Hooking to a Mooring

[Gilldiver]

Up here in the North East moorings are put on by the dive boats, both charter and private. The mooring is almost always poly lines with 2 lobster pot floats and an eye loop tied into the end. We spear the eye with the boat hook and pull up as much as we can the tie off. We can do a mid boat tie off by running a line from the bow to midships and hook onto the eye loop, but then see the next section.

If we do not have any recent history on a line, we may drop our anchor line down it by looping the chain around it, 1st diver in chains the line into the wreck, last diver out takes it off. This way we have 2 lines to the wreck, the mooring which is the main line and our anchor line as a safety.

 

[DennisS]

I found what I was looking for on ebay, under self locking caribiner, aluminum, weighs about about a lb, 3600 lb proof tested and 5000 lb minimum tensile strength

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Aluminium carabiners eventually lock up in saltwater.

 

[DennisS]

Aluminium carabiners eventually lock up in saltwater.

I looked at that, I'm still waiting to receive the carabiner but I bet that the locking mechanism is steel. Spray galvanize and lots of corrosion sealer on the locking mechanism, fresh water rinses after every use.

It won't be used daily, just occasionally when I want to get some dives on the close in reef with moorings, otherwise, it's anchor.

They are just starting to get sticky about anchoring, no anchoring on "live rock", which is a lot of the bottom around here, only in the sand. A lot of the live rock is covered by sand from beach renourishment so I guess it's ok to anchor on those spots.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

It's the aluminum that corrodes. I had a locking AL 'biner to attach
the bitter end of my rode to my Whaler. Within a few months it was
seized up. I replaced it with an SS nonlocking 'biner, and 13 years
later, 70 salt water days a year, it's still fine.