How to use a D-shackle mooring

[dleckenby]

Today I encountered a type of mooring (see attached pic) that I'd never seen before and was hoping to get some advice on how to hook up to one. The float was a disc about 1 meter in diameter with a d-shackle in the centre. There was a thin line attached to the shackle but this was not to be used to tie off (it was much too thin anyway). I couldn't see how that thin line was going to help me attach a mooring line to the shackle so I didn't use it. Luckily for me the sea was dead flat with virtually no wind so I managed to hook the shackle with my boat hook, then thread my mooring line through the shackle from the bow, then pull the line back up with boat hook. This method would have been impossible in most conditions so I'm wondering what type of mooring equipment people use to connect to one of these? Also, are they very common?

 

[Caboteur]

The thin line is to lift the chain through the mooring disc. Making it easier to thread your mooring line through the D shackle. This type is common in Canadian National Parks.

 

[dleckenby]

The thin line is to lift the chain through the mooring disc. Making it easier to thread your mooring line through the D shackle.

Oh, I didn't think of that. It doesn't look like the chain would come up through the slot, and it didn't when I pulled it with the boat hook. But I wasn't really trying to lift it, just hold it steady. Will have a closer look tomorrow when I go back to the boat. Thanks for the quick response.

 

[dlochner]

Oh, I didn't think of that. It doesn't look like the chain would come up through the slot, and it didn't when I pulled it with the boat hook. But I wasn't really trying to lift it, just hold it steady. Will have a closer look tomorrow when I go back to the boat. Thanks for the quick response.

Some fo the mooring have a straight shaft that is a couple of feet long. It is the shaft that slides up through the buoy.

When we use moorings where we supply the line, we bring the buoy back to the cockpit area to attach the line. The freeboard is lower making the buoy easier to reach. This also enables one person to feed the line and the other to hold the buoy with a boat hook and still be near the helm. Once the line is fed through the shackle the boat drifts back and the mooring line is secured.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Or you could buy a mooring grabber. There are several different models to choose. Here is a short video on one of them.

 

[senang]

This is the one I have for these occasions. An incredible mecanism.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Those videos are great, but those only work on standup rings. Many moorings have floppy rings and even my Happy Hooker doesn't work with them. Like the OP, we have to lift the floppy mooring rings wth a boat hook and thread the bow line through. Doing it from the cockpit is much easier. If they all stood up like that life would be so much easier...

 

[All U Get]

Those videos are great, but those only work on standup rings. Many moorings have floppy rings and even my Happy Hooker doesn't work with them. Like the OP, we have to lift the floppy mooring rings wth a boat hook and thread the bow line through. Doing it from the cockpit is much easier. If they all stood up like that life would be so much easier...

Yep, the expensive grabber sits down below while we use the boat hook for grabbing moorings. I’ve only used the Robship once in ten years.

 

[Terry Cox]

Boat hooks have my vote. I've tried other devices that are supposed to thread the mooring line through the ring and they work as long as the ring is up, sea state is flat and calm and you take things slow. Of course these conditions change and present problems that either break the device or they jam.

Unable to grab the ring from the cockpit on our boat. Normally, will always use the hook to grab the ring from the bow. If conditions become severe, such as wind and/or lumpy seas I will approach the mooring as if docking the boat mid ship. I'll use the mid ship cleat as my guide with the bow line working end brought back there, grab the ring, thread the ground tackle and secure the working end to the mid ship cleat. The wind will then slowly swing the bow into the wind and slide the ring forward towards the bow where I will make fast the bow line.

Trying to grab and make fast the mooring line from the bow in a blow on our boat is next to impossible, whether the bow or the stern. The wind against the high freeboard will push the boat away before I can grab and thread the ground tackle through the ring. If by chance I hook the ring, wind pressure on our 35,000 boat will pull the hook out of my hand before I can make it fast.

Plus I will never again have the bitter end of the ground tackle on one cleat, with line through the ring and the working end on the opposing cleat. In a blow the boat will sail back and forth causing the ring to cut right through the ground tackle in short order.