Bridle for Buoy Mooring

[maddata]

Does anyone have any advice on procuring a bridle for a buoy mooring for my harbor? I have always tied to a slip so I am a little unfamiliar with length and how it should be cleated. The sail boat is 30' and I am on a 30' can radius. I am also looking for an idea on length of the bridle.

[mgiguere]

Hi There:

I've been on a mooring for the better part of 20 years...some in Marblehead Mass (open to the NE) and 6 yrs on the Chesapeake Bay (Hartge's on the West River).

Although people say it's overkill for the Bay (not MHD), I firmly believe you should have two lines going to the mooring. Relative to the rope penant, I recommend 3 strand (1 inch or whatever fits the cleat). With 3 strand, you can braid the loop that fits over one of your deck cleats, and the other end can be braided to the metal cleat that is attached to the mooring (forgot the name of those parts). A braided penant is also not as strong as the equivalend 3 strand. The backup safety line should be chain that you can attached directly to the chain part of the mooring (often below the mooring ball---in the bay, rope is attached to the chain to go through the buouy). In MHD, there's no rope, it's all chain. The chain is your secondary line to the boat and goes around the other (opposite) cleat.
The attachments to the mooring are anchor shackles that are wire tied shut.

If this sounds like overkill, in MHD, my boat was hanging by the chain after the rope primary was sawed through by the movement of the boat in the no-name (Perfect) storm. Many other boats were lost. Even on the bay last weekend, it blew 49 knots.

Anyway, good luck. As far as line length, just make sure there is an approx 30 degree angle on the primary and an extra 30% length on the chain. Also, save yourself a lot of aggravation and get a pick-up buoy...then you can sail right to your mooring single-handed and calmly walk up to the foredeck and pick up the penant with your hands.

Good luck.

Moe

[sailingdog]

Is the boat a multihull?? Generally, you don't need a bridle for for a monohull. A bit more information, like the kind of boat it is would be helpful.

Bridles are often sized based on the beam of the boat. This is particularly true for bridles for multihulls.

AFAIK, generally, double braid lines are stronger than their three-strand equivalents. For example, NE Ropes three-strand 1/2" nylon is rated at 7500 lbs., but the 1/2" nylon double braid is rated at 8500 lbs. However, IMHO, braided lines aren't as good for dock and mooring lines, since the braid tends to chafe more than three strand does, and gets caught on splinters and picked apart a bit.

Chain is a good idea for the mooring connection, if you're going to be moored in heavy weather, since it is far more chafe resistant. But having a heavy nylon snubber on the connection might be a good idea to prevent drastic shock loading by the chain on the cleats or deck hardware on your boat.

[Zanshin]

I use a bridle for my 43 foot monohull because it ends up hunting too much with a single line attached to a port or starboard forward cleat. I used some thick line and braided a loop into both ends and a figure of 8 loop in the middle. The two loops go over the two front cleats and the central knot goes to the mooring ball. I intend on putting a stainless steel safety hook of appropriate size into that central loop when I get to a chandlery that carries them - that way all I need to do is clip onto the mooring connector and I'm done, right now I use a short length of rope to connect that loop to the shank on the mooring ball.

Here is a picture of my beta version which I did with old running rigging and where I used a double-whipping instead of a splice. This worked quite well and stopped my boat from hunting around too much.

[halekai36]

Surely you would not attach a 43 foot boat to your mooring with that. If you actually plan on using that please, please, please don't ever come to Maine. My boat was already hit once by a guy using similar mooring etiquite...

Here are some of the problems with that picture.

1) Running riging has NO elasticity and should not be used to attach a boat to a mooring!
2) Your splices are, shall we say, M-I-C-K-E-Y MOUSE and would not hold you boat in anything more than utterly benign conditions. That splice is perhaps 2% as strong as the line and flat out dangerous for a 43 footer!
3) You have no thimbal or any sort of chafe protection on the mooring ball end of this bridal!
4) The figure 8 reduces the line strength and could be a source of chafe!

The pendant below would be the bare minimum on a 40+ footer if you want to stop "hunting" use two of these at equal lengths.

MOORING PENNANT 3/4"-15' POLYDYNE *LQ* 137459

If you want more info on why I use Yale mooring pendants exclusively read the link below!
Pearson Triton #381 Glissando | Log for May 26, 2005

Please tell me he was joking guys...!!!!!

[sailingdog]

I'm afraid he might be serious... but his boat draws a lot more than mine does, and even if it drags, I can anchor in shallow enough water that he'll bottom out before he gets to me.

[Zanshin]

halekai36 - please reread what I posted. This was my beta version, I used running rigging because I didn't have the 3/4 line which I am now using. A figure 8 reduces the line strength, but the lines I am using now are oversized. I ended up splicing and whipping to a thimble in my final version and will put a ss safety hook on it when I get to a chandlery so no chafe and I just click onto the mooring ball.
I am sure the authors of "Stitch and Whip eye in plaited rope" techniques from 2 books on rope knots and whipping that I use would not consider their methods to be "Mickey Mouse". Your estimate of 2% is ludicrous. Please read up on this. The rope is stitched and then whipped with Marlow #6 and #8 waxed whipping twine. The breaking strength of that whipping is just less than a splice.

[sailingdog]

Zanshin-

One caveat on the whippings. They are far more vulnerable to chafe than are a full splice would be. If the whipping is damaged, the strength of the eye drops dramatically.

[halekai36]

My bad did not see the "beta version" sorry. I have read plenty on stitch and whip and worked in a rigging shop for some time. Yes 2% is ludicrous but lets call it poetic license due to an attempt at making a strong point. Either way I would NEVER use stitch and whip on a mooring line EVER as I've seen far to many of them let go in much less critical situations. Stitch and whip is fine for a dog leash etc. but NOT for a mooring but it's your boat so do as you wish...

[halekai36]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Zanshin-

One caveat on the whippings. They are far more vulnerable to chafe than are a full splice would be. If the whipping is damaged, the strength of the eye drops dramatically.

Let's not forget UV degradation!