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Post by Cardiff Yacht Club on Feb 2, 2014 12:46:56 GMT
Louise and I found an old mooring buoy recently. It must have broken loose in the recent bad weather. Interesting, though, as it does demonstrate how careful you have to be when deciding whether or not your mooring chain will last another year, or, indeed, whether or not its safe to spend the night on a mooring you've just picked up..... Here's the buoy and chain as found:  Looks ok? |
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Post by Cardiff Yacht Club on Feb 2, 2014 12:51:33 GMT
A close look now, from just a foot or two away, the sort of distance you might examine your mooring from:  Still look OK? Would you be happy leaving your boat on that? Now let's have a really good look:  Look closely at both ends of the shackle pin. Look at the wear on the shackle attached to the buoy. Note where the wear occurs. A closer look at that shackle pin. Almost unbelievable, isn't it?  |
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Post by Cardiff Yacht Club on Feb 2, 2014 12:56:14 GMT
A cursory glance at the midsection of the chain, and again, it looks ok:  The same piece of chain, properly examined:  Notice, again, that the wear occurs at the ends of the link, where two links rub together. The middle part of the link can look solid, whilst the ends can be razor thin:  The link below this was the one that failed. It's interesting to note that there is an almost completely worn link just a couple of feet away from a perfectly solid link. Hope people find this useful. Next time you clip your boat to a mooring, having first had a quick look at a couple of links covered in mud and kelp, it may be worth giving it another look. Don't have sleepless nights.  |
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Post by simpleered on Feb 3, 2014 13:27:35 GMT
Quite interesting Martin. But no need for any member to get alarmed. This buoy and chain are NOT from Cardiff Yacht Club moorings. We do not use swivel links and our chains are heavier gauge.
BRIAN KING
COMMODORE
JOCK MOUNSTEPHENS
REAR COMMODORE and HARBOUR MASTER
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Post by Cardiff Yacht Club on Feb 3, 2014 15:04:05 GMT
Ah, how stupid of me. Apologies for that. I should have said the buoy was found at West Wales. Fully agree about the gauge of the chain!
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Post by rbhorti on Feb 4, 2014 12:09:06 GMT
When we kept out centaur at Starcross on a swinging mooring I heard a loud bang during one night, got out to check the mooring, every thing seemed ok but on closer inspection from the dingy in the morning I found that part of the chain was of the welded variety and one of the links had parted. NEVER use welded chain for a mooring.
Russell
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