Swinging mooring for an LM27

[seekinglm]

Hello, 

I should probably change my username now that I have bought an LM27.

She is on a swinging mooring and I would like some ideas or advice on the best arrangement if possible. It is a rope (rather than chain) mooring and it has a length of plastic tubing over it to prevent chafing as it comes over the bow. I fastened the main mooring rope to the central cleat on the deck but I made the schoolboy error of running it over the bow roller and it sheared the pin through the roller (or at least it came undone and the roller is no more). Separate from that I ran secondary ropes from the cleats on both sides, running through the fairleads and back around to the mooring rope.

We had 60knot winds here last week and a few wild days just recently. In making the move from dinghy sailing to cruisers I am probably exposing my ignorance of these matters - but any thoughts/ images of best practice for attaching an LM27 to a mooring would be appreciated. It is quite exposed and I don't yet have a swivel in the line.

Thanks
Andy

[Sula]

With an exposed mooring and 60 knot winds, I am surprised that your only damage is the roller pin!

I am no expert on mooring, so hopefully others will advise.

If I understand you correctly, you have run your 'secondary' rope from other cleats and through the main mooring rope. The would offer protection if your main cleat failed, but not if the main mooring strop failed. Personally I always want a secondary mooring line, ideally from different cleats on the boat, through the mooring buoy's ring or shackle, and back to the boat. That way if either the main mooring strop failed or the cleat failed, your boat would still be attached to the boat.

In my view, provided as the mooring strop is of a suitable size, failure of the strop through chafe, or a cleat pulling out are the main dangers, as these risk the boat. So good chafe protection (such as the plastic tube), and having a secondary line from a different cleat are valuable insurance. Given your exposed mooring, you may wish to consider beefing up the backing plate securing the main cleat.

Another problem can be the strop jumping out of fairleads or the bow roller as the boat hobby-horses, but that should only lead to damage to the boat, not its total loss. I like to tie my mooring strop down to the bow roller if there is no securing pin above the roller, so it can't jump out.

If you could find a less exposed mooring that would give you more comfort, and reduce worry about potential loss or damage.

I hope you manage to replace your roller and its pin without too much trouble.

[seekinglm]

Hello Sula,

Many thanks for your answer. I think I am working through a few ideas which will help. And I have been out to the boat this morning to bend the bow roller side plates back into shape and measure up for a new roller and stainless steel pin. Fortunately the width seems to be fairly standard and I have ordered a couple of alternatives for arrival tomorrow.

Somebody I spoke to locally told me that the pin in the roller is not meant for the kind of stress it would be subjected to on a permanent mooring, but I am not convinced that's true. It seems to be 8mm diameter which seems to have a shear strength of a a couple of tonnes. I can't believe it would have reached that level so I think it is more likely that it was badly fixed at one end and simply came loose, following which the mooring rope exerted lateral pressure on one of the plates. I did a quick tour of other boats in the area this morning in my tender and saw that most of them have a separate securing pin above the roller to keep the rope in place (as you mention). I am going to work on that.

I do think that my recent acquisition has been subject to a trial by wind in her first few days in Poole Harbour! I may have exaggerated a little on the speed of the wind, but not by much. On 3rd May the race platform (just in front of my boat) was recording 50knot gusts and the curve was still rising as I went to bed. I can't see where it maxed out - she coped well with that but it was some 30-40knot winds a few days later when the roller came out - as I say I rather think it could have been the fastening at one end.

Anyway, all that said, I am looking forward to getting to know my LM27 and some better weather from now on!

Thanks again

Andy