Sinking Feeling

[daf4trucks]

Taken on Windermere post Desmond. Feel so sorry for these people, this is what can happen on  non floating pontoons when you cant access your ropes.

Still I suppose its far worse for those whose homes and livelihoods have been affected.

 

 

Windermere 1.pdf

Winderemere 2.pdf

[ranworthbreeze]

A few years ago (2009) lake Windermere suffered floods and in the Windermere Marine Village about a dozen plus boats sank, it would have been far more, but the marina staff went round the moorings cutting ropes to free the craft, if memory severs me correctly they only have one floating main pontoon.

 

Regards

Alan

 

 

[Baitrunner]

That's pretty grim!

Don't get too smart either if you are on a floating pontoon.

Lesson learnt for me, a couple of years ago I had the ropes a bit too tight which you think would be fine on a pontoon - this one had a cantilever effect though as it was hinged to the quay heading, The effect is as the tide rises the pontoon cants backwards and tightens the warps. Luckily it wasn't too bad when a very nice chap spotted this and slackened the ropes off (apparently it was a pretty hard task to release them - yes I had over done the tieing off as well.). Lesson learnt for me.

Another reason to be friendly with live aboards

 

[ChrisB]

I can see "Winter Afloat" insurance becoming a problem there. Like some coastal moorings. Unless you agree to an exorbitant excess or premium.

[daf4trucks]

Alan.

 

My son has a boat at WMV, apparently they did the same this time, credit to them. There is video footage of staff actually in the water doing this. Perhaps someone could come up with an idea which can release secure ropes off  the top of the pontoon pilings when the water is that high, not sure what you can do with springs. Dodgems would be preferable to sinking's.

 

Steve.

[JawsOrca]

I was always believed that a marina is actually responsible for checking on ropes? is that not the case? During the storm surge the other year our marina here did just that.. Although being barges I think they were more worried about the boats wreaking the pontoons.

[Baitrunner]

Back in October a lot of the NYA staff were going around Brundal Bay Marina releasing ropes on the high tide.

Not sure if it was just their boats or others, but they seemed very busy.

Even having good marina staff might not help though if it happens over night.

Pontoons are the best bet in my opinion and I would always go for that type of mooring if I could.

[ranworthbreeze]

I have heard but not seen situations of floating pontoons on marina's on the canals, where the pontoons have frozen in place and when the thaw came it flooded the boats that were still frozen attached to the pontoons that were under water.

Hi Steve,

Is the Winderemere Marina Village still basing their mooring rates over a 8 month period, I know you had to pay extra for water & electric being supplied for the additional period. 

They used to charge mooring fees which would have most Broads owners weep even at today's charges on Broads.

Regards

Alan

[JawsOrca]

I must admit Mark I'm a bit uneasy about being moored to a fixed pontoon but we are reassured it never floods that far inland. But never say never...

[Baitrunner]

Just make sure you have an extra 12 inches spare on your warps Alan - an extra 12 inches should be enough for anyone

I think your right Alan, that far up it probably would have to be a tsunami or Armageddon. I am sure some Northerners can confirm your safe though.

[JawsOrca]

4 minutes ago, Baitrunner said:

Just make sure you have an extra 12 inches spare on your warps Alan - an extra 12 inches should be enough for anyone

I think your right Alan, that far up it probably would have to be a tsunami or Armageddon. I am sure some Northerners can confirm your safe though.

We are still playing with our lines. Thankfully we have plenty of space but the berths not square so when it blows the swimdecks damaging itself so all lines are tight to compensate. It's a tad annoying. We need to get a load of tires still which should help us fender off then start to loosen things up but it shouldn't really get too wet up there. 

[Liberty]

Can you put a spring on, to pull the platform away from the quay heading?

[ZimbiIV]

Alan, We moor bow in at Cove to protect the platform and put a spring on to stop the bow riding on the quay side, also David keeps an eye on things (so does everyone else around).

paul

ps it's also a dammed sight easier to reverse out than in.

[Viking23]

This is where correctly positioned springer lines come into their own, the longer the better.

What we also do, when moored along side is use the cleat on the stern furthest away from the bank to keep the stern in, that way a rise of +/- 3 feet could be catered for at the stern, with suitable slack on our set up, similarly for the bow, but each boat is different, and there are many snagging points on the boat,  bank or pontoon, that can foul the mooring lines.

[Liberty]

Better a spring than a fender, on the principle that prevention is better than cure!

[daf4trucks]

Alan.

 

Not sure about the 8 month rule, but I do know my son pays in excess of 4k for 12 months. The boat is a Sealine S28, makes our lovely Broads rates look almost reasonable!

 

Steve.

[Baitrunner]

Steve, do they have bins though?

[Polly]

Maybe weighted lines running through a ring or strop on pontoon? I am sure I have seen arrangements like that?

[TheQ]

 I  used to belong to Haversham Sailing club just to the north of Milton Keynes, which is next to the river Great Ouse. The club house is on stilts because the river level can rise 5 feet in a couple of hours! ( 3 foot above ground level), anyway for the dinghies moored ashore there were 2 solutions:

 One was to tie them down and leave the bailers open obviously not an option for us here.

The other was that some people hammered short scaffolding poles into the ground and tied the dinghy to a ring placed over the pole so the dinghy could rise and fall with the water.

 Personally Viking23's is the Solution I tend to employ here ,

I have had some paint scrapped off when the water rose to the point the turn of the bilge was rubbing against the bank at Horning, as that was below the fenders, had it gone a little higher then that side of the boat would have been on the bank and then there would have been problems!

[Polly]

NBYCo used to add withies to their mooring posts to hold the boats off the edge of the decking when levels rose above, as I recall.