[davidpm]

A customer asked me how to safely moor this boat in a storm.

In the second picture you can just barely see the mooring pennant going to the starboard cleat.

Chafing gear, double pennants, a bridle, removing the anchor are all standard practice. But with this configuration I don't see how they will prevent the rode cutter on the bow from doing what it does best. I see no reasonable option, what about you?

What do you think, am I missing any ideas?

 

[tommays]

What happens when you use the bow cleats or add chocks

It seems to be the 100% solution in Northport

 

[davidpm]

While just using cleats is what people do the question was in reference to severe storms.
In that case if the boat swings side to side and plunges up and down the bow protuberances can catch the pennant.

The above boat seems to me to be designed in such a way that their is nothing that can be done to prevent it.

This boat was beached in a storm.
As you can see a very small protuberance was caught and broken and two pennants were severed.

 

[hellosailor]

david, I would say you have three choices:
1- Haul before any storm. Obviously what the builder intended.
2- Replace the crap on the bow with a retractable? removable? stronger & better? fitting
3- Possibly the simplest and strongest solution, install interior reinforcing and then a strong point / mooring eye down low to the waterline. Bit of a PITA to transfer the lines to it unless you keep some type of short line or bridle rigged down to it, but that gives you a strong point with nothing to chafe against it, and no need to undo and redo the current fittings, which are certainly of some use for lunch hooks.

What company built that huge daysailer anyway?

 

[BarryL]

3- Possibly the simplest and strongest solution, install interior reinforcing and then a strong point / mooring eye down low to the waterline. Bit of a PITA to transfer the lines to it unless you keep some type of short line or bridle rigged down to it, but that gives you a strong point with nothing to chafe against it, and no need to undo and redo the current fittings, which are certainly of some use for lunch hooks.

I like this idea. Mount a mooring eye on the bow, about 1' above the water line. If a storm is forecast, move the mooring pendants from the deck down to the eye. This will require a dingy or launch to do, but if the boat is on a mooring the owner must have one or the other.

Barry

 

[svHyLyte]

Add a bow "Storm Hoop" to the boat's stores. Essentially a circular hoop of 1" diameter Stainless slightly larger in diameter that the width of the bow roller assembly with welded tabs that align with the bow roller side plates at the center of the hoop on either side that extend fore and aft of the hoop and held in place with 1/4" fast pins. You might have to drill a couple of 1/4" diameter holes along the center lines of the outer side plates through which the fast pins pass but that will not effect their bending strength. The hoop will hold the bridle lines away from the bow roller assembly and, being smooth, should not chafe the bridle lines (although one would need to add chafing gear to the lines to be on the safe side). Not a tough fix and not very expensive considering the potentials.

FWIW...

 

[Zarathu]

Use an over size pendant with chafing protection(recommend YALE from Hamilton Marine: Mooring Pendant 1""-26' Maximoor II Polyester Stainless Steel they will custom make any size you actually want)

Limit the stuff the pendant has to go over to a bow chock.

Connect to a heavily reinforced(plywood and steel plate through decking) to a larger SS horn clean. Wrap the pendant where if comes out of the cleat with a small piece of line to keep it tight.

If winds are scheduled to exceed Tropical Storm, run for a very safe harbor, or pull boat from water.

Using the above, we've never lost a boat on our club moorings for the past 22 years, through 2 hurricanes for a few boats where the owner wasn't around to pull them or move them. We did lose one where the pendant was cut by a danforth anchor carelessly left at the bow and the pendant ran over it.

 

[DonScribner]

Assuming 2 bow cleats

cleat a line, pass through the pendant loop and cleat to the opposite side. Repeat with another line going in the opposite direction. The boat should be wearing a necklace now. Then, this may be stupid, I tie the ends together with reef knots. I think the front of the boat will have to shear to loose this setup.

 

[Zarathu]

Assuming 2 bow cleats

cleat a line, pass through the pendant loop and cleat to the opposite side. Repeat with another line going in the opposite direction. The boat should be wearing a necklace now. Then, this may be stupid, I tie the ends together with reef knots. I think the front of the boat will have to shear to loose this setup.

Does the necklace twist for you? And what is the significance of using a necklace on two bow chocks rather that just one over size pendant with chaffing protection on just one bow chock?

 

[davidpm]

david, I would say you have three choices:
1- Haul before any storm. Obviously what the builder intended.
2- Replace the crap on the bow with a retractable? removable? stronger & better? fitting
3- Possibly the simplest and strongest solution, install interior reinforcing and then a strong point / mooring eye down low to the waterline. Bit of a PITA to transfer the lines to it unless you keep some type of short line or bridle rigged down to it, but that gives you a strong point with nothing to chafe against it, and no need to undo and redo the current fittings, which are certainly of some use for lunch hooks.

What company built that huge daysailer anyway?

Beneteau 43 Sense (2013)

I like option 3

 

[davidpm]

Assuming 2 bow cleats

cleat a line, pass through the pendant loop and cleat to the opposite side. Repeat with another line going in the opposite direction. The boat should be wearing a necklace now. Then, this may be stupid, I tie the ends together with reef knots. I think the front of the boat will have to shear to loose this setup.

I visualize the bow surging up and down and sideways enough to catch one side of your neck less and cutting it.

 

[davidpm]

Assuming 2 bow cleats

cleat a line, pass through the pendant loop and cleat to the opposite side. Repeat with another line going in the opposite direction. The boat should be wearing a necklace now. Then, this may be stupid, I tie the ends together with reef knots. I think the front of the boat will have to shear to loose this setup.

I visualize the bow surging up and down and sideways enough to catch one side of your neckless and cutting it.

 

[davidpm]

What happens when you use the bow cleats or add chocks

It seems to be the 100% solution in Northport

It works fine as long as the bow doesn't surge up and down 3 to 4 feet what is what caused the loss of the boat in my picture above.

 

[davidpm]

Add a bow "Storm Hoop" to the boat's stores. Essentially a circular hoop of 1" diameter Stainless slightly larger in diameter that the width of the bow roller assembly with welded tabs that align with the bow roller side plates at the center of the hoop on either side that extend fore and aft of the hoop and held in place with 1/4" fast pins. You might have to drill a couple of 1/4" diameter holes along the center lines of the outer side plates through which the fast pins pass but that will not effect their bending strength. The hoop will hold the bridle lines away from the bow roller assembly and, being smooth, should not chafe the bridle lines (although one would need to add chafing gear to the lines to be on the safe side). Not a tough fix and not very expensive considering the potentials.

FWIW...

Very interesting solution. Have you ever seen this or better yet have pictures.

 

[JonEisberg]

Long past, I suppose, are the days when the owner of a $350K+ 43-footer already had a pretty good idea how to prep his boat for a storm...

As others have said, no great options for that boat, as is... With that bow knuckle/forefoot already above the waterline, and that amount of freeboard, that thing is likely to sail at anchor or on a mooring like crazy... If a real blow is forecast, I'd want to haul it, or at least try to stash it in a safe marina... It must have Dock n' Go joystick docking, no?

Whatever he does, don't have anything to do with that anchor roller, I wouldn't trust that thing in much more than a Force 5 or 6... Double pennants direct from the cleats is the way to go... the suggestion of a bow eye near the water isn't bad, but with the amount of sailing back and forth that boat will do, such an eye will have to be massively overbuilt to take the expected sideways shock loads... Anything undersized could be torn right out, then he's goat a nice hole in his bow just above the waterline

Hard to say without really eyeballing the boat, but here's what I'd consider. A combination of a pair of NER Cyclone Pendants and Yale Polydyne mooring pennants forming a bridle, to the end of which I'd attach a VERY heavy kellet of sorts, maybe 100 pounds or more, in an effort to keep the pennants below that anchor platform support. I'd also think about attaching a couple of drogues, buckets, whatever, to the kellet in an effort to reduce the amount of veering the boat would do... Hell, even a few old automobile tires might work very well for such a purpose...

But, as hellosailor mentioned, seems to be a common trait among much of the Latest & Greatest today, many of these "New Style Boats" are rather poorly equipped to ride out a real blow at anchor... The Marketing Department wins another one, I suppose...

New England Ropes Cyclone Mooring Pendant

 

[davidpm]

Long past, I suppose, are the days when the owner of a $350K+ 43-footer already had a pretty good idea how to prep his boat for a storm...

Some good ideas but what kind of cheap ass boat are you talking about. This one was 400k on sale because the guy that commissioned it changed his mind and went for the 50' model so the dealer had to clear this one from inventory.

It has a LOT of extras on it.
It does not have dock and go just an 8k bow thruster.

 

[Maine Sail]

#1 Drill two holes as far forward in the bow protuberance as you can.

#2 Rig a yoke to port and starboard side of protuberance.

#3 Attach the spare spin halyard to yoke it and snug it tight.

#4 When the bow dives, and is off to one side, the pendants can not override the anchor roller and will slough off the yoke..

 

[Hudsonian]

During Sandy the boats on Yale Maximoor pendants did not fare as well as those with three strand nylon pendants with decent chafing gear. A Beneteau 35.5 chafed through two brand new 1" maximoor pendants. The clear winner was the Cyclone Dynema Mooring pendant - no failures.

Boats that hauled fared worse than those stayed on a mooring. a nearby yard lost every boat they hauled. When I reapplied for insurance, the underwriter wanted a named storm action plan; hauling was not an acceptable choice.

 

[davidpm]

During Sandy the boats on Yale Maximoor pendants did not fare as well as those with three strand nylon pendants with decent chafing gear. A Beneteau 35.5 chafed through two brand new 1" maximoor pendants. The clear winner was the Cyclone Dynema Mooring pendant - no failures.

Boats that hauled fared worse than those stayed on a mooring. a nearby yard lost every boat they hauled. When I reapplied for insurance, the underwriter wanted a named storm action plan; hauling was not an acceptable choice.

Wow

 

[Zarathu]

During Sandy the boats on Yale Maximoor pendants did not fare as well as those with three strand nylon pendants with decent chafing gear. A Beneteau 35.5 chafed through two brand new 1" maximoor pendants. The clear winner was the Cyclone Dynema Mooring pendant - no failures.

What constituted decent chaffing gear, and exactly how was it that the Yale Maximoors chaffed through? Without knowing the details(also such as what the displacement of the boats was) I won't know how to protect my own boat on a mooring.