Moor of the same?

 Whilst we were away on our list trip I started to notice how boats were moored up. When we first came away on the canals we would moor anywhere that we fancied, and was not obstructing other users. We would cut down the vegetation on the edge of tow path to facilitate getting on and off the boat. So long as I was able to leap off with the centre rope it was a good moorings. I would then hammer in the pins and moor up. We often used our gang plank. We had an especially long one that was very useful on the Kennet and Avon as many of the moorings are taken up seemingly permanently, so a rougher mooring was required much more often.

Quite an overgrown mooring on the Kennet and Avon

Over the years we have used the gangplank less and less, and the mooring pins hardly at all. I'm unsure as to whether this is due to laziness or old age,and wanting a berth where we can just hook into, or that over the years the length of towpath that have been shuttered has increased to the level that you don't have to travel too far to find a stretch of Armco to tie up against. It does seem to be the favoured method of repair of the canal banks, and on many tow paths you can see that its width has been increased by the provision of a new length of shuttering and then infilled with dredgings, so killing two birds with one stone. The extent of this is often revealed when the original banks steel work is revealed as the towpath is worn down by use and it shows that the width has increased.

New Armco extending the width of the tow path, but reducing the available canal.

A boat adrift as its moorings had failed.

The fact that people seem reticent to moor to a none hard edge bank now a days seems proved, and another reason for this fact is that there seems to be a perception that boats are speeding past moored boats more than they used to, and more likely to pull the pins out, setting the boat adrift. I'm not sure whether this is true, and even if it is it may also be exaggerated by the fact that it seems there is a commensurate increase in the number of people that don't seem to know how to tie up their boats securely.

Armco is a trade mark and was first used as a crash barrier in American motor racing tracks. It was 'invented' by the Sheffield Steel Corp. of Kansas in 1933 and has largely remained unchanged since then. The adopted the name Armco in 1948. I'm not sure that the shuttering used on the canals is the same but that it what it seems to be widely called. 

There also seems to be a difference in what method people use to time up to Armco. During our last trip out I was quite surprised at the number of boats that were moored using 'nappy pins', or safety pins. These are the ones that hook behind the horizontal length of Armco that ties in the verticals above the water line and below the level of the tow path. They hook in and when the mooring rope is passed through the enclosed end and tightened ensures that the hooked end remains engaged behind that metal brace. The other method of securing to Armco is to use a mooring chain that has a ring in each end, one larger than the other such that the smaller on can pass through the other. These are secured by passing the smaller chain down behind the same horizontal brace used with the 'nappy pins' this is then brought up on the outside, passed through the larger ring and then pulled tight so the chain fits snugly around the brace. The mooring rope is then passed through the small ring and the boat moored up. My surprise was the fact that many more boats seemed to be using the nappy pins than mooring chains!

Mooring or piling hook, and in situ.

In my experience the chains are much more reliable than the hooks. Hooks maybe easier to locate quickly behind the metal when mooring up, as you do not need to kneel on the towpath to drop them down and then bring them up again on the outside. However they are only secure so long as the mooring rope stays tight. As soon as the their is slack the hook can move up and down and eventually it may have enough freedom to twist and drop so that it call leave the piling. I have often come across boats where this has happened and have had to re moor boats for absent owners.  I suppose this is a failure of the securing of the mooring rope rather than that of the 'nappy pin'. The chain can only come adrift if something fails, the rope of the chain. In my ad hoc survey it looked like there was 80% to 20% ration of nappy pin uses to chains.

Mooring chain which is looped around the horizontal piling

Having slack mooring ropes in either system, and a speeding boat will cause great stress on that horizontal galvanized brace when the boat is brought up short. It can be often seen on lengths of Armco where this brace has been pulled away from the rest of the mooring. It is only bolted together  every few metres. If this happens it presents a very dangerous sharp edge to damage boats, and render the length of mooring unusable. To try and combat this I would recommend, which ever method you use, to locate the chain of hook just the other side of where it is bolted. This will minimise the chance of shook loads on the Armco.

When an extra long gang plank comes in handy.

If you are looking for a less crowded mooring, away from other moorers etc, I would recommend having a pair of hedge shears, a long'ish gangplank with no slip treads, and maybe a rope attached to one end so that you can tie it off to the boat so that it doesn't float off. Obviously you will need good length mooring pins and a lump hammer to place them. You should be fine if you ensure there is little slack in your ropes, and check the pins are well located, doubling up if required. The more we use more of the tow path the more the towpath will be kept clear and the less chance of the towpath side getting silted up stopping boats getting alongside. Good luck in finding that perfect mooring that you don't have to share with other boats.