AU2008100061A4 - Mooring master 10058 - Google Patents

Description

MOORING MASTER is the provisional descriptive name of the Sdevice which is the subject of this Innovation Patent application.

C A. Description S1. This invention is a device for eliminating most of the physical effort and risk INC of injury to crew when mooring a recreational vessel up to 20 m in length, to a "swing" mooring.

2. Mooring Master comprises of a special boat hook and a length of light line (or 00 rope) fitted with a snap connector for attaching the line to the shaft of the hook in two positions for either manual or winch-assisted mooring operations (ref.

c¢I dwg 10058-01) The figures referred to in the following text are shown on attached drawing numbers 10058-02 and 10058-03.

3. Mooring a boat to a swing mooring requires the bow to be positioned directly over the floating buoy. A rope, one end of which is already fixed to the boat, is then looped through an eye on the buoy and is also secured to the boat.

The boat is now moored. Ref. to figures 4 8.

With small boats, this is a simple procedure as a crew member can lean down from the bow to loop the rope through the eye. With larger boats, typically more than 5 m long, the bow is too high for the buoy to be reached without a boat hook. Two problems now arise which the Mooring Master overcomes.

They are: i) The boat, approaching the buoy at minimum speed to just maintain steering response, is stopped by the skipper engaging reverse gear and then neutral. It is virtually impossible to bring the boat to a complete stop at the moment the crew member hooks the buoy. The boat will have a small forward or reverse velocity which, combined with the action of wind and current, conspires to pull or twist the hook out of the hands of the crew.

ii) In order to attach the mooring rope to the mooring buoy, the hooked buoy must be lifted out of the water to bow height. Lifting this heavy weight may be beyond the capacity of the crew member.

Mooring Master simplifies both the above operations by reducing the physical effort required and the risk of injury.

4. Having hooked the buoy (figs. 1 wind, current and residual boat momentum conspire to twist the boat hook out of the crew member's hands.

Even an exceptionally strong crew member is usually unable to retain his/her grip on the hook at this phase of the mooring cycle. To avoid the risk of injury such as broken ribs, cuts and abrasions, the mooring attempt must be aborted, sometimes with the loss of the boat hook.

SINNOVATION PATENT APPLICATION I t10058 By K &t S BAHR issuT: 1/08 MOORING MASTER By K S BAHR Ju 1 i ~10058 0 1' DATE. 7/1/2008 __DESCRIPTION Page 2 of 3 t c 5. Using Mooring Master on boats without an anchor winch. Option 1.

Sa) With Mooring Master, the crew member can release his/her grip on the boat hook immediately after hooking the buoy. Wind, current and momentum forces are allowed to move the boat away from the mooring 1-1 until the line of Mooring Master is at full stretch. It is only necessary for the crew to keep the line from going slack to prevent the hook from disengaging. With the line at full stretch (figs. 2 the boat will Sgradually align itself to the wind and current vector. It is now easy to 0haul the boat back to the mooring in readiness for lifting the buoy out Sof the water. Typically, this phase of the mooring procedure takes one cl to two minutes; sufficiently long enough for the skipper or other crew member to be able to leave the bridge to give lifting help.

b) The buoy is now lifted by means of the hook (fig. 3) to a height sufficient for passing the mooring rope through the eye of the buoy.

Both ends of the rope must then be secured to the bollard before returning the buoy to the water and retrieving the hook. The boat is now securely moored (fig 4.) c) The weight to be lifted in is that of the buoy plus part of the chain fixed to its underside. The weight of a light mooring in shallow water may be less than 10 kg. and that of a heavy mooring in deep water, more than 100 kg. A guide to the likely weight is the size of the buoy.

The larger the buoy, the greater the weight. The practical safe, lifting limit for even two crew members collaborating, is approx. 50 kg.

Heavier moorings, up to the rated load capacity of Mooring Master, can be lifted easily with anchor winch assistance on boats so equipped.

6. Using Mooring Master on boats equipped with an anchor winch. Option 2.

While observing the safety instructions for the winch and when implementing Option 2, proceed as follows: a) On boats with a single bow roller supporting the anchor, remove the anchor to a convenient location on the bow, astern of the bow bollard.

b) Declutch the anchor chain gypsy of the winch from the rope capstan and/or disengage the chain entirely from the gypsy. This is an essential pre-requisite so that the winch can haul rope without operating the anchor chain.

c) Move the line of the boat hook from the handle end to the hook end d) After hooking the buoy (fig. proceed as in 5a), allowing the boat to drift to full stretch of the line (fig. 6).

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1 MORNG INNOVATION PATENT APPLICATION MOORING MASTER By K S BAHR MIssE: 1 00 DATE: 7/1/2008 0 DESCRIPTION Page 3 of 3 e) The boat can now be hauled to the buoy by hand as in Option 1 or by means of the winch. To use the winch, it is necessary to wrap two or three turns of the line around the winch capstan and then operate the winch in the correct direction. To avoid the risk of "losing" the mooring, ensure the loop at the end of the line is secured to the bollard.

f) When the bow is over the buoy, continue operating the winch to lift the 00o buoy to the required height (fig.7) for the mooring rope to be threaded 0 through the eye on the buoy. After securing the rope, reverse the winch 0 to return the buoyto water and retrieve the hook g) Remove Mooring Master, re-clutch chain gypsy and/or re-engage anchor chain and replace anchor on bow roller. The boat is now securely moored (fig. 8).

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