Hi

I'm on a swinging mooring this year and I'm interested in the best way to reduce the amount of swinging the boat does.

Limitations are that both the keel and rudder will be up due to tidal restrictions and I don't have time at the moment to make a dummy rudder to hold the position.

This type of leaves two option that I know of, these being a bucket or an old tyre. The questions are:
- what type of bucket?
- Should you drill holes in the bucket and is so what size and how many?
- What type of bridal is fitted to the bucket?
- Should you use the whole tyre and drill holes in it or not or should you cut a section out?
- What type of bridal is fitted to the tyre (tied at one point in the middle or two pieces of rope tired at opposite positions)?

Any experiences and advice would be appreciated.

Andy


Jago
Parker 235/04

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Andy
I used to have a Jeanneau Bahia which was very busy on it's mooring, the bucket trick helped a lot.
I used a thick rubber builders bucket with holes taking out about half of the bottom. I made up a bridle with rope secured through the rim with about 6 feet of scope. It worked best when weeded up.
When I used the boat I tied the bucket to my tender, left on the mooring. Don't take it out of the water, it gets very mucky!.
Philip

Hi Andy,

My boat is on a swing mooring in a creek leading into Poole Harbour. The tide can run at 2 knots and if the wind is in the opposite direction, it dances all over the place when the keel and rudder are up, which they must be at Springs.

I tried a bucket last year (twice) and on both occasions was left with a piece of rope and a bucket handle – but to be fair they were cheap B&Q buckets. I have a different bucket to try this year, then I think I might need to resort to a sea anchor which appears to be about £26 from Force 4!

Does anybody have experience of these I wonder?


John
235/07 Diamond

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Hi Andy

I too use a cheap B&Q bucket with a hole in the bottom on my P21 at Beaulieu. I melt two holes in the side of it with a hot knife about a third of the circumference apart. I can then feed rope through the holes and around the outside of the bucket for attaching two separate bridle ropes - one to the starboard stern cleat the other to the port. I found that this arrangement stops the the bucket from spinning and shredding the rope.
It does cut down the movement as long as there is some tide running, but with any breeze it doesn't do a lot. I am still trying out different length bridle lines and size of hole in the bottom! I am told that persistent pays.
I hope this helps.


Terry Gates
"Kitty" P21 No. 99

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I forgot to mention that I remove the handle.

Terry Gates
"Kitty" P21 No. 99

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Hi

Thanks for the feedback & advice. I'm going to use the bucket I have inherited with the mooring and try some different lengths of line. I also picked up an old tyre for free with the plan of trying it to see if it performs better than the bucket.

Andy

Jago
Parker 235/04

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Andy,

Hope you find your tyre/bucket successful. We have tried most things except an auxiliary rudder or indeed combinations of things. Anything used as a drouge seemed to work a bit but it's a somewhat dirty and time-consuming activity every time we leave the mooring. We used to leave the bucket/tyre attached to our dinghy or the mooring. This avoided having to have a large muddy object on board. The tyre was probably the best and lasted for a whole season but buckets had a limited life - most got squashed or lost within a short time. We used a whole tyre, a half might work better? Last season we used a bridle on the two bow mooring cleats which gives some improvement but probably not as good as the tyre. The best solution is a fore-and-aft mooring but then it's not a swinging mooring anymore and probably not without other issues i.e expensive, perhaps not allowed where you are, more strain on the boat as it doesn't lay to wind and tide conditions.

Chris

235/48 Tarakihi

Hi

I've been using a bucket with a 6 -7 foot bridal which seems to work well and dampen the swinging but when the wind is stronger than the tide (boat sits bow to wind and bucket sits under boat in cross tide) the bridal ends up wrapping its self around the outboard prop. Is this experienced a shared one?

When I leave the boat I have started taking the outboard out as it was putting oscillating pressure on the outboard, prop and mountings but adds time to getting sailing when having to re-fit it.

I'm not sure how other owners sail with the plug in the outboard well and the outboard raised as this puts the top of the outboard about half way to the boom in my case!

Andy

Jago
Parker 235/04

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I have just moved Kinkajou to Thornham Marina in Chichester Harbour, which dries out. I wasn't happy with the outboard prop staying in the water and mud when it dried out. I now raise the outboard to a level where I can place a length of wood to the front and rear of the shaft. The prop is now inside the well and I could put the bottom plate in if I wished to to. If I did this on a mooring I would probably have two cross members to stop the engine moving the wood in really choppy conditions.

Paul

235/17 Kinkajou

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Hi all,

I am on a swing mooring and what I have taken to do with my outboard is that if I plan to leave the boat for about a week, I lift the outboard right out of the water. I agree it adds a lot of extra time when preparing to sail. If I am sailing, sort of alternate days (as I did last summer and who knows this year – retirement) I leave the outboard in the water. Underway, I just leave the outboard in place, I am not racing and it takes a lot of effort when you are on your own and you might need the engine in a hurry! I have anti-fouled the bottom of the outboard which required one mid-season scrub last year.

Hopefully these pics work
http://s1093.photobucket...ohn_Edwards123/Outboard/ 
[img]http://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i431/John_Edwards123/Outboard/[/img]

John
235/07 Diamond

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