Mooring Pendants

rollo_cd26 · Post by **rollo_cd26** » Nov 22nd, '11, 21:38

Being new to the big boat world, I have a question about mooring. I am getting my CD26D ready for spring launch and I have rented a mooring at a local marina. I have looked at mooring lines and was wondering how this is supposed to work.

How long do the lines need to be?
How much force, i.e. weight should they withstand?
There is a steel reinforced eye on the end attached to the mooring buoy, but shouldn't there be an eye on the boat end?
Do the cleats need reinforcing?

Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Joe Myerson · Post by **Joe Myerson** » Nov 22nd, '11, 22:13

Rollo,

The marina that is renting you the mooring should supply all the tackle: i.e. the mushroom anchor or auger in the sea bottom, the chain to the buoy and the pendant(s).

Make sure that the marina knows the length, draft and weight of your boat. Regulations in my town require that a boat like my 25D (and surely your 26D) has a 300-lb. mushroom anchor. Since you're renting the tackle, the marina should put you on an appropriate mooring.

The pendant should have an eye splice with a thimble at the buoy end, and, usually, another eye splice at the boat end. With a CD, you will thread the pendant through the bow chock and around one of your bow cleats.

Be absolutely sure that you've got adequate chafe protection for the pendant or pendants where they pass through the chock, because that is the part of your mooring that is likely to fail. A chock acts like a knife.

Many moorings come equipped with two pendants: One should be about two feet longer than the other. The weight of the boat will normally be borne by the shorter pendant--if that fails, the second one will tauten and keep the boat from drifting free.

You might want to attach a pickup buoy, with a wand, at the end of your pendant, so you can grab the mooring without having to use a boat hook--but that's an individual matter (unless the marina supplies one).

Once again, the most important precaution that you, as boat owner, can take is to make sure that you have adequate chafe protection on your pendant.

I hope this will help.

Good luck,

--Joe

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Nov 22nd, '11, 23:04

I don't have a pick up float. Instead I tie a small net float to each of the pendant eyes. They are painted white and have reflective tape wrapped around them. They make my mooring easy to pick out weather it is night or day. The floats keep the eyes near the surface so it is simple to pick them up with a boat hook. They lay on the deck right next to the cleat and never roll around or get in the way.

Our yard supplies the pendants and they are heavy duty, Steve.

Carl Thunberg · Post by **Carl Thunberg** » Nov 23rd, '11, 08:57

Carl Thunberg · Post by **Carl Thunberg** » Nov 23rd, '11, 08:57

Your deck cleats should be adequately backed already. You shouldn't need any additional reinforcement.

As Joe suggested, the marina may have rules regarding what type of mooring tackle/pendant configuration they require. The following assumes you have a choice.

This will put me squarely at odds with some people on this Board who feel strongly otherwise, but I have always used only one pendant. Assuming the mooring field is reasonably protected, one well-maintained pendant with good chafe protection is really all you need. Two pendants have a tendency to get twisted, which accelerates chafe. With one pendant, you completely eliminate any possibility of twist.

Maine Sail makes a compelling argument for two pendants, and he has a lot of "street cred". Use the search feature and scroll through the archives. You'll find this topic has been kicked around quite a bit. If you decide to use two pendants, make sure you do it right.

Joe Myerson · Post by **Joe Myerson** » Nov 23rd, '11, 10:36

Carl,

I've always used one pendant as well, but I add an extra "security line" whenever a hurricane or tropical storm is predicted. My little harbor is a totally enclosed salt pond, but not everyone can enjoy such protection.

When I was growing up nobody used two pendants, but I notice that the marinas in my area all provide two pendants now.

--Joe

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Nov 23rd, '11, 16:05

When I was at a mooring, I used a swivel at the ball when using three ply twisted pendant. Some told me that it wasn't necessary but I always slept well by using one.

Gobble, gobble

O J

GLutzow · Post by **GLutzow** » Nov 23rd, '11, 17:18

I have a swivel above and below the ball with two pendants. We get some interesting summer squalls here in Florida and having the boat go walk-about without me would spoil the week.

Steve Laume · Post by **Steve Laume** » Nov 23rd, '11, 18:05

My mooring field can get to rocking and rolling a bit. I view the pendant as the weakest link in the mooring equation. With any system that is critical to the well being of the boat, redundancy is not a bad thing.

I can easily deal with the twist for the added security that two pendants provide. I have never noticed any chafing of the lines in the twisted area. A lot of twists may put some additional stress on the line where it goes through the chock but it never seems significant. I untwist from time to time and having a back up line give me a lot of peace of mind, Steve.

jim trandel · Post by **jim trandel** » Nov 25th, '11, 12:44

During the Oct 19, 2011 wind storm in Chicago's Monroe Harbor, my pendant (2 yrs old) chaffed through one line of the double harness, although the stem fitting was polished smooth and the lines equipped with chaffing protectors and the swivel connector to prevent twisting.

The rule in the Chicago Monroe Harbor is to Replace pendants every 3 years. Mine will be replaced early for the next season.
Best regards
Jim Trandel

http://secondwindcdtyphoon.shutterfly.com/pictures/10

Markst95 · Post by **Markst95** » Nov 25th, '11, 16:01

Jim- My Pennant is almost identical to yours but i haven't use a swivel. I even use the sanitation hose for chafe protection which works great! I tie the two together every foot for the first six feet. What size line do you use? I had 9/16th on last season but switched to 1/2 this year to better fit on the cleat. I make them up myself so its cheap enough to replace them every year.

GLutzow · Post by **GLutzow** » Nov 25th, '11, 20:23

I replace my pendant every year here in Florida. I use 5/8" line and run it through 3/4" hose. To date, I have yet to have either pendant chaff through even during tropical storms with winds gusting 70mph+. I figure, "if it ain't broke, I ain't gonna fix it"!

jim trandel · Post by **jim trandel** » Nov 25th, '11, 21:14

Hi Mark,
I use a 5/8" line, 12ft long with 3/4" chaffing hoses. The hose is fastened into the line with whipping line to prevent movement between the line & hose and to keep its position to the stem fitting. The thickness or diameter of the line & hose is an interference fit in the stem fitting opening so I think you may have something with going to the smaller Dia. 1/2" line to fit the stem fitting. I am moored only 3 cans away from the inner harbor breaker wall where 10ft. waves were experienced (20ft. on the outer harbor wall). I believe it was the wave height and period that did the pendant harm and not so much the wind. Also note that 20 boats broke from their mooring while an additional 9 boats sunk in the harbor during this storm warning. Quite a storm!! Very lucky!
Best regards,
Jim Trandel

Klem · Post by **Klem** » Nov 27th, '11, 09:37

The purpose of the pendant(s) is to provide a connection between the boat and the chain which also provides shock absorption. You are wise to be worried about having proper pendants because the most common causes of boats breaking free are chafed pendants, dragging anchors and rust weakened chains.

Pendant length is determined by scope and shock absorption. At the absolute minimum, the pendants must have as much scope as the rest of the system. To get this, multiply the height of the bow above the water by the scope (usually ~2.5) and add the distance from the bow cleats to the bow chocks. More scope will not hurt unless it causes you to hit another boat so always give yourself some extra if possible. The pendant serves the purpose of providing most of the shock absorption in the system during extreme weather and this is directly related to the length. The amount that a pendant will stretch is directly proportional to the length so longer is better. If you are in a protected harbor where there are never going to be large waves, having a pendant with sufficient scope should be adequate. In a harbor where significant waves can roll through, a much longer pendant will be required (sometimes 20'+).

Pendant diameter affects the strength, chafe resistance and shock absorption. A larger diameter will be stronger and extra strength will never hurt you. To get an idea of the loads that you will likely see, the ABYC recommends designing to a load of 2100 lbs for a permanent mooring for your boat. Nylon rodes have been shown to fail at significantly lower loads than their rating under cyclic loading so a minimum of a 5X safety factor should be used (design for 10,000lbs+). It is worth noting that the strength of a given line falls dramatically as it ages in the sun so regular replacement is necessary. Diameter in itself does not change the chafe resistance but it allows for much more chafe to occur before there is a failure. It is possible to accelerate chafe if the line is too large and will not fit in the chocks though. From a chafe and strength standpoint, you should use the largest diameter line that will fit through your chocks. From the standpoint of shock absorption, a smaller line is preferable because it will stretch more. The decreased stretch of a larger diameter can be made up for by increasing length. If it were me and you were not in an extremely exposed spot, I would be looking either at 5/8" Yale Polydyne Pendants or 3/4" 3 strand nylon.

There is lots of debate over how to set up your pendant(s). A single pendant is easier to use and will not twist up. 2 pendants with one a few feet longer than the other provides additional security (often in the form of taking longer to chafe through) but can twist up. Regardless of how many pendants are used, an oversized swivel attached to a thimble spliced into the pendant(s) is necessary to prevent twisting. If 2 are used, they should be seized together every few feet. Floats ever few feet along the pendant(s) will prevent them from wrapping around the mooring ball. Where the pendants attach to the chain is another source of debate and there are strong arguments for above the ball and below the ball.

Additional precautions must be taken to prevent chafe. This starts with getting rid of any sharp corners or edges that the pendants could come in contact with including anchors. Removing the anchor from the bow after every sail is ideal and certainly necessary if there is a storm coming or you will be unavailable to remove it if one pops up. Chafe gear on the pendants themselves if important as well. It used to be that most people used hose of some form but when failures were examined, it was noticed that the pendants had usually overheated and melted some. Nowadays, most experts recommend chafe gear that will allow rain/spray to penetrate and cool the line. There are some commercially available products that do this but you can also make your own out of tubular webbing slid over the line before you splice it.

In addition to all of the advice posted on this board, meeting your harbormaster's regulations is important. Most harbors have good requirements although a few are really bad.

Maine Sail · Post by **Maine Sail** » Nov 27th, '11, 09:57

Klem wrote: To get an idea of the loads that you will likely see, the ABYC recommends designing to a load of 2100 lbs for a permanent mooring for your boat. Nylon rodes have been shown to fail at significantly lower loads than their rating under cyclic loading so a minimum of a 5X safety factor should be used (design for 10,000lbs+).

It should be noted that in order to see the 2100 pounds the ABYC suggests can happen, for loads to deck fittings, the submerged weight of the mooring must be far more than the 2100 pounds..

Here's one suggestion for deadweight moorings by the town of Rockport, MA.

"It is recommended that the weights indicated be submerged weight of the deadweight anchor. Use the following table to calculate required weight of material submerged. Consult with the Harbormaster before purchasing gear.

Minimum deadweight mooring weight:

Vessel length:

10 - 17 1000 lbs.
18 - 26 1500 lbs.
27 - 35 3000 lbs.
36 - 45 4000 lbs.
45 - 55 5000 lbs.

Submerged Weight Calculations

Concrete = required weight /.55 (example 1000 lbs./.55 = 1818 lbs.)
Granite = required weight /.64"

Also we have used dual unequal length pendants for nearly 20+ years. When properly installed twist is a non issue and we are in a mooring field where twist is an issue due to tidal and wind shifts..

We always have a brand new, unloaded pendant ready for use if the first one should chafe through.

Klem's advice is spot on. Use the largest and longest pendant/pendants that can fit through your chocks and cleats. if your harbor is exposed dual un-equal lengths pendants can come in very handy..

Just ask this guy how much he likes dual pendants....

Both Pendants Still Intact:

And down......

And up...

And snap...!

This time he got lucky with just one pendant..

The Cape Dory Board

Mooring Pendants

Mooring Pendants

Check with the marina

Duplicate Post - Deleted

One Pendant

One Pendant

swivel

Mooring Pendant

replacement

Mooring Pendant