Any one here have experience with mooring systems for lakes? I want to put a real mooring for our Alcort Puffer at the family lake house. In previous seasons their old Phantom was moored to a cinder block with a piece of frayed clothesline. ::rolleyes:: Obviously now that it's going to be MY boat out there, I'd like to upgrade.
Are there any special considerations for lake systems? Anyone have experience with sizing? I feel like the recommendations in the marine catalogs are probably a bit excessive for a small lake. I've never seen chop greater than a foot or so. The boat will be moored in a very shallow location (3-5 feet, depending on lake level) on a relatively shallow lake (max depth 67 feet). Prevailing winds blow right IN to the cove where the boat will be moored.
I want a reasonable mooring, but I don't want to put down a 120 lb mushroom (such as recommended by Hamilton for a 12 foot boat.) unless that is really required. But I was thinking somthing a bit more than a cinder block...
Lake moorings
-
- Boateg
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 9:09 am
- Boat Name: Dasein
- Boat Type: Pearson Triton 668
- Location: Portland, Maine
- Contact:
Lake moorings
Nathan
dasein668.com
dasein668.com
- Tim
- Shipwright Extraordinaire
- Posts: 5708
- Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2003 6:39 pm
- Boat Name: Glissando
- Boat Type: Pearson Triton
- Location: Whitefield, ME
- Contact:
A 50 lb. mushroom with some lightweight chain and line should work well. The boat doesn't weigh anything, has minimal windage, and even less "waterage", so to speak.
You could probably easily get away with something like a 20 lb. mushroom too, for this application. 120 lb. seems ridiculous here.
If the cinder block and frayed clothesline has worked successfully before, I guess you have an idea as to the forces (or lack thereof) acting on the boat!
You could probably easily get away with something like a 20 lb. mushroom too, for this application. 120 lb. seems ridiculous here.
If the cinder block and frayed clothesline has worked successfully before, I guess you have an idea as to the forces (or lack thereof) acting on the boat!
---------------------------------------------------
Forum Founder--No Longer Participating
Forum Founder--No Longer Participating
-
- Candidate for Boat-Obsession Medal
- Posts: 388
- Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:28 am
- Boat Name: Coquine
- Boat Type: Cape Dory 27
- Location: Montréal
- Contact:
Re: Lake moorings
The mud's way deeper and softer (in your favour, it will bury itself, if mud's what you've got).dasein668 wrote:Are there any special considerations for lake systems? Anyone have experience with sizing?
Engine blocks are great, that's what we use (sometimes they have to be steamed clean, i.e. environmentally neutral - $50?). Pass the chain through the cylinder, shackle and wire, and Bob's your uncle.
Cape Dory 10 & 27
-
- Boateg
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2003 9:09 am
- Boat Name: Dasein
- Boat Type: Pearson Triton 668
- Location: Portland, Maine
- Contact:
Re: Lake moorings
Actually, Bob's Tim's builder, not my uncle... ;-PDuncan wrote:and Bob's your uncle.
I think I can get a mushroom more easily than an engine block?but I think I get the point! hehe
Nathan
dasein668.com
dasein668.com
If you're a cheapskate... just triple up the cinderblocks and put some good 1/4" chains thru them and you're in business! That's certainly good enough, really. No sense blowing your cash on a mushroom anchor, really. Unless you can pick one up used at a really, really low price. You're better off blowing your cash on the rest of the mooring system.
Speaking of cinderblocks... There is a 13' Whaler on a single cinderblock in my cove. That cinderblock is wayyy too tiny in my opinion but my cove is extremely well protected... the spot where the Whaler is at, the waves NEVER go beyond 6" unless from other motorboats. 6" wakes only occurs in a storm with winds from the North. In all other directions, no matter how hard it blows, the water there is almost flat. That includes hurricanes. Seen 50 knots and that Whaler has never dragged that idiotic cinderblock. Mind you, I DO NOT recommend this, a better anchor is cheap insurance. But the point is that, a cinderblock is certainly enough for an Alcort Puffer. 2 or 3 cinderblocks is better, more is overkill.
I am a little embrassed to say this but moorings is kinda my speciality. I liked to make moorings when I was a little boy. Still do today. When I was 8, I made a mooring with a 15 LBS mushroom anchor. It actually held a 14' aluminum skiff with a 9.9 outboard thru 60 knots storms. Mind you, that was with lots of 3/8" chains. I certainly no longer use that 15 LBS mushroom anchor today... that is way too small. I cannot believe that it held in retrospect, really. For several years.
One last little thing... cinderblocks has one great advantage to me... They don't rust away. I have a mushroom anchor that was once 350 lbs or so. Its only 70 LBS now. I'm not kidding... I know it was once damn heavy due to the tall, tall stock.
So... Go to the local Hamiltions and buy 15 feet of 1/4" galvanized chains, 3 5/16" shackles, a buoy, 1 3/8" stainless steel thimble, and 10 feet of 3/8" rope and you're in business. If you decide not to bother with cinderblocks, I personally think that a single 25 pounder is more than enought. A cast iron version is $ 30, steel maybe $ 40. Everything should cost less than $ 100, mushroom anchor included.
Fair Breezes - Case
Speaking of cinderblocks... There is a 13' Whaler on a single cinderblock in my cove. That cinderblock is wayyy too tiny in my opinion but my cove is extremely well protected... the spot where the Whaler is at, the waves NEVER go beyond 6" unless from other motorboats. 6" wakes only occurs in a storm with winds from the North. In all other directions, no matter how hard it blows, the water there is almost flat. That includes hurricanes. Seen 50 knots and that Whaler has never dragged that idiotic cinderblock. Mind you, I DO NOT recommend this, a better anchor is cheap insurance. But the point is that, a cinderblock is certainly enough for an Alcort Puffer. 2 or 3 cinderblocks is better, more is overkill.
I am a little embrassed to say this but moorings is kinda my speciality. I liked to make moorings when I was a little boy. Still do today. When I was 8, I made a mooring with a 15 LBS mushroom anchor. It actually held a 14' aluminum skiff with a 9.9 outboard thru 60 knots storms. Mind you, that was with lots of 3/8" chains. I certainly no longer use that 15 LBS mushroom anchor today... that is way too small. I cannot believe that it held in retrospect, really. For several years.
One last little thing... cinderblocks has one great advantage to me... They don't rust away. I have a mushroom anchor that was once 350 lbs or so. Its only 70 LBS now. I'm not kidding... I know it was once damn heavy due to the tall, tall stock.
So... Go to the local Hamiltions and buy 15 feet of 1/4" galvanized chains, 3 5/16" shackles, a buoy, 1 3/8" stainless steel thimble, and 10 feet of 3/8" rope and you're in business. If you decide not to bother with cinderblocks, I personally think that a single 25 pounder is more than enought. A cast iron version is $ 30, steel maybe $ 40. Everything should cost less than $ 100, mushroom anchor included.
Fair Breezes - Case
-
- Skilled Systems Installer
- Posts: 169
- Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2003 6:21 pm
Nathan
another cheapskate mooring method is to cast your own out of ready mix. 6 bucks for an 80# bag of sacrete and bend a piece of rebar for an eye use a five gallon bucket for a mold and your in business. If you have a hammer drill you can drill two holes in a piece of granite and run rebar through that. I made one like that for some friends off friendship with about a 200# rock 10 years ago and its still in use. If the water is shallow be careful that the post on the mushroom can't come in contact with the boat. a lot of boats have sunk that way.
Brock
another cheapskate mooring method is to cast your own out of ready mix. 6 bucks for an 80# bag of sacrete and bend a piece of rebar for an eye use a five gallon bucket for a mold and your in business. If you have a hammer drill you can drill two holes in a piece of granite and run rebar through that. I made one like that for some friends off friendship with about a 200# rock 10 years ago and its still in use. If the water is shallow be careful that the post on the mushroom can't come in contact with the boat. a lot of boats have sunk that way.
Brock
- rshowarth
- Skilled Systems Installer
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2005 2:39 am
- Location: Los Angeles
Moorings
Our yacht club uses used train wheels. I am not sure where they get them. They have a low flat profile. The chain is looped through the hole in the wheel.
Read
Catalina 27
O'Day Rhodes 19 Custodian
Catalina 27
O'Day Rhodes 19 Custodian
-
- Skilled Systems Installer
- Posts: 279
- Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:34 pm
Growing up, we had some waterfront property on the ocean. When a storm blew from the wind use to howl in the bay from the Northwest - enough to pick pebbles up from the beach and hurl them 50 - 100 feet. Wave height approaching 6' during some of the heaviest storms.
The bay we were in was close to an active logging camp. The anchor of choice for moorings was a brake drum from a logging truck filled with concrete. We used boom chains and nylon for the rode. These were small boats (typically around 16' long). Never saw a mooring drag, although did see someone's nylon part once in a storm. I'm sure with all chain, this would have never happened.
The bay we were in was close to an active logging camp. The anchor of choice for moorings was a brake drum from a logging truck filled with concrete. We used boom chains and nylon for the rode. These were small boats (typically around 16' long). Never saw a mooring drag, although did see someone's nylon part once in a storm. I'm sure with all chain, this would have never happened.
Rick
Summer's Dawn
24 San Juan #380
Summer's Dawn
24 San Juan #380