Hi, Swamp Frogs,

I have yet to use piling hooks though I have seen them in use and they do seem a good idea as rope tied round the rough edges of piling will wear quite quickly. Personally I would recommend having a sturdy set of mooring stakes (pins) and at least one spare one on board. They dont need to be anything special – 18mm reinforcing bar, or lengths of angle iron will do just as well as posh galvanised pins with rings. Just be aware that when you leave you will need to pull them out again so take care and drive them in according to ground conditions. On still water (canals) it doesn’t take much to hold a boat steady- unless some noddy boater charges by of course!  Moving waters ( ie rivers) will obviously require a lot more security. I wouldn’t advise anyone to leave a boat tied to just two galvanised pins if there’s a chance of a lot of water coming past. At least double up the pins, or better still, tie up to trees if possible.  One other thing; if you do use those fancy galvanised pins with rings at the top, I would suggest that you drop the mooring rope over the pin so that it lies on the ground rather than passing the rope through the ring. This way the pin is less likely to be pulled over by the boat (less leverage).

Hope some of this may be useful. Best regards, Norman.

Alan said
Good tip on not passing rope through ring, Norman – thanks. I had not thought of it.

When I was on the K&A on a hire boat in October I helped retrieve two boats whose pins had pulled out!

 

Alan

Better still hammer stake in so that mooring ring is level with ground. Otherwise it might be a tad too tempting for a ne’er-do-well to just lift off your lines.