Mooring balls ????

[Divecoz]

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[James V]

Good Luck! The dead weight sounds good execpt in a real blow and waves and higher than normal tides. they move!

Are you going to live aboard? If not, see if you can get a secure marina to store and just splash when needed.

[Rick Westlake]

Looking at Google Earth ... I saw two marinas on the west coast of Cozumel, one up by the airport and the other about a mile south of the cruise-ship terminal ... neither one appears to have a ramp.

There might be some on the mainland, between Playa de Carmen and Cancun; I didn't scan that coastline as closely....

(And I second the good-luck wishes!)

Good Luck! The dead weight sounds good execpt in a real blow and waves and higher than normal tides. they move!

Are you going to live aboard? If not, see if you can get a secure marina to store and just splash when needed.

[bastonjock]

a popular mooring weight over here in the Uk ,are old engine blocks.If i keep my mac on a mooring ball,i take the line from the front mooring cleats,i sheath it in a garden hose as the rocking motion can easily chaff through the line,i double the loop through the mooring and feed it back to the other cleat.another safety measure that i use is to sit the line in the anchor roller and then to put a bolt through the top two holes,this prevents the mooring line jumping out and wrapping around the bow light.

[Divecoz]

Well I will continue to research and talk with those who may have had the same Dilemma... Our last Hurricane, which was Wilma brought 150 mph winds for over 24 hours ....30 foot waves and storm surge two city block's inland.
Yes as you saw there are two Marina's and both are full and there's a waiting list . There are 2, possibly 3 ramps that might be accessable .
The New Marina, with 200 + slips, is on hold for now half completed... The Big Charter Cats ( day boat trips for drunken tourist )....of which there are 5 on the island have always run for cover ... My friends two Catalina's , a 25 and a 27 both shoal drafts where in the North Maria when and a Big .....Sailboat broke loose, and ran them both down and then, it sank on top of them, destroying them both...

[craiglaforce]

If it were me, I would just get 3 huge superhooker or whatever type anchors you prefer and arrange them 120 degrees apart, lead the chain rodes together and up to a float of some sort. That way you can move your mooring if you need to without getting a barge crane to lift a heavy engine block or something.

Hurricane strategy would be just to go pull the boat out onto the trailer and get it to a reasonably safe spot on land. Ideally you could rig up a tiedown spot with some heavy eye bolts embedded into a concrete slab.

[puggsy]

Big blocks are a bad idea...they will hold nothing in a blow...so how about this...my old dad was a pioneer in the lobster [ crayfishing] industry on our west coast...and operating from very isolated spots...Build three big units made in the shape of a "T". Rail line is best. Make the long rail about 6 feet, with the cross piece about four feet. Weld it solid with stengthening fillets. A good welder knows what these are...corner strengtheners. Weld a solid ring at the other end of each "T". On each end of the cross bar, weld a triangle of steel 6x6x6inch so that when the "T" is lying flat on the bottom, the triangles act like downpointing teeth...At your chosen mooring spot, place the three "T"'s like a three pointed star, the the long arms [ and their rings] pointing towards the centre. Ring to centre should be about 15 feet, or more if you have the room and the amount of chain...run heavy chain from each ring on each "T" into a centre ring...and another chain from the centre ring up to the vessel...
The mooring we laid in 1960 is still being used by a rellies 18ft runabout...
If you get it hot dipped galvanised it could last longer
The idea is that whatever the direction of the wind, you are always pulling against an anchor...and the weight of the rig helps...there is nothing sticking up to punch a hole in your hull...like an admiralty anchor...
And this configuration is good for any area with a hard bottom where an ordinary anchor will skid...on a sand or mud bottom, after a while you will never shift them...hope this helps.

[Divecoz]

Puggsy: Your idea sounds good! Railroad rails would have to be done at night ....hahaha and you'll ALL be reading about it on the news within 24 hours
But 6x6x3/8 angle iron is very available. Two 8 foot sections welded together to form a T for the long part with another 2 - 6 foot long welded for the top .... add the teeth and install 3 of those on the bottom as suggested. I just got news that those 6 foot trailer tie downs that screw into the earth are available in Cancun so I could add 3 of those as well. I was assured they can be screwed into the bottom by 2 divers and I am a diver and have lots of friends down there who are as well. I'll be in about 30 feet of water. In the event of any real storms I just yank her out...... the two travel lifts go to the highest bidders first come with CASH first served, but I dont or wont need that with my trusty Dodge 4x4 and a trailer I already have.
One of my buddies has a lay down yard ( where I can store the trailer and even rent that out on a day by day basis) and says I can rent an air drill and (the island is pretty much solid rock 1 or 2 feet below the surface) I am welcome to drill 6 anchors set them in cement in the yard so my boat will be 12 feet away from his 9 foot perimeter wall. That should hold her to the ground on the trailer....in a Hurricane????

[islander]

Also have our 26m on a mooring out here in Mauritius. The blocks are ok, but the boat swings(Almost through 180 degrees) all the time. Any ideas on how to minimise this as getting very close to other boat alongside.

[puggsy]

Divecoz...angle iron is way too light...and when rust starts...and it will,,,it will not last...
Rail iron is the only real answer...also it is a different metal mix than angle iron...rail iron after all is under the wheels of trains in all weather...for a long time...

And you need the weight to keep it on the bottom when first installed...

To place them, lash them to the BOTTOM of a dinghy and row to their position...then quickly cut the lashings...of course with chain attached...if not then you have to dive on it to do the connections...

As to the swinging problem...it caused my first insurance claim...SEAHORSE was wildly swing but my neighbour was steady, having a fixed keel...we clashed and cosmetic damage done...
The only answer was to get a spot with plenty of swing room...I had to relinquish my mooring spot in one bay and was allotted another spot in another bay...and in shallower water...Our authorities here are very tough.
They are not permitting any more new moorings at all...but seem to be very keen to build more marinas with fixed pens...at a minimum cost of $3,000 per year. Getting a bit expensive...I was lucky to be even GRANTED a new spot...
and had to pay a contractor to put in the new mooring...the new type where they drill a single hole and fill it with special cement and a single SS shaft From that shaft a short line goes to the surface to a mooring float/ball. the circle described is minimal. And even though you 'own' the mooring, the authorities rent the space used...which this year went up 81%. At least i can swing all I want to now...

[Hamin' X]

islander,

Kevin has posted a repost of Frank C's method for this problem In This Post

There are other ways to reduce the problem, but this seems to have received the most "Thumbs Up", over the years.

~Rich

!	kmclemore:
	Fixed URL

[Divecoz]

Puggsy:
I may have to make do with the angle iron and replace it every 3 to 5 years or just go with screw anchors.. I wasn't kidding .....For me to attain Train Rail in Mexico I would Literally have to steal it off the rail bed of an active system! and No Doubt it would make the news..
Another fellow suggested 3 screw anchors forming a triangle come in 6 feet or so with chain to a Truck Tire and from the 3 Tires to a center ring where all three chains come together and up to a Mooring ball. Another islander says forget the 3 screw anchors just one with 2 or 3 Truck tires in series . I know how hard it is to lift a truck tire in the water and lifting them in series would effect a line snubber for Godzilla....

[Mrs_Skipper]

Islander, I have two words for you... Anchor Sail!




Our sits on a mooring ball in a place called Zephyr Cove all summer at Lake Tahoe. The place deserves its name and we had wild swinging just like you. The anchor sail has reduced the swinging to the point where our boat moves just like the motor boats moored nearby and it's always pointed in the same direction as they are. Much safer! I'd say the swinging was reduced by at least 50%.

We got ours here: https://www.bannerbaymarine.com/store/i ... egory&id=5

The next step we took was installing rocker stoppers on each side to reduce rolling from side to side. Also successful! We bought ours from West Marine and deployed 4 of them on each side with an 8 lb. mushroom anchor to hold them down. If this is also a problem for you, check out the thread at http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... er+stopper

[puggsy]

Divecoz....Are you based in Chicago...if so, is it possible to transport the rail to Mexico...And don't they have scrap merchants in Mexico? Never been there so would not know??? Puggsy

And Mrs. skipper...what a great idea...there is nothing like that here in OZ...but the price seems a bit steep...over $300 for a couple of bits of canvas?

I had a complete mainsail [ 7 metres x 2 metres ] with all the trimmings made new for $1,000, and there was a heap more planning, cutting, sewing, plus groove guides than in the pictured steadying sail. Its just too expensive...

[Mrs_Skipper]

And Mrs. skipper...what a great idea...there is nothing like that here in OZ...but the price seems a bit steep...over $300 for a couple of bits of canvas?

Puggsy, you might remember we've been working on the rocking and rolling problem that caused us to have a stay snap last summer. That meant we had to do an emergency repair with rope until we could get a new set of stays and spreaders (one got damaged when the stay snapped), then spend 6 hours (rocking and rolling on the mooring ball) putting the mast up and down getting the new stays and spreaders installed and adjusted. Not fun! And we aren't kids anymore... Of course everyone in a power boat sees we're playing with the mast and they have to zoom by for a closer look... more waves... We were just lucky that the whole mast didn't come down. So the $270 anchor sail and the $75 rocker stopper assembly we have just deployed this month seem like reasonable investments to avoid more of that kind of thing! But now it takes us a long time to get all this stuff deployed when we're leaving the boat and removed when we go out. I just put our name on the waiting list for a slip for next year. Expensive and in the past the waiting list was years long here, but I'm hoping that with the economy there are fewer people competing for them.