Mooring Balls

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john-o

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Are there legal and illegal mooring balls?
Are mooring balls free to first come first served?
Are mooring balls usually privately own?
Are they rentable by the hour, day, days, week, etc.?
Are there mooring balls designed for vessels of various sizes, types of vessels, and by location governing the types of vessels that they can accommodate?
 
Here are some answers in bold:

john-o said:
Are there legal and illegal mooring balls?
Everywhere. Maine is full of illegals
Are mooring balls free to first come first served?
Not often but in Manhasset, NY there are free ones, also inside the Connecticut River
Are mooring balls usually privately owned
Usually they are owned by a marina, yacht club or some organization that rents them- daily or seasonally. But I have seen a few privately owned mooring balls. Realize that the state almost always owns the underlying land and grants a license to private individuals or organizations to install mooring balls.
Are they rentable by the hour, day, days, week, etc.?
Rarely by the hour, usually by the day or seasonally
Are there mooring balls designed for vessels of various sizes, types of vessels, and by location governing the types of vessels that they can accommodate?
Usually a mooring field will have a range: up to 35' up to 45' Annapolis has two areas: inside the bridge is 35' and outside is 45'. I haven't seen restrictions on the type of vessel that may moor.
Click to expand...
 
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1-Are there legal and illegal mooring balls?
2-Are mooring balls free to first come first served?
3-Are mooring balls usually privately own?
4-Are they rentable by the hour, day, days, week, etc.?
5-Are there mooring balls designed for vessels of various sizes, types of vessels, and by location governing the types of vessels that they can accommodate?


1 Yes of course. Both

2 Depends who owns them. They are all put in place by someone.

3 Maybe in the NE. In Florida, Municipalities and yacht clubs install them.

4 Have seen by day, week and month.

5 Yes most are designed to withstand certain loads and swing radius to not interfere with neighbors although some mooring fields are better spaced than others. For example, Sunset Bay mooring field in Stuart FL in light variable winds, boats WILL contact each other if not all facing the same direction. Better put out big fenders if leaving the boat for tide change.
 
Answers based upon our area in LI sound....

Are there legal and illegal mooring balls?
Yes - some areas are regulated and illegal moorings pop up.

Are mooring balls free to first come first served?
Some but rarely

Are mooring balls usually privately own?
About half and half in our area

Are they rentable by the hour, day, days, week, etc.?
Rarely by the hour typically by the day but yuo can always call and ask

Are there mooring balls designed for vessels of various sizes, types of vessels, and by location governing the types of vessels that they can accommodate?
Absolutely - by the size and weight of the boat(s) to be moored
 
I'll echo what George said: yes.
 
john-o said:
Are there legal and illegal mooring balls?
Probably but its pretty closely controlled here in Mass.

Are mooring balls free to first come first served?
Not in Mass. In this area, a mooring is either owned by the town, a marina, a yacht club or a private individual (with a town permit). There are some rare instances where a Yacht Club owns them and allows daytime use if no one from that yacht club wants it.

Are mooring balls usually privately own? See above.

Are they rentable by the hour, day, days, week, etc.? Yes. From marinas, sometimes towns.

Are there mooring balls designed for vessels of various sizes, types of vessels, and by location governing the types of vessels that they can accommodate? Definitely.
Click to expand...

Ken
 
If the ball is in front of a marina chances are that the marina owns it or them. A lone ball out of the way is probably privately owned. Maybe forgotten about by the owner. If you are going to stay on your boat overnight I guess You could tie up but be prepared to move if an owner comes along.

A ball out in the middle of nowhere may not have an active owner. The problem is that it may not have been maintained or even checked for a long time. Tie up your boat and a blow comes along rusted shackles or an old rope anchor line might part.

pete
 
One thing is certain. A mooring ball is equipment owned by SOMEONE. Whether that mooring is legal, illegal, private, or public (rental). There are very, very few Free Public mooring balls.

You have no idea what the size of a mooring is or the condition it's in. It could be a mooring sized for a small center console. People rarely take kindly to arriving to find an interloper tied to their mooring.
 
Shrew said:
One thing is certain. A mooring ball is equipment owned by SOMEONE. Whether that mooring is legal, illegal, private, or public (rental). There are very, very few Free Public mooring balls.

You have no idea what the size of a mooring is or the condition it's in. It could be a mooring sized for a small center console. People rarely take kindly to arriving to find an interloper tied to their mooring.
Click to expand...

Agreed- at times we have owned 3 or more mooring balls independently and/or with a cruising club we were in. All permitted and legal but not for public usage.
 
I own all of the mooring balls. Email me your routing number and account number and I will send you a mooring card to use with any of my mooring balls.

Just kidding, but watch out who you ask.

I own all the condos too. Would you like a condo to use while your boat is moored at one of my mooring balls?
 
This is a wide-open set of questions, but the short version is: It varies by state and even by county and municipality.

On Maryland waters of Chesapeake Bay, private land ownership stops at the high-water mark. Thus, you can put a mooring anywhere that doesn't interfere with navigation. At least, this is the way it was some years ago when I put a mooring in Valentine Creek off the Severn River. You own your mooring ball and anchoring gear, so nobody else is free to use or take it.

The city of Annapolis owns moorings which it rents. The U.S. Naval Academy owns moorings in a couple of creeks off the Severn which are technically off limits but it appears that nobody will stop you from tying up there overnight unless the Navy needs them. If you find a vacant private mooring and want to tie up to it, you'll probably get away with it for an overnight stay but if the owner returns, he's probably free to cut you loose.

I know that Florida has different laws and every other state varies, too. I discovered that the Coast Guard won't advise you, and your state DNR or whoever registers boats probably won't either. Try the county or local government.

-- Tom
 
Personally, even if I could overnight on someone's mooring with no problems, I would not trust it. Unless you are directed to a mooring by a club or marina, you don't know if it's sufficient size for you boat or what condition the ground tackle is in. I'd rather trust my anchor because at least I know what is under the water.
 
backinblue said:
Personally, even if I could overnight on someone's mooring with no problems, I would not trust it. Unless you are directed to a mooring by a club or marina, you don't know if it's sufficient size for you boat or what condition the ground tackle is in. I'd rather trust my anchor because at least I know what is under the water.
Click to expand...

This is spot on. I'd add, even when directed to a mooring for a boat your size, use as many of your own lines as possible. I've told the story here many times of the loop at the end of the painter breaking off while I was about to put it over my bow cleat at Vero Beach Muni.
 
Never a fan of Marine Park bouys, my scepticism has never diminished after seeing one of the Park bouys, complete with chain and three concrete anchors, each the size and shape of the 1/2 barrel the concrete was poured in, all up on the beach. How it got there?

I have my own, anchored by a highway block, 5'x2.5'x2.5', 5/8"chain and a 2 stack tires filled with foam. I had a diver inspect it this month, so I am confident it has the capacity for my boat.

My neighbour has a commercial float, unknown chain, unknown anchor. The biggest load I have seen on that bouy is a Catalina 22, so I wouldn't trust it being designed for anything heavier.
 
Here in BC there does not seem to be any rules (or at least a total lack of enforcement if there are any) regarding the installation of private mooring buoys. The number of them placed in what used to be good anchorages is growing at an incredible rate, and most of them are empty (most of the time). I know of a boater (whose practise in this regard I have no respect for) who has several of them placed in various of his favourite places. Very selfish in my opinion. This growth in the number of buoys has at times made anchoring very difficult. Even though by law, you are technically allowed to use someone else's private buoy, like as has been stated, I would not trust one, knowing nothing about it's construction or maintenance. My anchor, I know. :)
 
The ball does not determine the size of boat that can be on it. It's what's on the other end of the rode. Usually a mushroom. Whatever size that and the lines are determines how big a vessel can safely be moored on it.
 
oscar said:
The ball does not determine the size of boat that can be on it. It's what's on the other end of the rode. Usually a mushroom. Whatever size that and the lines are determines how big a vessel can safely be moored on it.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. That's why you need to know capacity from some sort of trusted source. Typically a harbormaster or the agency who installed it. It is also important to know the configuration, and protocol, because there are all sorts of them.
 
Usually a mushroom anchor?

I would say usually not in many places.....

You just never know.....
 
If it is a chinese made Mushroom mooring, it better be inspected regularly (yearly). They are known to deteriorate at the eye. Many mooring businesses won't use them and won't guarantee the ones they service.
 
Sailor of Fortune said:
If it is a chinese made Mushroom mooring, it better be inspected regularly (yearly). They are known to deteriorate at the eye. Many mooring businesses won't use them and won't guarantee the ones they service.
Click to expand...
Very wise. But you can test a mooring by loading it up hard in reverse. Not perfect but better than nothing. We once spent a night in a mooring field where boats customarily use OPMs;a front came through, the ball was pulled up out of and parallel to the water, it held nicely.
Private moorings here have to be lifted and checked annually, it`s a condition of the license to lay it. But, does everyone do it, I wonder. Reverse power.
 
Mushroom anchor(s), pyramid anchor(s), helical "corkscrew", concrete block, hog slat, etc etc...
 
I think the way you need to proceed with moorings is to start by assuming they are private and not available for you to use. Then look for local exceptions that are explicitly stated. I have seen all of the following:


- Moorings owned/managed by yacht clubs. Call the club, and they will assign you one for a fee or with reciprocity.



- Moorings owned and managed by the municipality. Call the harbor master and they will assign you a mooring.


- Moorings owned and managed by a marina. Call the Marina and they will assign you a mooring.


- Moorings owned and managed by a state or regional park. Call and they will assign you one. Or often times they are first come, first serve and you just grab what's available.


- Sometimes the managing entity will accept reservations, and sometimes it's first come first serve.


- The rules for private moorings can be different in different jurisdictions. Earlier it was alluded that in BC you can use a private mooring, surrendering to the owner if they return. That may be true in other places too.


In a nut shell, guide books are your friend.
 
In Maine moorings are licensed by the local towns. The bulk of moorings are owned by individual people. There are two types of harbors when it comes to moorings. If a harbor has been maintained by the Corps of Engineers (dredged) then commercial use of mooring is illegal (no rental allowed). On Mount Desert Island the harbor at the southwest tip of the island (Bass Harbor) has been dredged with money from the corps of engineers and there are no rental moorings there. In contrast none of the other harbors have been maintained by the Cops of Engineers so they allow rental moorings.


In Northeast Harbor there are three classes of rental moorings. There are town owned moorings, company owned moorings and moorings owned by individuals that are rented out and their rental is managed by the town.


In Southwest Harbor the town owns about six moorings that are clearly marked "Town Rental". They are first come first served and the Harbormaster will come around to collect the fee. You can rent them by the night or week. There are also about 35 moorings owned by the Hinckley Company that they rent out by the night, weekly or seasonally. The rest of the moorings (200+) are privately owned and not available for rental.


Bar Harbor has about six town rental moorings and the rest are private and not rented out.


The Cranberry Islands has all private moorings except for about 8-10 "Town Guest" moorings that are free to use and are first come first served.


Moorings are set up for different sized boats. That setup includes swing room (mooring spacing) as well as the size of the mooring tackle. The size of the boat normally on the mooring is not always a good indicator of the size of the mooring tackle. For example my mooring, where I keep, my 36' sailboat is set up for a 50+ foot boat because I like a bit of a safety margin. The physical size of the mooring ball is based on the weight of the chain it supports. Typical top chain sizes are 1/2" and 5/8". However, you will find bigger mooring balls with lighter chain in deeper parts of a harbor.


It is not uncommon for people to poach private moorings. When that happens and the owner returns the poacher can expect to be "told" to move NOW. If you are appropriately apologetic and humble the mooring owner may direct you to an unused suitable mooring. If the owner returns and the people are not on the boat, the mooring owner will call the Harbormaster who will move the boat. So, if you poach a mooring and return to find your boat is not where you left it call the Harbormaster to find out where it was moved to. If the town had an available town rental mooring that is where it will likely be and you will have to pay for the rental and possibly for having the boat moved. Do not under any circumstances take a lobster fisher's mooring.
 
Amendment to my earlier post about private buoys in BC. I did not say (or at least mean to say) that here in BC it is proper or OK to take (use) a private mooring buoy. I only meant that you could.
For example, I know of a boater who moors his boat on South Vancouver Island and has a private mooring buoy located in a harbour on mid Vancouver Island and that he had not been using the buoy much. Now, someone is "squatting" on his buoy (tied up more or less permanently), and the buoy's owner can do nothing about it. He has contacted police, harbour authority, Coast Guard, etc. so far to no avail. If the person using the buoy does not move when asked, apparently there is nothing (legal means) that anyone in authority wants to do about it.
I do not know the details of his placement of this buoy in a harbour where he does not moor regularly, but if this is an example of the unchecked growth in the number of private buoys "just dropped" wherever a boater feels like it, then my sympathy for him goes down a notch. However, it is not right for someone to just "take over" someone else's property (in this case the buoy).
The real issue is a lack of resources (and possibly authority) to "look after" private mooring buoys, hence the unregulated growth.
 
Unless the mooring is somehow registered, licenced, permitted, etc...etc ..

Where I come from it would be considered a "pirate" mooring and a squatter would be impossible to get rid of short of cutting him loose. Which may just bring reprisal.
 
I know that in Mass and NH moorings are highly regulated. Installing a mooring without a permit is against the law. In the case of just “grabbing” an unused mooring for a few hours, I’m not sure but probably not a big deal. The real problem with ANY mooring is that you don’t know the condition or capability of the ground tackle. Although a mooring that is rented by a town or marina is usually inspected and up to the task of holding the boat they assign to it.

Ken
 
Now I get it. Look at the chart at the website. One string of buoys shows the maximum-capacity example for one buoy.
 

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