Lake moorings

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dasein668
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Lake moorings

Post by dasein668 »

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.

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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...
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Tim
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Post by Tim »

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!
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dasein668
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Post by dasein668 »

Exactly my thought: how much does a cinder block weigh, anyhow? 15 lbs?
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Re: Lake moorings

Post by Duncan »

dasein668 wrote:Are there any special considerations for lake systems? Anyone have experience with sizing?
The mud's way deeper and softer (in your favour, it will bury itself, if mud's what you've got).
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.
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Re: Lake moorings

Post by dasein668 »

Duncan wrote:and Bob's your uncle.
Actually, Bob's Tim's builder, not my uncle... ;-P

I think I can get a mushroom more easily than an engine block?but I think I get the point! hehe
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Post by Case »

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.


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dasein668
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Post by dasein668 »

Sounds like my initial thoughts were about right. Thanks for the input!
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Post by The Good Goose »

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.

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Moorings

Post by rshowarth »

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.
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Post by Summersdawn »

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.
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