Lost Our Boat Due To A Bad Mooring Swivel...

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Wind River

As Sparrowhawk1 stated:
"The weld may have failed but the swivel doesn't fail until the nut unscrews so putting force on it will not show the failure."

Physically checking the nut for movement may be the only practical way to know if the weld has broken.

.....

I got a little out of sync with this thread. Backing down isn't gonna help if the swivel hasn't unscrewed itself so full threads make contact. There's gotta be a better galvanized swivel available.

The Crosby swivel spec sheet notes

Use in corrosive
environment requires shank and nut inspection in
accordance with ASME B30.10-1.10.4(b)(5)(c)2009.

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

...hear and read quite a few stories where you those on anchor ended up on the rocks and those on moorings didn’t.

My preference is always our own anchor/chain rather than a mooring, though I would have to agree that a good/properly sized/well maintained mooring with two separate lines from it to your bow cleats is ultimately more secure. However, it's far easier to control/judge the quality & reliability of your anchor's holding in any given situation than it is to do so with an unknown mooring. You don't need to spend long in the Eastern Caribbean to become very wary indeed of the moorings being offered.

There are times you don't have a choice - we're sitting on a 'public mooring' right now - and I always snorkel as far as possible to check it (it's currently 20m deep) as best I can, there're always two lines from it to the boat and I back down on them every bit a hard as I would've done with my own anchor; if the mooring owner/renter objects there's a fair bet that it's not to be trusted.

In the final analysis though, if we're hanging to 'our' own anchor(s) and it lets go, then at least it's 'our' fault. We've never had a mooring fail on us - just lucky I suspect - and I'd like to say that 'we've never dragged the anchor', but people who say that either rarely/never anchor or are just telling lies.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

My preference is always our own anchor/chain rather than a mooring, though I would have to agree that a good/properly sized/well maintained mooring with two separate lines from it to your bow cleats is ultimately more secure.

All depend how good the anchor is and how bad the mooring is
Personally, I would always trust my known anchor , chain and shacles over an unknown mooring.

. We've never had a mooring fail on us - just lucky I suspect -

Oh, so you admit moorings can be suspect.

and I'd like to say that 'we've never dragged the anchor', but people who say that either rarely/never anchor or are just telling lies.

Plenty of us out here cruising for years anchoring every night and never dragged.
As mentioned earlier, depends how good your anchor is.

[GordMay]

Failure Mode Analysis Root Cause: Following Problems have caused failure of MBC Moorings.
. Undersize Chain,
. Worn Chain Re-used
. Used Wrong Type Shackle or Swivel,
. Did Not Use Specified Seizing Wire.
. Poor quality and/or undersized Nylon Pennant failed in storm.
. Did Not Splice Tight to Thimble - seizing securing pennant to thimble failed, pennant chafed through
. Inadequate, poorly maintained chafe gear caused pennant to wear through.
. Mushroom not tipped.
. Undersize Mushroom,

Excerpted from the Monmouth Boat Club “Moorings Booklet” (NLA)

[sparrowhawk1]

GordMay, did they happen to mention if they use swivels on their Moorings?
Sorry I see you mention swivels. Where's the delete button?
But it is interesting, wrong type is cause of failure among a long list

[GrowleyMonster]

What a heartbreak. Very sad.


But thank you so much for posting. Now at least a couple hundred boat owners or skippers will be more suspicious of moorings, especially swivels, and will (1) back hard on a mooring as if it were an anchor, and (2) consider alternatives to just using the supplied pennant, and (3) not use a hardware store grade galvanized swivel or maybe even any swivel, on a private mooring. You would have to swing around a mooring a bunch of times for the twists to be a bother. They all work out when you cast off anyway.

[Hahser]

Similar issue in Greece - I spent a peaceful night at anchor (Paros) and swam over to a double bouyed mooring. There was a lot of marine growth but it looked ok. A fisherman told me I could use it so I motored over and caught one of the bouys. After a few minutes doing other things I noticed I was drifting - with a captive bouy. I went back and caught the second one - but being apprehensive by now I dropped my anchor also thinking there was a submerged chain some distance away and the hook would catch it if drifting (I was planning 3 nights ashore). All held well but leaving the mooring days later I found a complete tangle of anchor chain, mooring chain. rope and a scrapyard of weights and debris. What I have heard called 'legacy moorings'. It took 2 of us (one in the tender and one with scuba gear over two hours to free ourselves.

The first lesson was - I didn't back off on the first bouy. The second; anchor chain and mooring lines don't mix.

[Boatguy30]

In Luperon we did a "running" back down on our $2/day mooring and I did dive in the 6" visibility and give things a feel before we left for 2 days for Santo Domingo and I flew out for 7 days.

Hope to see you in the fall.