Mooring pennant problems

[Charlesdykman]

We have an anchoring problem. We took the suggestion of an ex-Navy officer and bought two three strand pennants, led them through the stock Skene bow chocks ( a wrong and stupid move for us) and everything went well until a 35 mph blow caused the starboard pennant to chafe through. Bonnie took pictures. We caught this immediately, and have a temporary solution at a protected dock. We also bought two braided fifteen foot pennants. We e-mailed Andrew Custis at the Ranger factory, and he confirmed our dangerous mistake. But he had no solution other than to contact a local professional or buy a new boat from Ranger. :0) We're trying to find a professional. We can dock at our standard, inland water steel and wood pier most of the time, but in a blow, the pier is not steady, and would tear out in a real 50 mph blow on our 3,000 acre inland lake. We have good ground tackle for the boat in slightly deeper water, with a couple of chained together steam radiators and two plow anchors supporting these, in the directions of the prevailing winds. We have an emergency backup which is a 5/16" chain attached to the Bow eye, but a number of local boating enthusiasts who should know don't recommend this. I don't want to damage the boat. And we prefer not to have to use our small inflatable to remove a bow clevis in a blow. I can barely make headway, rowing furiously. Coming up to the swim platform is easy. I liked the way the pennants worked until one parted. We were using a West Marine snubber, and would continue using it. But pennants are easier to use, and having two of them is added insurance, as we discovered. But where to put them? Any ideas? Thanks. Charles and Bonnie Dykman, first year happy owners, Honeybear

 

[SGIDAVE]

We have an anchoring problem. We took the suggestion of an ex-Navy officer and bought two three strand pennants, led them through the stock Skene bow chocks ( a wrong and stupid move for us) and everything went well until a 35 mph blow caused the starboard pennant to chafe through. Bonnie took pictures. We caught this immediately, and have a temporary solution at a protected dock. We also bought two braided fifteen foot pennants. We e-mailed Andrew Custis at the Ranger factory, and he confirmed our dangerous mistake. But he had no solution other than to contact a local professional or buy a new boat from Ranger. :0) We're trying to find a professional. We can dock at our standard, inland water steel and wood pier most of the time, but in a blow, the pier is not steady, and would tear out in a real 50 mph blow on our 3,000 acre inland lake. We have good ground tackle for the boat in slightly deeper water, with a couple of chained together steam radiators and two plow anchors supporting these, in the directions of the prevailing winds. We have an emergency backup which is a 5/16" chain attached to the Bow eye, but a number of local boating enthusiasts who should know don't recommend this. I don't want to damage the boat. And we prefer not to have to use our small inflatable to remove a bow clevis in a blow. I can barely make headway, rowing furiously. Coming up to the swim platform is easy. I liked the way the pennants worked until one parted. We were using a West Marine snubber, and would continue using it. But pennants are easier to use, and having two of them is added insurance, as we discovered. But where to put them? Any ideas? Thanks. Charles and Bonnie Dykman, first year happy owners, Honeybear

Hello Charles,

I don't think you've made a mistake by using a bridle system which passes through the chocks. You have to use chafe protection - it's not optional in a moored boat.

Read through this tutorial for more info on safe mooring practices (http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/mooring_pendants).

dave

 

[sheral]

If I am reading your post correctly, you used two pennants, each running through it's own chock?

That's exactly what I have done and we have had some 70 kmhr blows, the latest blow yesterday. Not even a hint of any problems. These are the pennants I use and they both come with chaffe protection. Two NER Cyclone pennants: one NER Cyclone pennant running through each side chock, then both NER Cyclone pennants attached to one 3 strand 3/4" 12' pennant to the buoy. I also bought them from the site attached below and couldn't have been happier with his assistance, best pricing policy and fast shipping.

I just checked the Cyclone pennants again yesterday and there is no chaffing anywhere, no hot spot indicators, etc.

http://www.mastermarinelines.net/ner-cy ... lines.html

 

[Charlesdykman]

Thank you. I did get two "Whitecap" 4 1/2" Skene Bow Chocks which are smoother than the stock ones that Ranger installs. I haven't installed them yet, if ever. But they are not through deck either and would be screwed to the deck with what looks like 1" ss screws. But they could be installed further forward. I checked your supplier, and they look good. But they don't have Thimbles in them. The West Marine one has a Thimble in one end. Still, you don't have wear problems, and the ones you use have chafe protection. Honeybear is an R-25, and heavier than a R-21, which might make a difference. But I like your program with two pendants attached to Nylon for elasticity. Which is attached to the Buoy chain, I presume. I appreciate our fellow Ranger owners weighing in with advice on several problems. We are new this year, and Honeybear's learning curve goes up slightly, but there are many things we still don't know. So, it's our inland lake for this year, and the great lakes in 2016. Thanks again. Charles and Bonnie Dykman, Madison, WI.

 

[Red Raven]

Hi Charles,

I'm curious about why your "local boating enthusiasts" did not recommend using the bow eye. I would think this is the best connection to moor your boat. It is my understanding that others usually don't use it because they don't have one because they do not have trailerable boats. Before buying a Ranger tug we moored our 19ft cuddly to a ball for several summers with stainless clips on both ends and a rubber snubber and never had a problem. My neighbor used his bow cleat and chock and the pennant chafed right through and he had to recover his boat off the beach. He then switched to using the bow cleat and never had another problem. The bow chocks are notorious for chafing failure. I wouldn't think the bow cleat is secured more strongly than the bow eye.

When I went through my factory training I mentioned my plan to use the same method for our R27 and was told (Kenny? Capt Mac? Can't remember) the bow eye was indeed the best choice. With a stainless carabiner style clip on both ends there is much less opportunity for chafing, if you add thimble on both ends there would be even less.

As far as the inconvience part of it goes it was never really an issue. I always initially hooked to the ball from the bow cleat through a bow chock and kept this line attached losely as a backup (it never became primary as the bow cleat always held). When in the dinghy the bow cleat pennant was attached/disconnected. In order to minimize the rowing I kept another line tied from bow to sten so I could pull the dinghy around to the bow using this line.

Having said all this we decided to keep our R27 at a slip at the marina during the boating season primarily because of the ease of access from the dock, fresh water to wash down the boat, fuel and pump out close by, and less wear and tear from the elements.

Curt

 

[Charlesdykman]

Thanks, Curt. Your response has been most helpful. I like the idea of using mooring pennants to make mooring accessible at first, and then using the dingy as you suggest to attach the mooring line to the bow eye. What did you use for a mooring line? Chain or Nylon? For my situation, I think a 15 foot, 5/8" braided Nylon line with Galvanized thimbles at both ends might be the best. Someone must sell these, or if not, West Marine says that they do custom work. For these Dog days of Summer, the tug does nicely at our pier with several 8 1/2" fenders. But worse weather is coming, and we watch the weather forecast closely. We will pull the Tug the last part of October.

 

[Red Raven]

Hi Charles,

Sorry about my post. I see I used the term Bow cleat in several places where I meant bow eye. In any case, it sounds like you understood my meaning. I use the bow eye (trailer connection) as primary and the deck mounted bow cleat/chock as secondary (longer line) and as temporary mooring when approaching and leaving the buoy. The mooring line is a braided 5/8" inch nylon line with an EPDM "snubber" shock absorber mid line with stainless carabiners at both ends. You could use a seized shackle at the bouy end if you plan to leave the line on the buoy. The carabiner makes it easier to clip the line to the bow eye from the dinghy in rough seas. I did not use thimbles but I agree that would be even better if you can get a carabiner large enough to go around the thimble. I agree you will probably need to have the mooring line custom made if you use thimbles.

The EPDM snubber needs to be sized for 5/8 inch line. Here is a link to the snubber.
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mari ... P011160652

Curt