Ground tackle

[Paul Grecay]

Last fall I pulled my mooring anchor up because the harbor was being dredged. During the process, the light chain parted and findinding the mooring was a major problem. It finally came up when it was caught in the cutting head of the dredge. I will replace all the shackles, swivel, and chain but this time I will go to bigger sizes. However, the chain I was using should have been ok except that it was far east chain made in China. The problem with Chinese chain is that the rated breaking strengths are not consistent as with american made chain. They vary all over the place and as anyone knows, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Therefore, this time I will buy only american made chain which is of much higher quality and more costly. Most suppliers (such as Defender) sell the chinese variety which I do not want.

Can anyone recommend a source of supply? One of the Cape Dory owners around my mooring have learned the hard way that ground tackle is not the place to try and save money!

[Amgine]

• Baldt Inc.
  Laclede Chain Manufacturing Co.
  Acco Chain (now part of peerless)
  Hönnetaler Chain USA (German manufacturer)
  Olsen Chain
  Peerless Chain Co. (you'll likely want the major retailers page
  Pewag Chain (Austrian manufacturer)

and so on...

[Maine Sail]

Are you winterizing your mooring or do you use it year round? My mooring set up consists of 20 feet of USGC surplus chain weighing almost 24 pounds per foot and then 45 feet of 3/4 long link mooring chain from Hamilton Marine. Each winter my chain is dropped to the bottom and a winter "spar" or "cedar log" is tied to the chain via a rope. This slows the chain from rusting in the heavily oxygenated top 10-20 feet of the water. I get 4 years out of my top chain before I replace it and 10 years out of the USCG surplus chain. Do NOT undersize your chain! For a 28 footer 3/4 bottom chain and 5/8 top chain would be bare minimum here in Maine. Don't go by what breaking strenght is because certain links wear faster than others and the larger the wire diameter the better off you are. Also in a huricane or bad wind storm the WEIGHT of the chain is the MOST important item in saving your boat, not the breaking strength. When lightweight chain looses its belly (caternary) and snaps tight in a storm becuase it did not weigh enough to prevent it from "snapping" you might as well kiss your boat bye, bye. I used to work very closely with some of the best mooring guys in Maine and they will tell you when your lively hood depends on it, and you keep your boat moored all winter long, on an off shore island, there is NO substitute for heavy chain! The mooring pendants are the next most important!

So Chinese or not the weight and diameter are more important and if your not on the hook year round get that chain to the bottom and out of the oxygen!

Hamilton Marine is one fo the few places that actually sells true long link mooring chain. In fact Wayne Hamilton was the one that convinced Acco to make it in the first place! The Acco mooring chain is galvanized and embossed with "MC" on each link. Acco mooring chain also actually exceeds the nominal rating for wire diameter size. For example a Acco mooring chain marked 1/2 inch or .5 is actually .531 while many cheap chains are not even the nominal size.

A good mooring is cheap insurance don't skimp! If your chain parted by lifting the mooring it could have easily been your boat in the next storm. Again breaking strength does not matter it's the weight and the wire diameter. If both of those items are large enough you'll rip the bow of your boat off before you need to worry about breaking the chain..

Hamilton prices for Long Link "MC" chain:
1/2" 4.07 ft
5/8 6.35 ft
3/4 11.18 ft

[Russell]

Not sure how far Lewes is to Annapolis, but if its a reasonable drive, Bacon Sails has a terrific price on ACCO 5/16 HT chain, best I found anywhere. I do notice though that ACCO is what defender sells, I have no idea if ACCO is made in china or the US but I was under the impression that it was considered some of the best chain you can buy? Of course any chain manufactuer makes many different grades of chain, but its always stamped so you know what your getting.

[Maine Sail]

Not sure how far Lewes is to Annapolis, but if its a reasonable drive, Bacon Sails has a terrific price on ACCO 5/16 HT chain, best I found anywhere.

Russell,

His question was pertaining to a mooring not an anchor. 5/16 chain is not even enough mooring chain for a Typhoon let alone a 28 footer. You have to take wear into account on a system that is "up" for months at a time and 5/16 chain will barely last a full season with a 28 footer on it. 5/16 chain weighs roughly 1 pound per foot and by contrast 3/4 mooring chain weighs 6.3 pounds per foot. Which caternary weight load would you want your boat supported by in a storm??

[Russell]

I was in no way suggesting he use 5/16th chain for his mooring, I was simply pointing out that their price on 5/16th chain was the best around (thus likely they will have good prices on other chain). They are also probably the biggest supplier of mushroom anchors for the chesapeake region, one of the buyers at Fawcetts (a respected chandlery) told me that Bacons sells mushrooms for *less* then Fawcetts can even buy them for wholesale. Basicly, the point is, this is a Ma and Pop shop (literally, the woman who owns it is "Ma Bacon") that buys is such quantity that they can can give great deals.

So thats all I was saying, not "go buy 5/16th chain", simply that if Lewes is close to annapolis, then it would be a place I would highly recommend to shop for replacement. Sorry I didnt elaborate more.

[chase]

Acoustic,

That's real interesting. That's on the order of 700+ lbs running quick numbers.... How deep is the water where you are moored? Do the working boats in Maine stay in the water all winter? I just don't have clue what their season is. Do they use a mooring setup similar to yours? Is your mooring in a public mooring field or somewhere you can see it regularly?

I've tried to come up with some mooring idea, somewhere I can keep my boat for free on a well crafted mooring. I don't really need shorepower and could deal with the inconvenience of having to dink out to boat... Leased moorings do not seem to be as popular down here as they are up there. I hear many board contributors speak of ther moorings. It's mostly marinas down here.

The drawback to mooring is I'm a long way from the water.

Anyway, interesting to read about your setup. What's your source and price for surplus chain?

Chase

[Maine Sail]

From my mooring guy who does all my service. He buys it at a USCG auction. I actually have three moorings two in front of my house and one down at the Yacht Club. They are all a similar set up. My mooring guy says that unless we get a hurricane my moorings will NEVER see a load because the weight of the bottm chain can hold my boat 70% of the time. Yes many of the commercial boats stay in year round but most are out in the winter. It's the guys on the off shore islands who are most certainly in year round and depend on their moorings.

My water depth varies from 30 feet at hight tide a the yacht club to 25 feet at high in front of the house so at the most my ball is floating about 180lbs of chain..

[chase]

Forgot to ask about the spar. Is the log just dropped to the bottom and you dive for it in spring or is there a line and float attached to log?

c

[Maine Sail]

The log floats on the surface and a rope is tied to the chain which sits on the bottom and is protected from the high oxygen water and constant wear on the links from"hanging" from the ball..

[Paul Grecay]

Thank you very much for these helpful responses. My mooring is in 12' with a much smaller tide rise (about 3') than anything in Maine. Therefore, I will not need as much chain. The cove I am in is quite small and only has three moorings. Our harbormaster does not want us to be able to swing too much since there must be room for a large research vessel to get by the moored cape dories. He has suggested that I use 20' of 5/8" for the heavy chain and 10' of 1/2" for the light chain. Sounds like I should try to get the harbormaster to consider letting me have more chain and perhaps reducing the length of the pennant? However after reading your comments, I am definitely inclined to go heavier with the chain after reading your posting and get heavier chain. The mooring anchor itself is a 250 lb mushroom and since this area is all mud, they really hold very well. I used to live in Maine...Round Pond...lots of nice soft mud in the flats there too.
Annapolis is not far off and Bacons has about the best prices around, so I will check into their chain. I really don't know much about acco chain, but so I have some research to do there.
I pull my boat each winter, but I leave the mooring set up...and where we find the most wear is about 10-14' down where the chain is most subject to being lifted constantly up and down off the bottom by wave and tide action. From now on, I will put the chain on the bottom each winter instead of leaving the mooring ball set up. The heavy chain that stays in the mud always looks good because our sediments are anoxic and therefore no oxidation can occur when they are buried.

[Maine Sail]

I think the chain length will work but if that is the scope you have to work with bump the botom chain to 3/4 and the top to 5/8 or run 5/8 for the entire length. The worst wear point in chain is the lift point where it meets the bottom and the top two to three feet near the ball.

As for pendants, most people will never tell you this secret but, a dual pendant set up with two un-equal lengths like say a 12 footer and a 15 footer will prevent wear on the longer pendant thus saving it as "new" for the instance when your main pendant wears through and breaks in a storm. Having two identical length pendants means you have equal wear and tear and are only slightly safer than if you were using only one pendant. The Yale Cordage pendants are very good but I do recommend the model with the stainless thimbal.

[Maine Sail]

I was in no way suggesting he use 5/16th chain for his mooring, I was simply pointing out that their price on 5/16th chain was the best around (thus likely they will have good prices on other chain).

No problem just didn't understand the reasoning and now it makes sense...

[Oswego John]

or is it a Utopian setup for the mooring fields where we keep our boats tied up.

I do want to say a few things in regard to mooring fields that haven't yet been mentioned in this thread. I want to emphasize the fact that I'm not disagreeing with anything that has been said up to this time. As a matter of fact, I'm rather envious of the mooring conditions that those who have replied, enjoy.

If there are any words that go hand in hand with mooring fields (MF), the first one that comes to mind is "uniformity". The second word, arbitrarily, might be "compatibility".

There is a vast difference between the open spaces of a harbor in a remote area and the highly compressed, designated mooring locations in a MF adjacent to a metropolitan area near the water.

In varying degrees, depending on location, a mooring can either be set by an individual according to his own personal outlook on what is adequate, and by the specifications established by the local harbor master. In some areas, an engine block with an undetermined length of undetermined size chain which is of an undertimened length or scope may be okay for an individual. Not so in a tightly packed MF.

I was told by a harbor master many years ago that he compared the boats in a MF with a flock of doves on the wing. When the leader swerves to the right, the flock swerves right in unison. The same holds wherever the leader goes. This motion applies to boats moored in a tight packed MF. If the doves didn't fly as a unit, there would be mayhem. Same goes for moored boats. If they don't swing as one, there would be much trouble.

For this reason, the harbor master strives for uniformity in the MF. In any given MF, the boats are mostly at the same depth of water, whatever the tide is. The radius of swing should all be about the same. The scope, at any given tide should be comparable. Pennant lengths should be approximately identical. Quite often, one boat will be floating directly over the adjacent boat's mooring anchor. When one boat swings in any direction, ideally all the boats follow suit. Without this interaction, mayhem would result. Uniformity of mooring design is a must to insure this coaction of all the boats as a unit.

It should be evident that an individual should never attempt to haphazardly set his own indiscriminately designed mooring amidst other moorings of a predetermined design. It could not only harm his boat, but also do damage to neighboring boats surrounding him.

It is best to consult with the local harbor master, MF supervisor or club fleet captain before attempting to design and set your own mooring.

Yes, mooring scope, length, weight and size of material used all have bearing on a properly designed mooring that is compatible with the others in the same field.

I notice that there was little to no mention of electrolysis in the thread. If you don't have to deal with it, consider yourselves lucky. Look at the considerable money that you'll save in a lifetime on zincs

More on the subject, maybe later.
O J

[chase]

My cousins live on the ICW between Wrightsville Beach, NC and Topsail Island. While they have been very generous in sharing their dock space with me while their Hatteras is elsewhere, (for months at time) Jerry has suggested I set a mooring just off of his dockspace.

With them being there to watch Anne Freeman while I'm away, it would be a good situation. It also means lots of time to fish with cousins on their boats, trips out to the gulf stream and even fresh deliveries of Spanish just caught outside Masonboro and delivered to my anchorage in Banks Channel, my own bedroom, meals, Ok you get the picture. Having lots of family in the area is very special, even if the location does not provide the greatest cruising opportunities nearby.

Here's my main concern. The boat traffic at certain times of the year is relentless. Some of the wake is violent. I mean big boats displacing unreal amounts of water. A boat moored in this location is way more likely to be struck, by a tug/barge, a big motor yacht (one was aground there for hours one day and took considerable resources to refloat) or any old drunk ding-dong. I'm also concerned that with a spring tide and a strong offshore breeze, the boat could be grounded, even laid over perhaps. There is in fact a sailboat towards Wrightsville that lays on its side at low. The boat looks somewhat less than cherished but not abandoned. I really don’t like the idea of the boat bouncing of the bottom in 4.5' of water when a big wake rolls through, but with all that mud, perhaps it is OK.

Hurricane season would not work there. It is right on the Atlantic with broad exposure. I had some moderate toerail repair to do after Ophelia rolled through there and I would not spend Jul-Nov there.

Am I worrying excessively or can I move on from this option as it is really just a bad idea. If it is safe for the boat, it would save me a lot of money. In my line of work the income is meager, so I’ve got to figure something out for the long term.

Thanks for any feedback-

Chase