Instructions for Tying Moorings and Grappling

Here are two documents provided by Curt Koster. One pertains to tying moorings together for the winter, and the other is on grappling in the spring.

We add the additional notes:

Tying Moorings - If you have a winter stick, some of us have been combining tying moorings together and using a winter stick on one of the moorings. In this way there is no need to grapple in the spring. No matter how easy that grappling might be, it's not as easy as picking up the stick. If the stick is lost you can always grapple for the line.

Grappling - Although this document is provided in the context of grapping to find and lift your tied mooring chains in the spring, grappling for chains, not lines, is also an activity that you might find yourself needing to do. The following additions are in that context:

When grappling for a lost mooring, it is really important to be sure to have a second float attached to one of the tines of the hook itself. If you snag the chain too close to the mooring anchor, you can use the second line to release the hook from the chain, and then try again.

Also if you are pulling the mooring, we suggest placing the grappling floats in the water after snagging the chain, and then use the cow to lift the mooring. In these cases if you can't pull up the chain by hand, again maybe you snagged the chain very close to the anchor, lift with the grappling line using the cow hoist. Notice that many gappling lines already have loops tied in the line for use with the hoist hooks. If loops are not already tied to the line, they should be put in before you begin to grapple.

Downloads

• Curt Koster's description of how to tie moorings together
• Curt Koster's description on how to grapple for a mooring

Last updated 4:29pm on 11 January 2025