[zaneroni]

Hi
I've been reading this forum for a while and assisted me a great deal when I starting sailing my 14ft pintail.
I just upgraded to a 21 Santana and am a little nervous about sailing it and mooring it.
I would appreciate any advice I can get on the proper way to moor it. She will be on a very small city lake but the wind can whip around from time to time. How should I secure it properly to the buoy? Use rope or chain?

Also since I can't use gas engines on this lake, I must either use a trolling motor or use the tender dinghy and row her back to the dock in tow. very nervous about loosing control and hitting other boats.

any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

 

[zedboy]

Nylon for shock-absorption. With a snubber: WEST MARINE EPDM Mooring Snubbers | West Marine

If you're really worried, or you know something nasty's coming, double up your lines - to different cleats on the boat end (ever had a cleat pull out due to repeated shocks?).

You can double check and beef up the backing on your cleats, also.

 

[zedboy]

Oh, and at that size, you should do well with a trolling motor.

 

[34crealock]

Santana 21, a really nice sailboat. Only weakness was the rudder( the wood rotted) but just maintain it and it should be fine. I pushed mine around with a British Seagull motor so a larger trolling motor ought to be fine In settled weather. I used a 100 pound cement mooring in lake Champlain with 1/4 inch chain and a braided nylon painter with a rubber snubber. I installed a big cleat ( 10 inch with backing plate) on the deck and it all held fine. Enjoy

 

[blt2ski]

http://www.torqeedo.com/us/ makes some electric motors that would push that boat along VERY WELL if you can not use a combustion motor.

marty

 

[Minnesail]

Hi Zaneroni,

I see that you're in Minneapolis, so you must be talking about Calhoun, Harriet, or Nokomis. I have a Catalina 22 that I'll be putting on Nokomis pretty soon.

It came with a Minn Kota 74 lb thrust trolling motor that pushes its 2250 lbs around in any conditions you're likely to experience on the city lakes (according to the previous owner, this is my first year with the boat). It has a small solar system to keep the batteries charged.

I don't think I'd want to row tow your 1700 lb boat. Even towing a 400 lb MC can be a challenge if the wind picks up. It'd be pretty easy to lose control.

One thing I've seen some of the people with the bigger boats do is to bring their own little inflatable out and leave it tied to the buoy while out sailing. You're only going 50 feet from shore, so any child's toy would do.

And regarding hitting other boats… It happens. I've seen people rowing through the mooring field on Harriet and you'd swear they were deliberately playing bumper boats. I was out scrubbing my 22 last night and from the number of scuffs and dings it's clear it's been hit pretty often. Of course most of those hits are from light dinghies, you'd want to be more careful with your big boat.

(I love being able to refer to 21' and 22' boats as "big" )

 

[zaneroni]

Thank you everyone. I took delivery of the boat yesterday and am planning to put her in on Saturday, weather permitting.

The previous owner gave be what he had used for a mooring bridle and the rope on it seems like an over kill, about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Should that be okay or shall I try something a little thinner and a bit more flexible.

Torqeedo is a great product but boy are they expensive. I'm going to try to find a 50 lbs thrust regular trolling motor for now.

 

[zedboy]

More than 1/2" would probably annoying to work with and to fit around a snubber.

BTW it is possible to paddle a keelboat - with energetic crew, extremely flat water, and some patience. I did it at 3000+lbs displacement. And if there's wind, and you're on a mooring anyhow, you sail

I am trying to imagine how nice Lake Simcoe would be without the gas outboards and sea-doos. I think it's a pretty good tradeoff. Enjoy.

 

[JimsCAL]

The previous owner gave be what he had used for a mooring bridle and the rope on it seems like an over kill, about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Should that be okay or shall I try something a little thinner and a bit more flexible.

A mooring pennant should be as thick as will fit through your bow chocks. No reason for it to be "flexible". The big issue is chafe. Make sure you use chafing gear where the pennant passes through the chock. The absolute minimum size I would use on a boat your size is 5/8. And forget the snubber - this isn't like a short dockline. You have lots of shock absorption due to the long length of the pennant and mooring chain.

 

[Minnesail]

And forget the snubber - this isn't like a short dockline. You have lots of shock absorption due to the long length of the pennant and mooring chain.

The OP and I are on tiny city lakes in compact mooring fields, we only get to use a couple feet of line otherwise we'd swing into neighboring boats. I have one of those rubber mooring snubbers. Hmm. Say that twice. Rubber mooring snubber rubber mooring snubber. Sounds dirty for some reason Mooring Snubber

 

[zaneroni]

Thank you all for your replies. I moored the boat last week end after sailing it for a while. I only used the main and didn't even have to lower the centerboard. it sailed really nice in 10-15 knots wind. I will have to shorten my mooring line to a2 feet, I noticed I'm swinging pretty close to the boat next to me.

I'm taking her out again tomorrow, hopefully the battery still have some juce to power the 55lb thrust minn kota.
cheers