Mooring system?

[nate larson]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to create an inexpensive mooring system? My parents dock only has two very small boat lifts and often times we have friends or family come up with their boats (17 foot fishing boats and small speed boats.) I would like to have an anchor out a ways from the dock that a boat could tie up to overnight. That way they don't have to worry about trailering it each night and we can just wade out everytime we want to use the boat. It would probably only be about 4 or so feet deep where we would put it. My parents live on the North Shore of a rather large lake (Lake Minnewaska) so it needs to be able to hold in some strong winds. I did some searching on the internet and didn't come up with much. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Buy a mooring buoy, some rope, some chain, and some cinder blocks.

Use the chain to hook several cinder blocks together, then attach one end of the rope to the buoy and the other to the chain. Then, put the blocks where you want the boat and hook the boat to the buoy.

[lenny4077]

You could do kinda the same thing with a 5gal pail and some concrete. Just sink an large eyebolt or bent piece of rebar in the pail and use the same chain and marker bouy.

[mtrue68]

My brother has what I think is a manhole cover. It's made of concrete and is about 2 1/2 - 3ft in diameter and about 3-4 inches thick and has somthing like an eyehole loop to hook a rope or chain on. This works great. These probably weigh about 70-100 lbs. He has used these to anchor large ski boats.

[jakemcarroll]

I have moored a 20 ft sailboat on medicine lake for the past couple years and I found a couple of ~ 3 foot long steel rods that had large threading on the bottom 6 inches or so. I would wade out to the right depth and sink three of thes all the way to the ground and then chain them all together (the poles have a large loop on the top of them), and mark it with a bouy. This has always worked really well for me. I got the poles at Ax-Man and I don't know if they would still have them or not, but it may be something you can find at the hardware store too. I have used the cement blocks that the previoous posters have discussed in the past and they have worked well too.

[nate larson]

These all sound like good ideas. Do I have to worry about the concrete weights sliding around since there is nothing that will dig into the bottom? I like the man-hole cover idea but the city might get a little upset if I just take one of those.

[mtrue68]

I'm not sure where he has gotten the manhole cover. I can inqure on that. It has been on the lake bottom at his place on a large lake (5000+ acres) for several years and it has barely moved at all.

[sparcebag]

You may check with the DNR & rules,it may require lights,we had moored boat and swim floating platform,DNR made us remove them,or have lights on each that stayed on overnight!

[Genofish]

Nate, I have a old round (32") septic tank cover that weighs close to 100lbs you could have. I live in Avon off of I94. Call me if you are interested

Genofish 320-266-2213

[nate larson]

Hey Genofish!

I am very interested. Is there anyway to tie a rope or hook a chain to it? I will be coming through Avon a week from Friday.

[beer batter]

Concrete does not work as well as steel due to the air pockets. Concrete becomes much more buoyant in the water. Use steel as an anchor to your mooring system if possible.

[nate larson]

Yeah I guess that makes sense. Although steel is also much more expensive! Do you think the concrete septic cover will move in with strong winds? Has anyone ever a long corkscrew steel post? I am wondering if that might work well.

[Genofish]

Yep, There are 2 hooks on it. I also have another cover with no hooks on it, just 5" hole in the center.

[mtrue68]

what Genofish has, sounds like what my brother uses. I don't know if they have had tied boats up when it's really windy, but I know it has worked well in moderate winds.

[nate larson]

Hey Geno,

What's your email address?

[Genofish]

Nate, My email is [email protected]