Around the year 1990 I was at work and I received a call from the New London, Connecticut Coast Guard Station. We kept our 30 foot Morgan sailboat on a mooring near the mouth of the Thames River and it was only about 1/2 mile from the Coast Guard station.
They asked, “Are you the owner of a 1968 Morgan sailboat?” “Yes, I replied. Is there a problem?”
They proceeded to tell me that they had picked up our sailboat in the Thames River after receiving a call from a nearby office worker who thought that a sailboat, complete with mooring ball, drifting in the middle of the river was unusual. They towed it to their dock and found documentation inside the boat with my name on it.
They agreed to hold it until the weekend so I would have time to make arraignments to move the boat.
So why was our sailboat drifting in the river instead of being secured to the mooring? And by the way, we were lucky that the river was in a flood current and not ebb, and also that someone saw it and made a phone call to the Coast Guard.
Well upon inspection of the mooring ball, I found that the shackle that had secured the chain to the ball was missing. That explained why the boat was drifting in the river. The mooring ball was still connected to the pendant and the pendant was securely tied to the boat.
However, the shackle that connected the pendant to the mooring ball was completely failed. This Chinese shackle had rusted and corroded so badly that the threads on the pin and the mating threads in the shackle body were completely gone! And the shackle body on the non-threaded end of the pin was rusted so badly that the pin was loose and just rattled in the shackle body.
The only thing that prevented a TOTAL disconnect failure was that the pin was still in place held by two loops of seizing wire. And even one of those two loops of seizing wire was broken!
That was undoubtedly the cause of the other shackle that failed completely. The age of this mooring and its last inspection was unknown.
Lessons learned:
1. Never use Chinese hardware for underwater application. Use only American-made Drop-forged shackles and hardware.
2. Always use seizing wire to secure mechanical pins. Use at least two independent loops; three would be better.
3. Inspect moorings every other year either by underwater camera and/or pulling the tackle out of the water. Replace any questionable hardware.
They asked, “Are you the owner of a 1968 Morgan sailboat?” “Yes, I replied. Is there a problem?”
They proceeded to tell me that they had picked up our sailboat in the Thames River after receiving a call from a nearby office worker who thought that a sailboat, complete with mooring ball, drifting in the middle of the river was unusual. They towed it to their dock and found documentation inside the boat with my name on it.
They agreed to hold it until the weekend so I would have time to make arraignments to move the boat.
So why was our sailboat drifting in the river instead of being secured to the mooring? And by the way, we were lucky that the river was in a flood current and not ebb, and also that someone saw it and made a phone call to the Coast Guard.
Well upon inspection of the mooring ball, I found that the shackle that had secured the chain to the ball was missing. That explained why the boat was drifting in the river. The mooring ball was still connected to the pendant and the pendant was securely tied to the boat.
However, the shackle that connected the pendant to the mooring ball was completely failed. This Chinese shackle had rusted and corroded so badly that the threads on the pin and the mating threads in the shackle body were completely gone! And the shackle body on the non-threaded end of the pin was rusted so badly that the pin was loose and just rattled in the shackle body.
The only thing that prevented a TOTAL disconnect failure was that the pin was still in place held by two loops of seizing wire. And even one of those two loops of seizing wire was broken!
That was undoubtedly the cause of the other shackle that failed completely. The age of this mooring and its last inspection was unknown.
Lessons learned:
1. Never use Chinese hardware for underwater application. Use only American-made Drop-forged shackles and hardware.
2. Always use seizing wire to secure mechanical pins. Use at least two independent loops; three would be better.
3. Inspect moorings every other year either by underwater camera and/or pulling the tackle out of the water. Replace any questionable hardware.