G'day Rog. Is that a polyprop rope that floats?

Not saying this is your situation but I have a couple of moorings near me, boats with high bows, that have metres of rope that floats on the surface. In any sort of chop you don't realize it is there. I try to go downwind of the mooring buoys to avoid such ropes but I can't always do it, especially when the mooring is floating near the down wind boat because of the excessive mooring rode.

good to see your stack worked weel Dr Rog

Ramona said..
If you use a rope riser you only need about 500mm of rope from the buoy to the riser where it goes over the bow roller. Just enough so that your buoy can hang off the bow rail to display your rego number for the mooring. This is for NSW people.

To clarify, Ramona, you reckon I can reduce that 2-3 metres of line (from the large spliced eye that goes over the cleat to the buoy) down to 500mm?

And I could increase the diameter also, I assume?

While we're here, I'm thinking that one of those buoys with the pole through designed for easy retrieval without a boat hook ('mast buoys'?) would increase visibility to other boats? Especially with some fluoro flag on top. My wife asked for one when we first got the boat but I told her it would only dumb us down for picking up other moorings. Any opinions on these? Only see them occasionally.

My rope to the buoy is about 500mm of 10mm braid. It attaches to the riser about a metre from the end of the loop. My riser is 50mm Seagreen poly and floats so the loop is on the surface close behind the buoy. The riser is way too thick and I have been going to switch to 25mm nylon. Normally my tender is left at the mooring so returning I usually just park alongside and either pick up the loop or just the tender painter. The painter is tied to the buoy ring. MY tender is a catamaran and the painter is off one bow so its like parking against a wharf.

My mooring is in a fairly hot spot for amateur fishermen and they don't care what they run over!

DrRog said..
Thank you MB, R, and Uncle Bob. Yes, Bob, we do and what I'm after is a new pick up line - the old one just left me a lonely, washed-up buoy. [boom - tish!]

I had a pole but it disappeared one day. Very handy and I will put another one on when I get the chance.

Cheers MB and Sam.

I bought a white foam float with a hole through it today. I assume I can just stick some conduit through it, weight the bottom and maybe spray the float with Plasti Dip or something? Anyone else DIY'ed one?

DrRog said..
Cheers MB and Sam.

I bought a white foam float with a hole through it today. I assume I can just stick some conduit through it, weight the bottom and maybe spray the float with Plasti Dip or something? Anyone else DIY'ed one?

Exactly what I did. I kept the pole separate from the buoy for ease of stowage on deck.

Nice set up, Bob. Thanks.

Well, an interesting Post Script to this story; I employed a mooring contractor who has scuba divers to retrieve the line. Rough quote: $200. I wasn't well and needed it done so went ahead. Invoice: $275.

When I inspected the main riser line I found it had been twisted until it had multiple deformations. Strangely, the clear tubing had disappeared and the eye splice had been redone in a somewhat bodgy manner:







The contractor who retrieved it stated that they didn't modify it at all. Huh? So the only thing I can surmise is that someone has run over it and got it caught in their prop and twisted it and mutilated the eye splice and tubing. Then they've tried to rectify it by re-splicing the line then either dropped it overboard unattached to the buoy or dropped it over connected to the buoy by a few strands which subsequently broke. Despite their efforts to rectify it, they failed and cost me money. They had my mooring number so they could have got in touch and done the right thing.

So then I'm left with a rope that needs rectifying and a report from the mooring contractor (whom I had not used before) stating I need the chain replaced with photos of chain worn through to about 25%. That's weird because I'd had the mooring lifted and dropped by my usual contract only 6 weeks prior. The whole thing was just getting weirder and weirder.

So i call my usual contractor and explain the situation and forward the photos. He says he'll have a look asap. Next day he lifts it and finds that the worn chain is ground chain for weight only - there is another length of chain for strength beginning and terminating at the same places so, no, the chain does not need replacing. So he replaces the length of rope and splices it and tells me that because of all the stuffing around I've had that he will not be charging me at all. How many times in the marine industry have you heard the phrase, "No charge"???

I cannot tell you how difficult and confusing it was dealing with the other company; conflicting messages depending on who you spoke to and I'm sure I would have been up for another $500 or so by the time they'd serviced the mooring unnecessarily. I should have called my usual guys straight away despite the fact they don't have a scuba service - they could probably have retrieved it anyway.

Hi all

On my mooring the main riser runs through a large float and above the float is a protective sleeve where it sits over the bow roller and a spliced eye

I like the idea of the riser running freely inside the large float because thereby is always tension (the weight of the chain) on the riser when there is no wind so it sits securely on the bow roller

Spliced on to the eye is around a meter of lighter line with a small float on the end of it

It is easy to pick up with the boat hook because you just aim between the two floats and the two floats make it nice and visible to anyone who is motoring around the moorings

Regards Don

Hi Ramona

i normally use the meter or so of pickup buoy rope to close the eye up and lock the eye over the post on the boat

In the photo I have it half secured

Regards Don