to the mooring via 12' of 5/8" 3 strand line, I need some recommendations as to how I should rig this to the swivel.

Here are a few scenarios I have come up with, the best being to obtain a large 1 1/4" shackle that will allow 2 lines to ride next to one another without fighting each other (I will bind them together at the shackle to avoid chafe). The shackle seen in the last photo is 3/4". Is this a common method?

What do you guys think I should do?








Also, let me come clean, I do not have a sailboat but a powerboat, however I have been reading this site for months now and know I can get the right answers here.

Here is a photo of my bow:



I am going to attach a line on each port and starboard cleat, but make one longer then the other to serve as a backup. Is this a good idea Recommendations would be great!

[CascoBay]

I just checked the price on an american 1 1/4" shackle- $99 bucks! China model is $45.

Also found out my american made shackles are actually from canada, interesting!

[CascoBay]

One more thought- would I be better off hooking the mooring line to the bow eye? This would eliminate the need to even get on the bow when picking up the mooring since I could connect and disconnect from the cockpit. When not in use I could tie it off to a rear cleat or head to the bow to hang it neatly off the railing.

The downside would be that the mooring ball connection (under the ball) would be difficult to make unless I made a short 5' pennant to hook to.

The other thing is a snap would need to be employed to make the connection to the ball.

[sailortjk1]

First thought I had is I would ask a rigger if he could splice the thimble and eye directly to the swivel and eliminate the extra shackles. My opinion, the less parts you have the less chance of failure.

[CascoBay]

That is certainly an idea- and it seems like it would work well. I do all my own splicing, so the only problem would be opening up the thimble to slide it into the swivel.

Good idea, thanks.

[fordo]

I would not hook it to the bow eye. The snap will be (by far) the weakest link. Also, as I understand your plan there would be a line from the bow eye back to the cockpit. At some point that line is bound to come loose and go over the side, possibly ending up in the prop.

I would also have both pennants cleated with the same tension. this keep the boat from "sailing" back and forth on the mooring, preventing chafe. It is also a stronger system.

I'm not sure from your pictures but if you don't have bow chocks you may want to add them to prevent chafe.

[CascoBay]

Thanks for the thoughts. Where would I put bow chocks on this boat? There isn't room to put them anywhere?

[sailingdog]

Instead of using two separate lines I would highly recommend using a single line that is 25' long of octo-plait or 12-plait and use a locking brummel splice in the center of it. Using this bridle reduces the number of thimbles that need to be connected to the swivel and gives you the redundancy you are looking for.

I would also recommend getting about 10' of 2" tubular webbing, preferably spectra or dyneema if possible, and cutting it in half and putting a 5' long section over each side of the bridle as chafe protection. In the future, it might be worth considering moving the existing cleats inboard a bit and adding bow chocks to the foredeck along with stainless steel rub strakes to protect the fiberglass, as I've done.

[tommays]

Down this way you have to have TWO lines from the ball to the boat and the swivel is allways a weak point

I find as long as i use the boat once a week to 10 days the lines dont wind up to tight without a swivel

And you will need some saftey wire on the shackles

[CascoBay]

I still don't see how chocks would do anything in this situation? It would not change anything?