mooring a pontoon

[lazyriverrat]

We recently bought a 24 foot pontoon and had it converted to a tritoon for use at our lazy river house on the St Lawrence River which was also a recent purchase.. We are in a bay where the water depth at best at the dock during high water is about 24 " deep. The tritoon i'm told which has a 50 hp motor, only needs about 18 ' of water to navigate out of from a docking position. Later during the season , the water level is manipulated by users down river and the water depth at the dock will go to 8 " or less. This dock is located at a point on the property that is shared with another cottage. It's already out 35 ' from the main shore line. If you go another 30 ' out you only gain about 3". My idea is to have a mooring weight placed in the water where the depth would be at least 2' in the later part of the season and then use a flat bottom dinghy to access the tritoon which would be moored there in deeper water. This bay is windy and waves will white cap but will only be less then a foot high. My question is has anyone ever had a similar application done sucessfully. How much weight would be needed for the mooring to stay in place and how much anchor rode should be used ?

 

[rwidman]

Re: mooring a pontoon

We recently bought a 24 foot pontoon and had it converted to a tritoon for use at our lazy river house on the St Lawrence River which was also a recent purchase.. We are in a bay where the water depth at best at the dock during high water is about 24 " deep. The tritoon i'm told which has a 50 hp motor, only needs about 18 ' of water to navigate out of from a docking position. Later during the season , the water level is manipulated by users down river and the water depth at the dock will go to 8 " or less. This dock is located at a point on the property that is shared with another cottage. It's already out 35 ' from the main shore line. If you go another 30 ' out you only gain about 3". My idea is to have a mooring weight placed in the water where the depth would be at least 2' in the later part of the season and then use a flat bottom dinghy to access the tritoon which would be moored there in deeper water. This bay is windy and waves will white cap but will only be less then a foot high. My question is has anyone ever had a similar application done sucessfully. How much weight would be needed for the mooring to stay in place and how much anchor rode should be used ?

I can't tell you how your boat will fare or how much weight is needed for a mooring, but I can tell you that it's more than an anchor rode that connects the ball to the anchor.

A web search will return design specifications for constructing a mooring. Here is one such result:

http://www.newportmooringassociation.org/nma_faq2.htm

Realize that whoever owns or controls the lake may have some specific requirements. I once had a thought of constructing a mooring. It turns out that the Army Corp of Engineers has jurisdiction and the application form was 27 pages long.

 

[lazyriverrat]

Re: mooring a pontoon

Thanks for the great source of info Ron. I'll use it as a comp and checkout local code requirements and specifications needed if any before I go ahead with any plans. Still wondering if anyone out there has already completed a project like this anywhere on the St. Lawrence river and what their experience has been for good or bad. I'll be concentrating on building a dock to have in place hopefully by early spring and there is a lot of due dilligence to perform in making sure one chooses the installation which will give the most efficient and cost effective delivery of product that will provide years of good service. Thanks again for the info, it was a great starting place !!!

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: mooring a pontoon

Do you own a trailer for your boat. I think that I would trailer it to a local ramp. I also have a 24 ft Pontoon boat and I trailer it all the time. besides it keeps the boat cleaner this way. You can still use you dock when it's save to use. I don't ever tie it out .