Wee Barkie a pocket cruiser meauring just over 25' will it get me there

[PeterSibley]

A friend of mine who used to lay moorings in Moreton Bay, used to buy chain from Wanless Scrap Metal. It was called scrub chain, about 3/4'' thick links and heavy!

[PeterSibley]

I had heard they were going to allow more more small craft moorings at Boyds Bay. Would stainless chain be better or is there the danger of it becoming brittle?

Boyd's Bay would definitely be my preferred mooring .

[RFNK]

The rule is pretty much, the heavier the better. Any chain is strong enough. You want the weight for the ground chain and the secondary chain so really big chain is required. An SS version of that would cost a fortune and be unnecessary anyway as mooring chain lasts a long time.

Rick

[WX]

The rule is pretty much, the heavier the better. Any chain is strong enough. You want the weight for the ground chain and the secondary chain so really big chain is required. An SS version of that would cost a fortune and be unnecessary anyway as mooring chain lasts a long time.

Rick

Thanks Rick.

[auscruisertom]

Boyd's Bay would definitely be my preferred mooring .

Mine also presently several of the smaller boats are waiting for notification to be allowed to move to Teronora.

Rick The bottom block chain is very heavy barge chain and I was very surprised to hear of the wear ,then again its a sandy bottom in the river and moving 24/7.

[RFNK]

Right, I guess river sand would be pretty abrasive! Many years ago, I had a friend who managed the historical sites on Rottnest Is. They had a display there as a warning to boat owners, of mooring chain that had been abraded and corroded quite quickly there. But my recollection of it is that the chains were a lot lighter than those we use here these days.

Rick

[auscruisertom]

With an East Coast low generating 40 kn winds last week and another approaching I took the opportunity to check up on Wee Barkie.
Unfortunately she looked like she had been involved in a squirmish with both sides of her hull paint damaged the bow sprite bronze tubing stripe badly scraped , the cover Nellie sewed ripped to shreds and the Dolphin striker loosened . The 35 poundCQR also must have received a rather hard knock leaving its fluke mark on the hull.

Aperently two boats broke their moorings and where rescued at night by another yachty who then tied them up to the Fingal boat ramp jetty. I have yet to hear the full story and attempt to find out who was responsible.
.

This was the culprit that caused the damage to WB looks like the swivel was seized twisting the chain which parted sometimes today. I found Jaz drifting heading for WB once again since she did not have an anchor in her well I set my spare Plow after some precarious manouvering while avoiding two more collisions.http://<a href="https://postimg.org/...&#91;/IMG]</a>

[auscruisertom]

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[PeterSibley]

Thank goodness it wasn't bigger Tom !

[Phil Y]

You need a good swivel cannon on deck.

[auscruisertom]

A friend of mine who used to lay moorings in Moreton Bay, used to buy chain from Wanless Scrap Metal. It was called scrub chain, about 3/4'' thick links and heavy!

Thanks Peter might investigate that lead and get my head around pouring my own cement block and the setting it at Boyds Bay.

Phil the swivel cannon sounds good except I would be moored in a ships graveyard with another 4 coming loose this last storm, one big boat actually went out the bar then went aground on some rocks.







Phil I like

[RFNK]

It's not as easy as it sounds Tom. You need at least a tonne of concrete and you need to carry that and lower it safely to where you want it.

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Agreed Rick, my friend had a specially built barge with a hatch in the middle, a tripod and a chainblock to lower the mooring exactly where required. The mooring itself was a very large earthmoving tyre , filled with concrete with the chain embedded. Quite a project, especially getting it where required.

[Phil Y]

Train wheels are popular as mooring weights in Sa and Tassie. But I would not try to lay a mooring from my boat.

[PeterSibley]

Making up the mooring wouldn't be that hard but getting it into position on the the river bottom is a major logistical exercise !

[auscruisertom]

Making up the mooring wouldn't be that hard but getting it into position on the the river bottom is a major logistical exercise !

I agree while I have found a cheap concrete block source in Chinderah the details of placing it will need to be seriously refined. However I will probably not be drawing up an OHAS assessment

Funny story I heard today involved one of the alloy skiffs being used to transport a block becoming part of the mooring after the load shifted sideways.

[Larks]

What sort of weight is the block Tom? Depending on the weight you may be able to hang it over the bow of WB with a suitable sacrificial line that you can cut to drop it. That’s pretty much how we dropped the pearl net moorings when I was at Paspaley’s, but I reckon they’d have been substantially heavier than your concrete block.

[PeterSibley]

Marrison Hydraulics sell empty 44 gallon / 200 litre oil drums for $10. A disposable barge could be constructed with rope and used timber ...then dismantled over the site with a blade bolted to a long pole.

[skuthorp]

When I was putting in moorings for a second job we would buy old industrial machinery weighing more than a ton, crane them over the side of a jetty, float them with lift bags and tow them into position. The expense was always the heavy chain between them.

[auscruisertom]

What sort of weight is the block Tom? Depending on the weight you may be able to hang it over the bow of WB with a suitable sacrificial line that you can cut to drop it. That’s pretty much how we dropped the pearl net moorings when I was at Paspaley’s, but I reckon they’d have been substantially heavier than your concrete block.

I was thinking about a 1.2 ton block dropped in about 1 m of water where WB could then pick it up with the help of a high tide. However I am not sure what that block would displace once lifted by WB and wether she is in fact built to tackle such a big load.?

Peter thanks for the Morrison Hyd tip, yup 4 drums lashed together would handle that load.

Jeff I already have 6m of 13 mm chain so all I need to find is some barge or scrub clearing heavy chain for the block several shackles and a swivel. The idea of a lift bag definitely sounds more appealing than barrels.

[PeterSibley]

Tom, ring Duncan re the concrete block, he obtained a few of the size you need from the concrete company in town and used them as footings for a shed.

He could tell you where to get one.

[gilberj]

A concrete block should be easy to get. If possible get one with a hole molded in for your line. We use chain through the hole leading to a swivel the poly steel rope up to the buoy. At least 1.5 times maximum depth.
Hire a local workboat or marine construction company to put it out, they have the equipment etc. Last time I priced it out here it was $1200 for them to do the whole job ready to use. I would probably assemble everything and then get them to place it for ~$400+
You should plan a dive inspection at least annually, specially if you are in salt water.
I had a mooring fail, was the chain that failed...electrolysis...

[auscruisertom]

A concrete block should be easy to get. If possible get one with a hole molded in for your line. We use chain through the hole leading to a swivel the poly steel rope up to the buoy. At least 1.5 times maximum depth.
Hire a local workboat or marine construction company to put it out, they have the equipment etc. Last time I priced it out here it was $1200 for them to do the whole job ready to use. I would probably assemble everything and then get them to place it for ~$400+
You should plan a dive inspection at least annually, specially if you are in salt water.
I had a mooring fail, was the chain that failed...electrolysis...

The hole sounds like a good plan in addition to the chain .However our mooring prices are about double what your prices are,the last one put in for Jan cost him $ 2600 with an extra block after his 38 footer dragged with Cyclone Debbie.

Jan is one lucky dude when his boat ended up high and dry on the rocks with the flood, some unknown benefactor dragged it of the rocks and anchored it. But wait it gets better his Landrover was the only car that did not get flooded at the mechanics because it was up on the hoist.

[auscruisertom]

I am cautiously optimistic after checking the banjo fitting while replacing the fuel line between the fuel pump and the injector pump that I might have found the problem to my ongoing fuel problems.
There seems to be a fuel leak coming from somewhere in around the banjo fitting, with copper washers being the most likely culprit. Fingers crossed

[Phil Y]

Yay!!!!!

[MattSplatt]

That sounds promising. Good luck! :-)

[auscruisertom]

Still being challenged by WB engine changed the fuel filter and assembly then charged the batteries for over two hours, keeping my fingers crossed.

[brucemoffatt]

Good luck! Hoping for a breakthrough for you.

Sent from my HUAWEI CUN-L02 using Tapatalk

[auscruisertom]

Thanks Bruce .

[Phil Y]

Charged the batteries by running the engine? Sounds promising.

[auscruisertom]

What sort of weight is the block Tom? Depending on the weight you may be able to hang it over the bow of WB with a suitable sacrificial line that you can cut to drop it. That’s pretty much how we dropped the pearl net moorings when I was at Paspaley’s, but I reckon they’d have been substantially heavier than your concrete block.

I was thinking around one ton block craned into 2 m of water , then using WB with a rising tide to pick it up far enough to be able to move it to the new marked location . The other idea was to possibly displace some of the weight placed on the bow with a few friends and at least one slab of beer in the cockpit.

My question is could a one tone vertical strain hanging of W B very heavily constructed double bow rollers cause damage?

[RFNK]

I wouldn't do it.

Rick

[Phil Y]

I would hope your anchor rollers could handle that without drama, and of course if the block is in the water to start with, the weight on the roller won't be anywhere near a tonne. Subtract the weight of water displaced from the weight of the block. Not sure I'd do it though. You are going to be messing with some big ugly bits of chain and what not. I'd sooner make a raft out of say 6 of those blue plastic 200 litre drums and work out a way of using those to move the thing. But surely someone has some sort of a mooring barge?

[Larks]

I would hope your anchor rollers could handle that without drama, and of course if the block is in the water to start with, the weight on the roller won't be anywhere near a tonne. Subtract the weight of water displaced from the weight of the block. Not sure I'd do it though. You are going to be messing with some big ugly bits of chain and what not. I'd sooner make a raft out of say 6 of those blue plastic 200 litre drums and work out a way of using those to move the thing. But surely someone has some sort of a mooring barge?

In fact you could probably sell whatever you make on Gumtree to someone else wanting to do the same thing. When I was running the slipway at Cullen bay in Darwin I had a raft of six steel drums held together with a frame made from angle iron with an A frame over it holding up a block and tackle. The raft handled a lot of weight easily and was quite stable, I used it to level the slipway tracks by dragging it over the area that I was working on and using the block and tackle to lift the track to level and shim it.

A mooring block raft wouldn’t need to be as stable and the mooring line attachment to it could be under the raft anyway making it even more stable.

I do reckon if you went to the trouble of making something up you could pretty easily sell it on once you’ve used it for the cost of materials.

[auscruisertom]

I would hope your anchor rollers could handle that without drama, and of course if the block is in the water to start with, the weight on the roller won't be anywhere near a tonne. Subtract the weight of water displaced from the weight of the block. Not sure I'd do it though. You are going to be messing with some big ugly bits of chain and what not. I'd sooner make a raft out of say 6 of those blue plastic 200 litre drums and work out a way of using those to move the thing. But surely someone has some sort of a mooring barge?

My dual bow rollers are certainly up to the job in my opinion and given the present somewhat exposed moorage location on the Tweed there would have to be considerable shock loads imposed on the rollers between tidal currents wind and waves
I have considered the drum raft idea but feel it adds another element of resources which are still in short supply and risk in terms of placing the block accurately and then having to cut the rope.

Regarding the barge Chris has already indicated they will only set their own moorings the cost being $2300 for a 1.2 t block and chain.
When I eventually receive permission to take up a new location at Boyd's bay bridge the environmental conditions will be much more favourable and I may even be able to cut down the weight and size on the mooring block below 1t.