How do you tie up to a Mooring

[Boat Hog]

I might be using a mooring soon for an overnighter on the boat. Question is ... how do you connect the boat to the mooring? :-?

Do you use a bow line through the mooring buoy and tie off to cleats? I have read that a rope can chaff on the buoy and wear through, how long would that take?

Cheers,

[The-easyrider]

While using the moorings in the Whitsundays we had a rope that was about 1inch thick it was fixed to the boat at one end and the other end had a loop spliced in. The process was to slip the looped end through the loop on the mooring and then fit the loop over a cleat that was in the anchor well, this was on a 30 foot cat. In september I will be taking my boat up there and will do the same thing just need to have enough rope so that the mooring rope is back floating as they are quite wieghty and my boat is not a 30 foot cat. There was also a piece of plastic tubing on the rope that was positioned to take any chaffing.

[mal555]

Have a short, say 10 to 12 mm line already attached securely one end to a bollard or forward cleat (bowline knot) and have a decent length boat hook ready to pick up the slimey mooring spliced looped tail.
Scoop up the tail as you head up into the wind with one hand and thread your nice clean short line through the looped eye and back to your deck cleat to tie off, this way no crap ends up on your deck.
Likewise if threading it through a steel eye on a mooring buoy, you just may need a slightly longer line. Chaffing won't occur short term unless rubbing on a sharp edge.