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Hurrah!! I just got my town mooring forms. I was on the list for 10 short years
The holding ground is deep mud. The helix quote was very expensive and I'm not sure that's my best choice for my area considering the deep soft mud.
I've decided to go with a mushroom anchor of 700-800lbs. My boat is only 30 feet but I'd rather go over sized now and not have to worry if I buy a heavier boat in the future.
The question now seems to be what manufacturer to go with. The least expensive are imported from China. With all the talk of inferior metal compounds I'm not sure what to do.
A local "expert" suggests that I don't go with an "all steel mooring" as they are more expensive and won't last as long in salt water.
Another "expert" claims that the mooring will not corrode if it's buried in mud so I don't have to worry about it.
I'm more worried about the eye. I will be installing 25 ft of 1.25 inch bottom chain and 25 feet of 5/8 inch top chain so I don't think the eye will get much wear outside of storm conditions. Is this a reasonable assumption?
Any suggestions about who to buy a mushroom anchor from? I'm in Connecticut.
Hi Rob, I set my own mooring in deep mud. I used a chinese made mushroom, but Acco chain and Crosby shackles. The eye on the anchor is so beefy that it is unlikely a boat of your tonnage(or larger, IMHO) and windage is going to break it. The lines will go much sooner, as will corroded chain that is mostly in the first few feet under water. Is it in a protected area?
On my mooring, the chain, shackles, everything in the mud looks like the day I installed it.....except it is muddy. I cut out 5 feet of chain before storm season this year, so that's a three year overhaul. I'm in very shallow water, around 5 feet.
I also replaced the buoy with a tube through center style, where the shackle sits on top. This is far superior to the kind that you attach the pennant underwater. My 7 ton boat just went through the worst of Irene on this mooring, it is a much lighter mushroom than yours, but in a well protected creek, and the anchor is buried deep, with the attaching shackle below the mud.
Good luck, and enjoy the freedom and ventilation on your mooring. I absolutely love mine, I'm so glad not to have to be in a marina.
I've decided to go with a mushroom anchor of 700-800lbs. My boat is only 30 feet but I'd rather go over sized now and not have to worry if I buy a heavier boat in the future.
700 to 800 pound mushroom for a 30' boat? In soft mud?
I call 'overkill'!
Overkill is not bad on the one hand but it will come with extra costs.
I'd forget about the Helix mooring for now and get a used 350 - 500# mushroom and beef up the eye of the mushroom by using a new shackle that you have welded onto it.
A lot may depend on your local conditions; how much fetch you get from what direction(s), how soft the mud etc. The weakest link in the chain is always a problem so you could get new chain if you wanted.
We use what is either a 250# or 350# use mushroom mooring in the Hudson by the Tappan Zee Bridge (soft mud) for our 27' 7200# boat and we survived hurricane Irene (with extra pendants attached of course).
Chafing gear is just as important as the condition of your mooring.
How heavy is your 30' boat?
Still sounds like overkill to me.
Yes, it's over kill. My boat weighs in at about 10K lbs. However, I plan on getting a new (bigger ) boat before I get a new mooring The new boat may not be that much bigger, but it surely won't be any smaller. I would rather just have a larger mooring installed now.
The minimum requirement in my harbor for my boat is 500 lbs. If I get a 35 ft boat the minimum requirement jumps to 750 lbs.
What part of the mooring field are you going to be located? I'm a real big fan of overkill in that field being that when a good southern wind blows through like it did with Rita, my boat will have a nice big target on it's side.
Or are you going in near the Mystic Shipyard East field? In which case, nevermind
Sounds like your harbormaster is conservative. Nothing wrong with that. For a 10,000 lb boat, my recommendation on most locations on Long Island Sound would be 350 to 400 lbs. Defender is located in Connecticut and has good prices on moorings, chain, shackles, etc. Big issue with mushrooms is shipping costs. If you pick it up, it will save you a bundle.
I would recommend one of the steel mushrooms with the newer design rather than one of the imported ones. The newer designs have both more surface area and more weight to keep the anchor lying down so that it stays dug in. Other than cost, there really isn't a reason to get one of these.
Regarding the size, if you are planning on a bigger boat soon, 750+ lbs sounds like the way to go. Even if you don't get the bigger boat, you will feel a lot better when a big storm rolls through. For comparison, I use a 500lb anchor on a 30' 10k lbs boat in a mud bottom. The test data for mushroom anchors is all over the place and their holding power is very bottom dependent so it may not be overkill if the bottom is not ideal. Unfortunately, however large your anchor is, it won't help your neighbors boat from dragging and hitting yours. It might be worth asking around and seeing what everyone else is using and how it works in the bigger storms keeping in mind that there haven't been any really major storms in a very long time.
5/8" top chain will require a pretty large mooring ball to support the weight, even in relatively shallow water. Hamilton marine has guidelines for this which should help here.
I have not looked at your harbor regulations but you want to put out as much chain and as long of pendants as you can and still be legal and not swing into any of your neighbors. Many moorings, especially in shallow water, end up with grossly inadequate scope if there is any storm surge. Having long pendants will help increase shock absorption in the system. Maine Sail has done some nice writeups on how to set up your pendants which would definitely be worth a read.
The minimum for a 29 - 35 ft boat in Noank, CT is 500 lbs with 25 ft of bottom and 25 feet of top chain. There is no minimum pennant length, but with 50 ft of chain I guess it doesn't matter too much. For a boat over 35 - 44 ft the minimum is 750 lbs with the same length of chain.
I could not copy and paste the entire table because it would not format correctly. However, the chain size requirements are just as hefty. Might be over kill but, better safe than sorry.
I'm going to the Newport boat show hoping to find a deal
The pennant length is important. It plays a part in the overall scope and it also provides shock absorption. Believe it or not, even heavy chain is not a very good shock absorber. A short pennnat will not be a good shock absorber either but a long one will. If you look at some of the more exposed mooring fields around, you will often see very long pennants for this very reason. Ideally, 15' should be treated as a bare minimum and 20' is much better for your sized boat. Just make sure that you don't hit any other boats because of having them too long.
There seems to be plenty of swing room so I'm planning on going to an over sized pennant. Thanks for the info.
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