Who "owns" a mooring buoy?

jssailem · Oct 15, 2020

Check with the local area that you are planning to locate it. Some municipalities extend there reach into waters near their location. They may issue permits which might be considered your Ownership space (as long as you pay their permit fee).

Hope this is not one of those Craigslist scams.

danm1 · Oct 15, 2020

In many mooring areas, but not all, the space in which a mooring is placed is regulated by a harbor master (often for a fee) and the actual tackle belongs to individuals. In a few cases, the municipality provides and owns the moorings. Outside of regulated harbors, an individual might place and own their own mooring where it might or might not be legal to do so. So, the answer is that it requires research.

Bob J. · Oct 15, 2020

Ask the seller if they needed a yearly permit for the mooring & if so ask for the inspection report. Be careful with the term "special anchorage". Someone usually has some sort of jurisdiction over a "mooring field".

Captain Larry-DH · Oct 15, 2020

Misfits said:
if so ask for the inspection report.

You should check the age also, and speak with the person who inspected it. Moorings in salt water should be pulled and inspected every two or three years, minimum. The links wear and corrode. It's amazing to see how much when you look at moorings/chain that has been retired. I'd be very wary about buying a used one - I'd want to see it on land. A new 800 pound mooring around here (southern NE) with chain, buoy and installation is about $1600-1800. I'd not want to risk my boat for the slight savings of a used one with unknown history.

shemandr · Oct 15, 2020

It's pretty complicated in NY. Basically the town owns most the bay bottom - but not all. There are area of the bay bottom that are privately owned originally for fishing rights and that is extended to moorings. Some of these areas were designated by King James in the 1600's. There are also riparian rights which give waterfront property owners control but not ownership of up to 1,500 feet from shore. The County (Suffolk) just made a bay bottom grab by designating a thousand of so shellfishing zones which it leases to oyster growers.
Ask around.

Capt jgw · Oct 15, 2020

rgranger said:
Thanks jssailem

On my other thread regarding mooring fields, someone posted the list of USCG special anchorages and this buoy is located in one of those as are many other boats. So I do not think the city of Charleston has jurisdiction. I have reached out to the poster and will certainly get more information from him before I hand over any chash.

If this works out for me, it would put my boat about 1 mile from work.... yeah buddy!!!!!!

Special Anchorage Area has nothing to do with it. It just means you don't have to put up anchor lights or shapes of you're under 20 meters in length. My mooring is in a SAA, but it's owned by the City as part of the municipal marina. Anyone can anchor in the SAA as the mooring field doesn't take up the whole area, but the moorings are rented by the season. All the land around the area also belongs to the City but I've never heard of them hassling anyone for landing their dinghy from an anchored boat. They have docks and storage racks for renters but they're inside a gated area so anchored boaters wouldn't have access. As said earlier the OP needs to find who has jurisdiction over the area, and can be legally launch and land his dinghy. Not much point in having a boat on a mooring if you can't get to it.

CarlN · Oct 15, 2020

It's a good bet that the local town/city grants permits to place a mooring. Owning a buoy doesn't give you a right to put it down on the bottom. In my area on Cape Cod there's a 15 year wait for a mooring permit. It costs $100/year to renew the permit. They can't be transferred to anyone except your spouse. When you die or move away, the town gives the permit to the next person on the waiting list (you pay $10 a year to be on the waiting list) You have to provide the buoy, anchor, and chain that meets the town's specifications for your size boat - and have it inspected every three years (cost about $200). I can't believe that Charleston hasn't figured out how to squeeze money out of mooring permits.

thinwater · Oct 15, 2020

I think you will find that most of the mid-Atlantic is permit- and fee-free. And that makes selling a mooring a little weird, since there is also no rule that says you can't use and abandoned mooring, or how to establish that it is abandoned. Old moorings are not removed, further complicating things.

If this is the case, then $900 is pretty steep for something he can't take with him, does not really "own," AND becomes a nuisance and a hazard that can be removed by cutting the chain after he stops using it.

Get all the facts.

capta · Oct 15, 2020

We paid to have the sand screws put in place and assembled to mooring in a designated mooring area in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou. We "own" it and when the time comes to register it here (they are unregistered now) we will do so. We even have the Lat/Long of the two sand screws, or as close as we could get in a dinghy above them.
There a big tug that I believe will be sunk for a diving reef and I'm trying to purchase its anchor (around 2000#?) and about 20 feet of chain, as a hurricane mooring. That would be sweet.

Maine Sail · Oct 16, 2020

Rules depend upon where you are. Here in Maine it is up to the local town to manage and manage permits. In areas where there there is no real town, some islands etc. the Army Core of Engineers is who you go through for a mooring permit.

For the right to have a legally permitted/licensed mooring Falmouth, ME we pay the town $250.00 per year and need a certified mooring inspection every two years by one of the towns authorized / certified mooring installers.. There are strict town laws on how a mooring is to be installed, what type of mooring is legal (eg: no concrete, scrap iron/steel, engine blocks etc.), lenght of chain, diameter of chain, pendandts, swivel etc. etc..

Unlike Falmouth we live just around the point and have a deeded mooring in front of the neighborhood. Deeded moorings were common in Maine very early on, and waterfront land often transferred with deeded mooring rights. We pay a small fee each year to help support the harbor master but our mooring right cannot be taken away or denied, it's physically in our deed, it just needs to pass an inspection for use. Course Maine has different rules than most States about waterfront land. For example, in Maine, waterfront owners own to mean low water mark and some even below water for mooring deeds, making our beaches / shore front private unless someone is there for fishing, fowling or navigation. In NH, where my sister is, she owns only to the mean high water mark..

Bottom line is every State treats this differently and even within a State, towns implement differently so check the local laws.

shemandr · Oct 16, 2020

rgranger said:
Well he sold it already....

Didn't he know we're engaged in a discussion about it? How inconsiderate!

Ron20324 · Oct 16, 2020

shemandr said:
... Didn't he know we're engaged in a discussion about it? How inconsiderate!

The seller is probably on SBO and saw we were wising up to him . I don't think anyone pointed out that, left to their own, skippers need to realize there needs to be a distance/depth factor to moorings. The governing agency specifies where the moorings need to be placed, for safety. SAME AS scope & depth requirements to good anchoring

Who "owns" a mooring buoy?

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SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John

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