How I moved my mooring into deeper water better suited to my yacht

Unhappy with the length of time his boat remained neaped in the mud, Grahame Hill took it upon himself to move his mooring to deeper water

Typical of a purchase driven by the heart, the reality of buying a long keel cruiser struck home immediately when I tried to keep Swedish Lass on the drying mooring I had at the time in Alresford Creek, off the River Colne in Essex.

The mud wasn’t deep enough to take her, so she spent a great deal of her time lying on her side. Trying to justify the mud marks across her topsides as anything other than an occasional touch on the putty became a lost cause.

I eventually found a more suitable spot for her at Wivenhoe, which had enough mud for her to at least sit upright. However, the strong side current from the Wivenhoe Barrier acting on her long keel would lift the sinkers, drag any anchors and generally cause mayhem.

I then moved her further downstream to my current drying mooring where she could finally sit calmly and perfectly upright in the deep, dark, squidgy mud. Unfortunately, it’s a mooring that is neaped for far too much of the tidal cycle. So I hatched a plan…

Tidal constraints

The muddy river bank under our trot mooring had been extending for some time, which meant the mooring was becoming increasingly unusable due to silting. Chart datum showed a drying height of 2.6m, confirmed by my own observations using the Brightlingsea tidal curve.

Drawing a good 1.4m and displacing four tonnes, Swedish Lass needed at least 4m of tide whenever we wanted to leave the mooring. The result was that she was neaped in the mud for a great deal of the tidal cycle. The mooring’s chains were also starting to become badly worn, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and shift the mooring out into deeper water.

As the mooring’s buoys and tackle were shared fore and aft with other boats I would have to provide my own new buoys, risers and additional ground tackle for the move, while, hopefully, continuing to use the mooring’s existing sinkers.

Action plan

I carried out a deep and extremely muddy examination of each of the existing sinkers, which thankfully were both secure with good rising chains, lying deep in the mud. Probing the undisturbed mud out towards the channel met with little resistance down to a depth of at least 1.5m.

My plan, therefore, would be to carry on using the existing sinkers but with new ground chains shackled onto the sound rising chains and laid out perpendicular away from the trot moorings. The depth of soft mud meant that a long screw pile (helix anchor) would be needed to fix the end of each of the new ground chains, so I purchased two that were 2.5m long with a large eye and double discs (I considered using lorry wheels and tyres for this part of the job, but I’ve prepared sinkers and dug moorings like that before and wasn’t keen on repeating such a performance).

I would then attach 32mm polysteel risers that have a breaking strain of 17,000kg and less tendency to wear in the muddy waters of the Colne compared with the existing chain. Based on repairs that I’ve done previously using 19mm-long link chain, it only seems to have a three-year lifespan when used on the riser, longer if interwoven with rope.

Laying the chains

I took each new ground chain out in the dinghy on a falling tide, which meant I didn’t have to haul the dinghy back up a slope. It also gave me a lot more time to search around for the existing sinker. I dug down to find the sound chain on the existing sinker and secured one end of the chain to it with a moused shackle.

I then back-filled the hole and laid the chain out at 90 degrees towards the channel. I found it useful to mark the attachment point for the riser with a light buoyed line. The free end of the new ground chain was marked with a stick so I’d know later on the exact location needed for the pile.

Installing the piles

This was a physically demanding job. I would take the screw pile, shackle, crawl board, pipe wrench and a 1.5m turning bar with me to install the pile at the end of the ground chain. Before driving the pile I would double check that the chain would reach so that the shackle could be attached easily. The final location had to be clear of any other boats drying out.

I initially used the pipe wrench to drive the pile as the eye was too high to reach, and finished by using the turning bar. The pile finished level with the top of the mud. I then attached the new ground chain to it with a shackle and a wear sleeve. I finished by mousing (tying) the shackle pin onto the shackle.

It took around 30 minutes to screw each pile in. On the final trip I took the assembled buoys and risers and attached the rings to the ground chain with moused shackles as close to the midpoint as possible to get the correct alignment with the ebb tide.

Whenever I bring Swedish Lass in I usually pick up the mooring facing upstream on the outgoing tide, which allows the boat to settle a lot better. It also allows me to leave the mooring more easily on the flood by putting the helm over towards the bank and swinging the stern into the channel. After ensuring that everything was OK, I fitted the mooring bridles and marrying line. Job done,
beers earned!

Relaying the mooring has brought me at least 3m nearer to the channel, reducing the amount of lateral travel required to come in and out and gaining around half a metre of depth – equivalent to approximately an hour’s extra sailing at springs. It should also allow the mud ridge that builds up on the outside of the boat to subside and be carried away by the river flow. There is still enough mud to remain upright.

Future proofing

Because I wanted the mooring to be secure for the foreseeable future I over-engineered the chosen components and am not anticipating any further major expenditure for at least another five years, apart from annual checks. The final total financial expenditure may feel high but it equates to having a brand new mooring.

Lessons learned

The different alignments of the existing fore and aft sinkers meant that I should have considered an extra metre of ground chain on the upstream end, although it’s quite possible I could extend this in the future, if required, by simply shackling on an additional length, or unscrewing the pile to relocate it. A more likely procedure would be to add a further pile and ground chain.

There are various ways of splicing 8 strand and I over ordered extra length to allow for any learning curve involved in the exercise. There was some waste but nothing excessive, around 2m in all. A hard eye was fitted on both ends but a soft eye would have been better on the buoy as it will only have rope attached to it using a secure knot – either an anchor hitch or a spliced eye in the form of a lanyard hitch.

Moving a dinghy and crawl board into position is much easier on the ebb tide when everything is still floating, and whilst I completed the job single handed an extra pair of hands would have been useful. Also, installing screw piles is just as messy as digging in traditional sinkers, so wearing overalls over the wetsuit makes cleaning yourself up a lot quicker.

It’s important to check the mud depth first for obstructions using a long rod in case there are old sinkers or chains lurking around. Pile moorings are still relatively hard work, but less so than shovelling a cubic metre of mud for each sinker. I was initially worried that a 2.5m-pile might be excessive but in practice both of the piles were fully engaged.

On the downstream pile, which was nearest the channel, I could feel it boring into the gravel below the mud. As with normal sinkers I will still allow time for the mud to settle before putting a full load on it. Ignoring the securing effects of the mud, the new mooring has additional weight amounting to more than 50kg at each end, which is heavier than my normal anchor set-up.

Since installing the piles a small amount of scouring in the mud has exposed the eye, but if it becomes an issue the pile can be driven further in.

Whilst installation using hand power alone is practical, a powered auger would help greatly if a number of piles were to be laid. With a suitable extension they could even be driven in from a workboat.

All in all, long heavy ground chains across the river fixed to screw piles is definitely a viable technique that allows easier alignment of buoyed risers with the river flow.

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