Moorings

[som1335]

Just curious, how far is the next mooring to your boat. Only 45 to 50 feet for me and I ave a 33'. All boats swing with the tide and current so no real issue but just thought i would start a thread to see what is out there.
Mike

 

[Rich Stidger]

This is a somewhat hard distance to judge because you don't really know that the boats around you are stretched out on their moorings like you are. And the real trouble begins when there are nearby boats that like to sail back and forth on their moorings. Sooner or later, these boat will sail towards each other and there must be enough distance to allow that to happen.

Suffice to say, I get nervous when the distance becomes less than 40-50 feet with my 40-footer. I have requested a mooring change if I feel the distances are not safe. I never had an argument from my marina with this request.

 

[mister_j]

Like Rich, I've had to request a mooring change, and you're at a decent yard or marina, shouldn't be a problem. I have a 28.5 Hunter and my mooring was about 45 feet from the boat next to me, a smaller boat with an I/O drive.

I woke up one morning to a crunching sound, followed by scraping. The wind was changing, and the tide was slack, and the smaller boat's outdrive had punched 2 holes in my bow hull and was happily scraping off my gelcoat. Myself and the other captain spent a while working the boats apart untill the tide was running again. I talked to my yard guy, and they switched moorings that day, and offered to repair the gelcoat.

I'd say if you're nervous about it, get the boat remoored. That bow was quite a bit of work to fix, and would have been a lot worse if I hadn't been on the boat that night....

Nothing like preventative medicine!

Jeff