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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Setting Mooring

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mdh347
Deckhand

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USA
16 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/26/2003 : 12:50:32

My Catalina 25 with a 250 lb mooring blew downwind in the 50 mph winds a couple weeks ago, and I've been looking all over for advice on how best to set a muchroom anchor in the sandy bottom. Can't find much on this topic; almost as if its assumed we're all experts. I dragged the anchor when I originally put it in, but it appears that wasn't enough. Does anyone have advice on how best to set the mooring? I do have plenty chain on the mooring already.

Mort Hoffman

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ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2003 : 13:32:00

Not sure, but I think the mushroom is supposed to set itself in over time... or perhaps by pulling a bit in different directions.
(i.e. wiggling it in).

I've seen small (20') fishing boats drag a fishbox full of concrete (about 1' X 2' X 3') and truck engine blocks across Crescent City (CA)harbor in a bad blow. "Stuff" that can't dig in has surprisingly little holding power.

Combination of wind and wave produces a lot of motive force.

Edited by - on

PZell
Admiral

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USA
548 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2003 : 13:45:59

I can't seem to remember exactly where I saw the article, but not too long ago I read a piece about a fella setting, I believe, 3 anchors on the rode in such a way that he always had two holding. It may have been in Practical Sailor, Sail, or maybe even something I just picked up in a waiting room. Anyway, a combo like that is more efficient. You might also ask around your anchorage to see how others do it in your area, expecially commercial boats.

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ronrryan
Admiral

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USA
561 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2003 : 18:44:43

Many years ago I kept boats on moorings in the Long Island NY area. We used mushroom anchors and they were usually pulled out each winter. Sometimes people would leave them in and put a buoy or stick on the chain, which would often be frozen in for a while. My mooring for a smaller boat than a Catalina 25 was 350 lbs and quite a bit of very heavy chain, plus the chain up to the buoy. For a larger sailboat it was 600 lbs plus more heavier chain. I thin you may be a bit under weight. Also we were in soft silty sandy mud, where the mushroom would readily bury itself over time. If you are on a hard sandy bottom, the value of the "mushroom" is minimal, it might as well be a square weight, it is supposed to bury and then be hard to remove due to configuration as well as weight. What does everyone else use in your area? Try a variety of opinion. The three way anchor plan DOES work well, but you have a lot of gear on the bottom, and have to be sure that it is all well dug in, fair leads, good shackles, wiring, swivels here and there etc. Fair winds, ron srsk Orion is SW FL

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2003 : 20:45:27

I agree with Ron, but if you have a harbormaster for the area, see what s/he thinks about things like helical mooring anchors as opposed to mushrooms. Many areas are switching to helicals, both for better holding and for fewer "sticks" in the bottom from abandoned anchors. In areas with large tidal swings, those sticks can be real hazzards, and in other areas, they can foul newer mooring lines. The helicals sort of screw themselves into the bottom, with very short shanks, instead of relying on the longer shank to drag the mushroom into the bottom. Local conditions will dictate the efficiency of either type. (I know of at least one area where the ideal solution is a surplus railroad car wheel.)

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2003 : 22:13:01

I must be clueless, I thought we drove our moorings. I thought we drove long rods through a lug hole of a tire filled with concrete.

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ronrryan
Admiral

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USA
561 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2003 : 11:14:55

Whoa, something I forgot to mention: When I moved to Sarasota, at the mooring field for the Sarasota Sailing Squadron off City Island, people do not use mushroom anchors, which will not bury, and if they remain upright the stalk is liable to go up through the bottom of the boat, as the area is quite shallow and the sand had a lot of hard limestone just under the surface. Instead they use a large square of concrete with rebar in it, and a big rebar staple sticking up for the main chain attachment, then a swivel to the lighter chain to the buoy. However, the concrete affair is only worth about 45 percent of actual dry weight once submerged, so these moorings are sometimes draghged across Sarasota bay in very heavy winds. Murphy never sleeps, etc etc, ron srsk Orion SW FL

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PZell
Admiral

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USA
548 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2003 : 12:44:22

Check out this link for some good info.

http://www.harbormasters.org/rockport/mooring.shtml

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deastburn
Captain

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USA
334 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2003 : 14:39:10

My Catalina 25 sits on the following mooring in 16 feet of water (below the keel) at mean high waer: 2000lb block with two inch heavy chain to a swivel shackle and then one inch chain through the mooring ball to a ahackle and my three-quarter inch pennant (which I spliced around the thinble ad then spliced to a double loop so it ties onto both bow cleats. The shackle has a collar to facilitate its swiveling as the boat swings and reduce wrapping of the pennant. It has held up well in recent 40-50 knot winds.

My mooring has to be inspected once a year, and since Hurricane Bob ('91) picked up scores of mushrooms and deposited them on the shore, the harbormasters of most Martha's Vineyard towns do not allow them. The ball and light chain are replaced each winter with a "winter stake" which is impervious to ice and permits easy location of the block in the spring.

I don't trust mushrooms--they rust out, sometimes don't set right, and drag too easily. I think yours is simply too light, and probably did not set properly before the gale that moved your boat.

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osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 10/27/2003 : 14:57:57

At the club I sailed from before moving north I was "Mooring Chair" and responsible for mooring guidelines for our 300 moored boats. Our standard specified, mushroom, ground chain, rising chain and pennants. The minimum anchor for a 25 foot boat was 250 # and as the anchor was inspected prior to being dropped, an anchor less than 250 # would be rejected. The ground chain, meant to sit on the gound was 25-30 feet of a heavey chain - don't remember size. It was fastened to the mushroom with a swivel shackle and to the rising chain with an other swivel shackle. The rising chain was another 25-30 feet (total length limited to 55 feet) and would rise to eithe the pennants, or to a bouy. Most of our sailors didn't use a mooring bouy.

The key for this set up was that the mushroom dig into the bottom, we had a soft, muddy bottom, and the to digging in was to tip the mushroom onto its side during setting, and to pull on the whole setup until the anchor dug in. You could feel that happen.

Out major problem was shackel failures, and we required that the shackles be wired and that the wiring be inspected before the anchor could be set in our mooring grid. Second major failure was chain rusting and that was inspected too. The only time we had trouble with anchor dragging was when the anchor was tipped over during setting.

I'm sorry that I can't respond to a sand bottom, especially a hard sand bottom. But I hope this helps some.

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