Bahamian mooring

[alex]

For many of us this is a normal practice, but i found that many cruisers are lead by 'fears' of what can happen if they don't put the boat on hard while they travel back home for several weeks or months..

the fact is that insurance companies will argue or even NOT cover your claim if the boat was mooring or put in a yard if you don't get a specific written coverage for that particular case/yard. they cannot argue if your boat was at the anchor. I dont let insurance companies rule my life. if they dont match my requirements, i just look for another company. there is a fact that US flagged boats are hardly covered by foreign companies like Pantaneus or other...and if they do a coverage they put many restrictions on it. in my present policy the only restriction are the waters of Somalia, the northern passage and the south pole, areas not suited for my boat anyway.

in my case , i am against expensive and monthly payments that erode our budget, so my point of view changed after I met a sailor who left his boat for 6 weeks in Bermuda to travel back to Europe. A sort of 'click' in my head changed my points of view.

After reviewing all the information that sailor gave to me, i decided try it out as well, and make the learning curve that gives me peace of mind. Its advisable to review your insurance policy before you attempt to leave your boat alone at the anchor for several weeks or months as is in my case.

BAHAMIAN MOORING - The version that works for me

1. first I look for the proper place, and figure out where the possible bad winds can come from.. normally i plan this several month in advance looking for the right place... in our case was Luperon in Republica Dominicana where we spent 2 months during hurricane season.. and then Chaguaramas (at the TTSA club) in Trinidad&Tobago out of the hurricane path. we let the boat for 5 month unattended here, we hired a club worker to take a look and call us if necessary.

2. study the currents, tides and possible surge (up to 20 feet in some areas) in the case of a mayor storm. you can get the surge even if you don't get the full storm. this is important to set the length of the chains.

3. The Bahamian mooring can have 2 , 3 or even more anchors, but in my case i rely on our 2 heavy Bullwaga's. we set both anchors in the desired direction liked both with a 150 ft long chain (we got that for free from another cruiser who was buying new one, we just took the rotted end and kept the good part) . Before you lie down the chain I attach a heavy swivel in the mid and another chain that will make the direct link to the boat, so you have a sort of "T" shape. I also mark my anchors with small buoys-  6 inches foam (those you are catching with your rudder while traveling on the ICW). i mark my anchors because the boat will have a different swinging radius as other boats in the same anchorage and to make noticeable to others that there are 2 anchors set. it also helps at the moment you want to retrieve the whole system. so I put a fine but strong 1/4" rope to heave the anchor when time comes.

I also secure the swivel-to-boat chain with a big ball fender in the case it drops to the water. I have a 20 ft stainless chain for this that I use for daily anchoring. from the end of the chain i attach 3 lines to the boat: 1 main heavy line to the center that will support the main shocks and 2 secondary lines each to one hull that are there "just in case" if the main rode chafe for some reason. I protect the lines with used fire hose ( I don't know the name in English, but those are the hoses for fire fighting, you get them for free in any fire department from your neighborhood), and are made from a very strong fabric. I prefer this more than normal PVC hose since they are easy to bend and secure to the lines). I was learning in a hurricane course we made in Miami that normal plastic bags will work as fine as the best chaffing hose, since they slip easy. and it really work fine as i found out!!

once you have all pre- attached , I start my motors and try my system at low throttle at first and then at full throttle (forward and backwards and in all directions) , wen I am happy with the lengths of all 3 lines, I make the final  settings.

the first time I tried  that I made a sketch to think about each detail. once decided It took me 3 or 4 hours to set all properly. the second time was just 2 hours. I just used the dinghy the first time, then with the previous experience I have set it all from the 'mother boat" .

One side advantage from this Bahamian mooring  is that the boat swings into the wind.  we let 2 open port holes in the front cabins and 2 in the rear main cabins protected by buckets cut into halves and screwed in a way that no rain will come in even in the case of a heavy storm . we tried the efficiency of this natural airing system by burning incense sticks and observing the air flow. when we came back to the boat there was absolutely no mold in the boat. 

if needed i can make a sketch and post it here.

cheers

[Marty Peters]

Hi Alex,

Thank you on behalf of everyone for explaining your bahamanian mooring system.
I actually used the exact same method for my permanent mooring in Thailand and it served me well for over 4 years, I just didn't know it had a name! The only difference was I used only 50 m of chain between the anchors and I used big 20 kg fisherman a anchors. My mooring was in only 4 m water with a muddy/ sandy bottom. I dived annually on the anchors and when I finally departed Thailand I suspect the anchors were burried more than 2 m into the mud. I suspect that that mooring is still being used by the local speedboat operators and its probably the best mooring in big buddah bay, koh Samui.
Cheers

Marty

[alex]

50 m x 3 = 150 ft ... almost same chain length

[paul anderson]

thanx alex.

[Marty Peters]

damn pesky math..... ;)

[Ann and Neville Clement]

     My experience has shown me that if you put regular chain with stainless steel, the regular chain erodes away rather fast.  I would suggest you would be safer with all regular chain and swivels but there are a lot of grades of regular chain.  On Peace IV we use grade 40 which is also called high tensel and it is extra strong even at 5/16 which is a light weight.  Since we use 200 feet of this chain for our main and another 200 feet for our secondary anchor, we always have some extra "still good" chain after we cut off the "too rusted" end every few years.  Usually I give that 100 feet of still good chain away these days because we already have saved two lengths of 100 feet just in case of hurricanes.  We carry four anchors.  Two are big ones - 60 and 80 pounds, and the other two are Fortress 37 and 56.  We like to sleep well at night.  We rarely anchor near other boats and almost never take a mooring and certainly docking is an extremely rare event for us.   Normally we are full time live aboards except for this year when Nev had two surgeries and we were in a family house for the year. 

     We do use a Bahamian moor a lot of the time in (where else) the Bahamas and sometimes up north if there is a reversing tide running strong.  But if you are leaving the boat for a long time, you can also buy pretty cheaply a helix anchor.  We have installed one in a secret place and it is as tall as me with a ten inch bottom plate.  This was installed pretty easily using a pump that blew a hole in the bottom.  With our shallow draft, a man could stand at low tide and guide the pump so it blew the hole as the helix anchor decended into the hole.  When it was completely down below the surface of the sandy bottom, a large swivel was attached with a very heavy chain that was about 30 feet long.  We then used shackle and thimble and very heavy rope to the boat.   This works well and when it is not in use, the chain drops to the bottom and has a small buoy that lies on the bottom too but is visable to those who know it is there.  Our helix cost about 100 US dollars but clever folks can get one free where they are abandoned by the telephone company. Look where telephone posts are supported and you will see them.  Then keep looking and you will see where some have been abandoned.  A shovel and some work will get you a good helix for free.  We got the heavy chain at the scrap metal place and it is just huge stuff so the bits of rust are never a worry although some insurance company somewhere must have condemned it for what ever it was used for before it was scrapped. 

     Safe anchoring to one and all -  Ann and Nev

[alex]

Hello once more Ann and Nev..

First of all , want to greet Nev and wishing he is doing fine after the surgeries..

You mention a good point about mixing dissimilar (separate on the galvanic table) metals in a submerged mooring arrangement...

IN our case we rely on 2 heavy Bullwaga's , but have a heavy (cannot remember the weight but I almost cannot carry it by my own, a lighter Bruce (but still heavy), and a medium Danforth..

Question: Can you describe the pump to blow the hole for the helix anchor?

Its better way than scuba dive and hand screwing it... If you have no welding skills, the helix anchor can be easily made by a blacksmith as well in places where you cannot find those stuff on the market... but you need to have it hot galvanized before use it or at least sand blasted and covered with epoxy ( I have all my anchors painted with epoxy added with hard filler, and all of them look like new and don't leak rust on deck).

[Galway Bay]

And always ask the locals. There are lots of moorings here for boats and fish-farming and all are 100% rope. We have an acidic mud bottom that just eats chains for breakfast. Maybe not common but it pays to ask.....

[alex]

heavy CQR...that i almost cannot carry... :-)

alex said:

Hello once more Ann and Nev..

First of all , want to greet Nev and wishing he is doing fine after the surgeries..

You mention a good point about mixing dissimilar (separate on the galvanic table) metals in a submerged mooring arrangement...

IN our case we rely on 2 heavy Bullwaga's , but have a heavy (cannot remember the weight but I almost cannot carry it by my own, a lighter Bruce (but still heavy), and a medium Danforth..

Question: Can you describe the pump to blow the hole for the helix anchor?

Its better way than scuba dive and hand screwing it... If you have no welding skills, the helix anchor can be easily made by a blacksmith as well in places where you cannot find those stuff on the market... but you need to have it hot galvanized before use it or at least sand blasted and covered with epoxy ( I have all my anchors painted with epoxy added with hard filler, and all of them look like new and don't leak rust on deck).

[Ann and Neville Clement]

It will be hard to describe the cobbled up pump that was used, but it works and was not terribly expensive, so I will try.  First of all, a broken up bottomless inflatable was altered by putting a piece of ply over the top and that is where the petrol fired pump lived.  Then a long 4 inch diameter flexible hose was connected to the pump and it went down into the hole and the slurry of sand and mud and water was fed off to the side when it came up out of the hole.  The man stood in shallow low moon tide water and directed the pump hose with a long stick that was tied to the flexible hose.  Helpers stood on the swim platform of a power boat anchored right up wind of the hole to be blown and the dinghy with the pump was held in place on the stern of that power boat.  Side anchors were used to keep the power boat from 'hunting" with the wind as most boats naturally do at anchor.  It took about an hour for experienced folks to set this all up, but only about 5 min to dig the hole.  Then a good swimmer with mask put the chain and shackle and swivel on to the top of the helix after the water cleared - about a half hour.  BE SURE TO WRITE DOWN THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE HELIX DOWN TO THREE PLACES BEYOND THE DECIMAL POINT OF LAT LONG AS ON YOUR GPS!!!!!  Hope this helps.  I will take a pic over the winter when we are at our secret location and see the pump working again. 

   Now, you say you sand blast your anchor and cover it with hard filler.  What kind of additive do you use for that filler?  All our steel anchors look like something the old mariner used on his boat thousands of years ago. 

[Ann and Neville Clement]

IMPORTANT ADDITION TO MY EARLIER POSTING:

OhMyGOSH!  I just remembered that the pump did not SUCK the slurry out of the hole, it BLEW it out!!  But they used it in the sucking out mode when dredging for small boats to get to docks in shallow water.  Holes were blown though.  That way works best!

[Galway Bay]

Great stuff here.

I take it the pump is sucking like a giant vacuum cleaner rather than blasting a hole with a jet of water ? I believe divers use a similar system on wrecks.

On the related subject of protecting steel I have a friend on a steel Wylo 11, galvanised rigging etc. no stainless used who swears by this stuff zinga-uk.com . It is zinc in a resin which never goes hard in the tin so part-used cans keep for years for touch-ups. You never clean the brush - just keep it forever and it softens when you put it back in the tin. I could go on 'n on but it is amazing stuff. I thought I would never find better than Galvafroid but I am really impressed with this.

[alex]

I started to use the epoxy when I observed that the galvanization of the Bulwaggas split after a long period under the water and then on the deck under the sun. It looks like the galvanization layer has a different dilatation coefficient as the anchor plate... so trying to avoid a future damage I covered it with a layer of West system epoxy added with a hard filler also from west system (colloidal silica filler or aluminum powder), butter consistency... I used a disposable paint brush for the final touches. before the application I used a metal brush attached to a drilling machine to clean the surface... after that good experience I started to paint the rest of the anchors which were never used (i have them  in case of a major storm or hurricane). If I make a screw anchor by my own, would proceed to clean it with a sand blaster and then hot dip galvanize or cover it with the epoxy mixture. If not sand blasted a good machine sanding would work as well I think.

the epoxy tends to wear out as well on sharp edges, but its easily re-coated...