Mooring Etiquette

psneeld said:

Exactly....even pirate moorings are OK with me if they don't wind up blocking cruisers from enjoying a great spot.

As long as there is still reasonable access to an area, even long trem anchoring doesn't bother me if it isn't affecting others to an unreasonable point.

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That is why the State of Washington has the rules they do. They also have identified one harbor in the state for special rules because of heavy usage and unauthorized buoys and impacts to both the environment and navigation. They also have been removing buoys that they consider to be a hazard and/or are in violation of the regulations. They just don't have enough resources to get to them all.

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/quartermaster-harbor

Funny how people in different parts of the country don't respect one set of customs and courtesies but I will bet if you go to their neck of the woods they expect you to live with theirs.

Hurrying Nowhere said:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

If its not yours or a friends who gave you permission leave it alone.

What next...well i didn't see anyone home so i just borrowed their house for a day or 2 while they were away.....
Surprised to that instead of wondering, why you guys don't just drop your anchor and use that?

And if your anchor system is broken then fix it....

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Because in some small harbors, there are so many moorings there is no place to anchor comfortably (which requires much greater swing room). In the case of the single mooring in Merchants Row (and IIRC there are a few like there), you typically can anchor so your stern is just a few yards from the ball, as any boat attached to it will not swing into you, you will swing farther away from it. This is the practice one must also adopt in places where it isn't moorings you are dealing with, but crab and lobster pots.

How many here keep their boats on moorings instead of marina slips?

Have used mooring balls extensively in Trinidad, the French Eastern Caribbean, Marigot St. Lucia, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, NYC and Annapolis. Our first choice is not usually a marina.

The question was about Maine. There are virtually no public funds for any kind of recreational boater infrastructure. Public docks, where they exist, are for the local commercial fishermen, or at best, allow for brief pick-up and drop-off. Public moorings?!? No such state-wide program exists in Maine. A few towns do try to attract transients by offering a few moorings, some of which are even free. These are rare.

And you can't always just move along to the next anchorage. There may not be a suitable place for many miles along the rocky and exposed sections of coast.

Around towns and cities, moorings are typically all dedicated to boat owners who keep a boat on them for the season.

When a scarce public resource like a usable anchorage in a sparsely populated area is filled up by destination moorings that remain unused 95% of the time, it seems unfair to the rest of the citizens, who in theory have equal claim to these locations.

I don't mind the mooring owner using it occasionally. It's the whole idea of preventing everyone ELSE from using that location, ever.

One compromise that's developed into local custom in some areas is that destination moorings are free to use when the owner is not around. As was pointed out, this brings up problems like the suitability of the tackle for the "borrower." Not to mention the question of maintenance. And liability, should the thing let go. I don't like this arrangement, but sometimes you have to accept local customs.

Sounds like a problem that should be addressed by the the State, but it is politically very difficult to deal with. In WA it wasn't addressed until about 10 years ago. Now it is nice. The state specifies exactly what type of mooring system needs to be used to protect the habitat and to avoid hazards. It doesn't cost the state much to administer, the only expense is the cost of removing non-compliant moorings.

boatpoker said:

It's been a few years since I've anchored there but one of my favourite stops is Beaufort NC. The anchorage in front of town had been pretty well taken up with private moorings by locals who would come out in a dink to charge you for using their mooring. At that time these were installed without town/USCG/state permission, just a few locals trying to make a buck with a couple of scrap V-8's welded together, a chain and a float. Now it's not my country and I ralize as a guest, I have no say in the matter but it does not seem right that someone can usurp public waterways for private gain. Can anyone tell me if this is still going on at Beaufort as I'll soon be heading that way again.

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Yes it is and none of them are legal.

If it were me, it might be interesting to confront people about these kind of moorings. If approached by a so-called owner, ask him what is the makeup of the ground tackle. If it is theirs, they should know. Give it a good tug and prove it will hold your boat. If it DOES hold our boat, he could return the next day and I would gladly pay him for a safe night on his mooring. If it does NOT hold, to please provide his business liability waiver so you can make a claim on his policy should damage be incurred from his mooring business not provide advertised holding.

Tom.B said:

Yes it is and none of them are legal.

If it were me, it might be interesting to confront people about these kind of moorings. If approached by a so-called owner, ask him what is the makeup of the ground tackle. If it is theirs, they should know. Give it a good tug and prove it will hold your boat. If it DOES hold our boat, he could return the next day and I would gladly pay him for a safe night on his mooring. If it does NOT hold, to please provide his business liability waiver so you can make a claim on his policy should damage be incurred from his mooring business not provide advertised holding.

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In a state or locality where moorings are required to have permits, you could always ask that he provide the permit. Of course, in my state, it is expressly forbidden to have a private mooring that is used to provide revenue, ie you can't rent it out.

"I don't think they have a problem when it's in an area that allows such to legally be done."

Its the "legal " part that burns.

On long Island NY the town of Sag Harbor has slips and mooring balls to rent .
To make more cash they claim to control the "mooring field" of a nearby town.
The "field" is 2 or 3 miles long 1/4 mile wide and has 2 moorings.

Anchoring in "their" mooring field will bring a warning and a ticket if one overnights.

They know the hassle and legal costs to correct this illegality are far beyond what a cruiser will expend.

"How many here keep their boats on moorings instead of marina slips? "

In the NE slips are $4000 and up for a summer. As our 50 ft boat would be about $1000 a month we use a marina mooring.

It is $100 a month and allows parking , garbage water fill and dink beaching.

1/10 the price with the only "cost " a 5 min row works for us.

A solar panel keeps the batt up, and the propane reefer the beer cold and ice cream solid.

The Brits do the best job with moorings , they mark their home ball with the size of their vessel 6 tons, 24 tons , and expect folks to be rational.

That way when on vacation there are frequently balls available.

makobuilders said:

How many here keep their boats on moorings instead of marina slips?

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We did, in both Marathon FL and Westport Harbor, MA, for a few months at a time, while living on board full time. Loved it. When transient, we vastly prefer moorings to docks as well, so have spent several days at time on a ball all up and down the east coast, as well as the PNW on chartered boats, or Catalina, Morro Bay and Port San Luis in California on friends boats.

markpierce said:

I've only used state-operated public buoys which are available first-one-available. Moorings are rather uncommon here.

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Very common in other parts of California though, especially south. The local boats are on moorings up in Point Arena too, though not for transient use unless you know the owner.