Mooring ball & chain scuffing

[deniseO30]

Apparently, when my boat is out on it's mooring the ball and the chain scuff the hull.. The scuffings not bad but the chain or shackles seem to scratch the bow below the waterline. Real scratches, deep enough that they need to be epoxied eventually. (if it ever stops raining)

What can I do to stop this? some of the boats have the lines tied to the top of the ball, they don't have scratches. Mine are on the bottom of the ball. The chain on my mooring is too long because my boat really travels when its out there. Could it be the chain is going horizontal under the boat?

more info;
1,000 lb block, 20ft 5/8" bottom chain, and I think with the 5/16" mooring chain I'm up to about 80ft, The depth at high tide is never over 35 ft.

I"m a bit perplexed on this one guys

[Hartley18]

Denise, you didn't say how sheltered your anchorage is, but it's not improbable that your boat is riding over the chain if there is wind against tide. You'd have to sleep overnight to find out and then have a look when you hear grinding noises!

One solution is to slide a length of ~2" clear plastic tubing (the sort of cheap rubbish you get from hardware stores) over the chain for the first 15'-20' or so from your bow roller. To stop the "sleeve" sliding down the chain, use a cable tie through one of the links.

[Idiens]

Maybe your boat likes to snuggle up to the mooring buoy. Mine does, even against wind and tide, it rides forward to meet the buoy. I resort to hanging a bucket over the stern to increase the tide's drag.

[deniseO30]

Cameron, I like your idea! Idiens I'm sure my boat is snugging up. All our moorings are on the open river and next to an active shipping channel I like the bucket idea too but lots of river debris could be problem. Tradewinds We are told to use 2 lines from the bow cleat on either side. I guess one could be shorter. Thanks all!

[Idiens]

Originally Posted by deniseO30

Cameron, ... I like the bucket idea too but lots of river debris.

Well, after you have caught a suitable branch in the bucket, tie that on instead.

[soulesailor]

If you have 35' at high tide and 80' of chain that's only a little more than a 2:1 scope so I wouldn't reduce your chain length. Maybe you could increase the size of your top chain so it goes down more vertically. That way your boat would rub against the ball but the chain might miss the hull.

[TrueBlue]

Denise,
In areas of strong tidal flow, such as rivers, tributaries and sections of bays, currents often run counter to a varying wind direction - resulting in mooring ball to hull contact. If this is the case in your situation, perhaps a solution would be to increase windage by flying a staysail from the backstay.

[sailingdog]

Another possible solution is to add a "scuff plate" to the bow. This would be a thin sheet of stainless that would be bent over the bow and designed to take the abuse that the hull is currently absorbing. You could paint it with antifouling to prevent it from getting too nasty...

[USCGRET1990]

Originally Posted by soulesailor

If you have 35' at high tide and 80' of chain that's only a little more than a 2:1 scope so I wouldn't reduce your chain length. Maybe you could increase the size of your top chain so it goes down more vertically. That way your boat would rub against the ball but the chain might miss the hull.

You could also accomplish this by adding a weight to your balls anchor chain,
which should hold it in a more verticle position. Also, boats tend to tether better from a bow eye than from on-deck fittings.

[Hartley18]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Another possible solution is to add a "scuff plate" to the bow. This would be a thin sheet of stainless that would be bent over the bow and designed to take the abuse that the hull is currently absorbing. You could paint it with antifouling to prevent it from getting too nasty...

SD, I've seen boats ride up on the chain far enough to scrape the anti-fouling down as far as the top of the keel. In this case, a piece of stainless over the bow wil protect the topsides, but won't be enough.. the problem is lower down.