Mooring pendant debacle

May 6, 2010
472
1984 Oday 39 79 Milwaukee
Last season I read with interest the How-To on Maine Sail's website detailing the use of floats on the mooring pendants to prevent tangling. I have always used two unequal length pendants, with a swivel below the buoy and I arrive many weekends to find a tangled mess of knots that I could not fabricate if I tried. I ordered the floats from Hamilton and put everything together this spring and anxiously awaited my first trip to the boat only to discover a tangled mess again. The instructions caution multiple times not to lace the lines holding the floats too tightly, so I did my figure-eights snug, but not tight. On inspection, it appeared that all the floats had migrated toward the buoy, and when the winds were slack there was enough line above the last float to drop below the floats and then catch. (How they create the tangled knots I find is still beyond me). This weekend, I re-did all the floats, lacing them tighter, and am hoping to find next weekend that they have performed as expected. The only other issue I see is my buoy is not round like the one @Maine Sail uses, but I am not sure that would make a difference. Attached are photos of a couple instances where I found a mess. I started with the first two floats fairly close together, mostly under the buoy, the others were spaced approximately 18" - 24" apart.
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Jun 5, 2012
144
Catalina 30 mkI Victoria, British Columbia
Scott,
Thanks for sending this post! I too redid my lines this past winter and followed Maine's advice. They tangled in the same fashion as yours. I can't tell if you also wrapped the underlying chain, but mine twisted, tangled and wrapped the ball.
I redid my floats a couple of times, trying them with different snugness on the pendants. No change to the tangle behaviour. For now, I have left one line off the cleat and am just running the single pendant until I can sort it out. I was really bummed from the damage to the lines caused by the tangle. They chafed very quickly on the chain..... as one would expect.
I wondered if my swivel was just too big for the boat and as such not behaving as it should. I have a Catalina 30, and am running a 7/8" swivel.
I'm sure we are just missing some minor detail in the system.
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
It is tough to say but I suspect the shape and the way your ball sits in the water is allowing the pendants to come over the top when winds are still and then create the twist. My pendants don't twist like that and I have been lacing pendants that way since I was very young.....

Are the pendants connected to the top of the swivel or bottom?
Have you considered a swivel for the pendants?
How big is your top chain? (dia and length to bottom at low tide)
How big is the swivel?
How old is the swivel?
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,667
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
They chafed very quickly on the chain..... as one would expect.
I wondered if my swivel was just too big for the boat and as such not behaving as it should. I have a Catalina 30, and am running a 7/8" swivel.
I'm sure we are just missing some minor detail in the system.
Using too large a swivel can cause the chain to twist especially if the swivel gets a wear pattern in it.. The top chain needs to be heavy enough to force the swivel to do its job. I far too often see grossly undersized top and bottom chain configurations for moorings..

Also the floats under the ball should not allow any "droop" in the pendants near the ball or chain. The top chain I use is 3/4" long-link mooring chain and the bottom chain is HUGE USCG surplus chain...For my storm mooring bottom chain I use a massive stud-link chain and for my normal use mooring I use an 1 3/4" open link USCG surplus bottom chain.

This picture shows the range of motion of my pendants in relation to the ball. As can be seen they stay where they are intended to stay and the pendants & ball swivel around the chain.

 
May 6, 2010
472
1984 Oday 39 79 Milwaukee
It is tough to say but I suspect the shape and the way your ball sits in the water is allowing the pendants to come over the top when winds are still and then create the twist. My pendants don't twist like that and I have been lacing pendants that way since I was very young.....

Are the pendants connected to the top of the swivel or bottom?
Have you considered a swivel for the pendants?
How big is your top chain? (dia and length to bottom at low tide)
How big is the swivel?
How old is the swivel?
I am due for a new ball - will probably go round next time - is your ball a soft ball?

We are in a small protected mooring basin behind a double breakwall, and the only "tides" we have are an occasional seiche when the wind blows all the water over to Michigan, or vise versa:). Water depth rarely varies more than maybe 12" during the season. Water depth at my mooring is around 17'.

I have a 3/4" eye to eye swivel under the ball - ball and pendants attached to top of swivel, chain to bottom of swivel. Top chain is 18' of 3/8" Acco mooring chain, attached to an eye to eye swivel, bottom chain is 12' of 1/2" Acco mooring chain, and on the bottom is a train wheel buried in the muck. Chain and tackle are all less than two seasons old.

Seems to be behaving better since I tightened the figure eights - the floats are staying in place and so far have not tangled again.

Thanks for your insights.
 
Jun 5, 2012
144
Catalina 30 mkI Victoria, British Columbia
Thanks as always RC,
By the sounds of it my problem will be too large of a swivel. I had written above that it was 7/8, but when I looked at my records it was actually a 1". (Installed this past winter). I also don't have a mega-heavy bottom chain situation. Don't think the pendants are looping over my ball though as the shape of it, with flat sides, isn't conducive to that...
Attached is my setup.
Cheers!
 

Attachments

Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
We found that attaching one of the "pool noodle" float things to each pendant about a foot out from the ball is sufficient to accomplish what Maine has with the floats, but also prevents the lines from being allowed to coil near the ball. This has worked swimmingly for many years. The noodles are slit, then we use uv stable tie wraps to attach them, and they seem to last about 3 years before they need replaced.
 
Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
I use the pool noodles too. One dollar each at the dollar store, or two dollars at Menards. Four feet long, three on each pendant. Way cheaper than the floats. With the noodles the lines can't get under the ball, and if they do loop over the top they pop right straight again when the boat drifts back. Pendants attach to the top ring of the ball. (The City owns The moorings, we have to do it their way.) The bright colors help in picking them up in the dark too.