Mooring Setup

[SailDog]

Hi All,

Second summer with the 26X is rapidly approaching and this year we signed up for a mooring on Lake Massabesic (2561 ac). Water depth is 8-15 ft'. I'm planning on 240# (6) cindar blocks threaded on a galvinized chain. How does that sound? Also, what size chain and ball would you recommend?

Thanks,
Pat

[Night Sailor]

What are the maximum winds expected? What are the average and maximum wave height expected? Is the bottom mud, sand, clay, or rock?
What size galvanized chain? Are the cinder blocks filled with concrete or does the chain just pass through the holes? Can you dive on the mooring frequently to inspect the whole chain and each block?

Friction is your enemy. Too light a chain, or a heavy chain and constant agitation would likely cause the chain to wear through, or the chain to cut through the cinder blocks in a summer's time I suspect.

[aya16]

A bad experience, I had with using other than an anchor to temporarily Moore my boat for a week of camping.

I got real smart I had brought my dinghy and took 5 large rocks at a time out to deeper water in the nice cove we stayed at. Total of about 15 rocks tied and threaded together, they weighed about 20 pounds each.
all week long this worked great, until two days before we were going to leave a wind started up in the 40mph range, my boat dragged those rocks at a frightening speed toward shore. I borrowed a jet ski and had karen hand me the anchor I ran that out about a hundred feet and dropped it. It held, and the boat was saved from major damage from the rocks ashore.

My opinion, leaving a boat unattended, with just cement blocks would be scary.

You could use the blocks with an anchor system, But really unless the blocks were a thousand pounds or more I wouldnt trust it to leave it. The mac is very buoyant and would pick those blocks up like they were nothing if the wind blew up some good size swells. What does everyone else use at the lake for mooring? Im certainly no expert, Just had an experience.

[Bluecrab]

The Boyscout camp our troup uses has half a dozen or so day sailors in the 10-14' range. They were using multiple concrete blocks on each boat for moorings. A minor storm came through and all of the boats ended up on shore. Even the Sunfish.

When I checked with a local marina to rent a mooring, they wanted to know all about our boat so they could design it right. Could you check with a local marina to find out what they would recommend.

Fair winds,
Wally

[tangentair]

I would agree with the previous posts - one website that sells mushroom anchors calls for 300-500 lbs of anchor that has a holding power of 10 times that amount. Another web site in New Zealand called for 1 ton anchors for boats the size of an . I have seen motor blocks used for 16 foot fishing boats and the boats bounced them all the way to the shore in heavy weather. At the very least if you are going to use cinder blocks, use a double rig, cinder blocks weight about 40lbs so a group of 5 or 6 wired together and that group anchored to another group of 5 or 6. Look up a kellet and that is basicly what I am recommending.

[Kelly Hanson East]

A 300-500 pound mushroom doesnt just use the weight for holding power - it is designed to work it way down into mud or sand and get buried. Just replacing it in weight of cinder blocks wont hold as well and can definitely drag.

[Paulieb]

I also agree with everyone else so far, the concrete blocks are not a good idea. At our boat club there is strict guidelines for mooring rigs, this is for the safety of your boat and others.

My mooring also has heavy and light chain as well as a safety chain that hooks to the bow eyelet. There are also swivels in it to prevent the chain from twisting up and damaging your boat and chain.

Take a look at this as a reference:

[Nautek]

The last post of Paulieb's is the best advice but what it doesn't say is the mooring chain should have a scope similar to the scope if you were anchoring.
3:1 up to 7:1 depending on where you are mooring.
I would suggest a 1 tonne mooring block or similar as a minimum.
I used to manage a district with 800 moorings and the majority of these had 2 tonne blocks. These were for vessels up to 15 meters and some were in open water.
The other option is a screw mooring.

Allan

[K9Kampers]

Saildog-

Since Manchester Water Works issues mooring permits for Massabesic, they should be able to tell you what is appropriate. Also, Massabesic Yacht Club has a "Harbormaster" who oversees their docks & moorings and approves moorings before they are placed. Try contacting them.

[bastonjock]

Have you asked any of the locals? they may have some valuable advice as to what weight and type of anchor,also if the water is clear enough,dive down and regularly check the links at the anchor point,they can wear very quickly in chopy water,i also put a bolt through the top of my bow roller to stop my mooring line jumping out,i noticed that another mac had had its bow light ripped off by its own mooring line.

[K9Kampers]

Funny thing about Lake Massabesic, boating is restricted due to being a watershed for drinking water for the city of Manchester, NH. Sail & powerboating are allowed on certain parts of the lake. Two-stroke engines are discouraged. Sailfish, sailboards, inflatables & jetskis are prohibited. Swimming, wading & human / water contact while launching / hauling is prohibited. Diving to find or service a mooring is prohibited...the list goes on. But it is a very popular lake.

[March]

In some areas, arranging a permanent mooring might be prohibited by law, except in specifically designated spots. I was thinking about creating a permanent mooring area with several cements blocks and a buoy in the little cove where I usually anchor, on the local lake. The cove is off the beaten track so to speak and I anchor there for weeks on end. I called the Corps of Engineers (the lake's supervisors) and was told quite bluntly that a permanent mooring area is out of the question. There is one in front of the marina, they said, and several already assigned ones around the lake, but creating a new one is an impossibility. The fact that the permanent mooring places in front of the marina have already been taken did not concern them.
Okay, so I continued anchoring in the cove or even beaching the boat, when the water levels were appropriate.

[puggsy]

Here in the Swan River, the authorities ...and the insurance companies, now require that the ground tackle for swing moorings are put in by a contractor...basically, they no longer allow big concrete blocks or engine blocks or such stuff. the new system is to drill a hole in the riverbed, fill with an underwater setting concrete compound into which is fixed a stainless rod. To the eyelet on the top of the rod is fixed a short length of chain, then 20mm rope up to a mooring float, standardised by the authorities. the length of all this is determined by the water depth at the mooring. Mine for SEAHORSE IS RATED AT ONLY 80 CM. Two and a half feet. With tide it gets a bit deeper...and I am sure most on this site have seen the photos of the beautiful spot...too shallow for ordinary fixed keel yachts.
I would strongly recommend a contractor do the job...Any large weight loses its effectiveness under water..unless it is somehow dug in and pinned. The authorities are now very concerned at the environmental effect of swags
of chain dragging all over the place...ruining existing seagrass and such. Puggsy

[SailDog]

Thanks for the response folks. Like K-9 said, Massabesic has some unique rules, like "Don't touch the water." According to the folks over at the Waterworks, the public mooring field's rocky bottom has a pretty mixed collection of anchors; Danforths, tire's filled with cement, a 5 gal bucket filled with cement... You get the idea...

Thanks,
-Pat

[SkiDeep2001]

In the future will we have to hire a contractor to wipe our own bottoms after getting all the proper permits?