The Price of Staying Put The standard mooring rig—and what it’ll cost you—for a 34-foot sloop in 20 feet of water. 3/4-inch three-strand nylon pendant, 10 feet ($15 and up) Buoy ($80-$300) 3/8-inch proof coil, 25 feet ($138) 5/8-inch swivel Dor-Mor shackle Mushroom Concrete Screw ($10-$35) block 5/8-inch proof coil, 25 feet ($300) 400- to 500-pound mushroom anchor ($390-$500) Prices refl ect the results of a limited PS market scan of gear required for mooring a 34-foot sailboat according to the typical setup outlined below. Rigging a mooring Oh let us count the many, many ways ... here are plenty of variations in the do away with the top chain altogether Tdetails of permanent ground tackle, and replace it with rope (this option has and PS has covered most. The standard been mentioned several times in PS, and rig is as follows: a mushroom anchor set will be mentioned again). Some use two well in the bottom (or a concrete block pendants. And so forth. or a screw-type anchor, which works well As for the length of the chains, opinion in hard bottoms), to which is shackled a varies. Mike Muessel, owner of Oldport length of heavy chain, then a swivel, then Marine in Rhode Island, has over 30 years a length of somewhat lighter chain, a of experience installing and maintain- shackle, and a rope pendant that goes to ing moorings. In the relatively deep and the bow cleat. (There are often anchorage crowded confi nes of Newport Harbor, he requirements for pendant length; for in- follows the town’s requirement, using a stance, twice the height of the freeboard total length of chain 2½ times the depth at the bow, plus the distance from chock of the water at high tide, divided equally to cleat.) A mooring buoy is shackled between the top and bottom chains. to the top shackle. Some mooring ball This allows the connection between the designs let the upper chain run through chains to be inspected from a boat. their centers, with the pendant shackle More chain is better, both for the scope resting on a steel lip at their top. angle and because the heavy catenary of Some people put the swivel at the the suspended chain absorbs the boat’s top of the operation, between the top pull. However, practicalities of swinging chain and the mooring pendant. Some room, expense, and overkill intervene. .