MOORING PENNANTS

INTERACTIVE pdf file

PENNANT RECOMMENDATIONS WRITTEN BY HAZELETT CORPORATION

Our recommendations are based upon decades of mooring experience on Lake Champlain and compatibility requirements with the Town of Shelburne's mooring system.

A properly sized pennant line is many times stronger than the force exerted by the moored boat. The greatest threat to mooring pennants is chafing. The following recommendation overcomes the excessive wear typically seen where a pennant connects to the buoy.

Your pennant will connect to the buoy at the eye of a stainless steel swivel which is already attached to the buoy. A seven-inch long eye (loop) spliced onto one end of your pennant is fed through the eye of the swivel, and the pennant is then passed through the loop and pulled tight.

No shackle should be used to attach your pennant to the swivel. Your pennant needs no thimble.

The mooring buoy is carefully ballasted to float just a few inches above the water. Putting on too heavy a pennant will sink the mooring buoy. The recommended pennant has no heavy and expensive metal components.

The swivel's eye will accept up to 5/8" line. We recommend polyester line, braided or twisted, 1/2" (13mm) for boats up to 20 feet and 5/8" (16mm) for boats up to 35 feet. Polyester is better than nylon for a pennant because of its low stretch. Minimum pennant length should be 1 1/2 times the distance from the water to the deck, plus what is needed to secure the line on the boat.

Chafe gear will extend the life of your pennant by reducing day-to-day wear at the point of contact with the boat. Using chafe gear will not, by itself, cure the problem of sharp bends over a deck, rough surfaces or improper chocks.

Attaching a pick-up buoy to your pennant is your option. At the end of the season when you take your boat away, just take your pennant with you.

Trailerable boat owners beware. Most bow eyes are not intended for mooring a boat. The single bolt stem can loosen at a mooring. Snap shackles have been known to fail. Consult your boat dealer before using the bow eye to attach your pennant.

If you are sleeping on your boat in calm conditions and the slight thumping the buoy against the hull bothers you, use your pennant to pull the buoy a few feet out of the water.

A sailor's best protection for his or her boat's security is constant vigilance. Your pennant should be inspected regularly for signs of wear. Replacing worn line is important. If you will be away for long periods, have a knowledgeable person check your boat.

The Town of Shelburne utilizes a Hazelett Elastic Mooring System. Because of its engineered "elasticity", it stretches out smoothly under the load of wind and sea, thereby eliminating the peak forces of a rigid chain road. This elastic high-stretch material connecting the buoy to the anchor can stretch up to four times its unloaded strength. It has an excellent abrasion resistance and can tolerate twisting. The system uses rigid polyurethane thimbles to eliminate all metal-to-metal contact. The smooth extension of the Hazelett rode also acts to keep the boat pointed into the wind instead of yawing.