Seaplane Mooring

[wmvosburgh]

Anyone have some experience with mooring a seaplane they'd like to share? To free up some dock space in the summer months I'm going to put in an offshore mooring for the pacer. Very sheltered bay. Maybe 14 feet of water.
I've read that for line length you want 3/1 for shallow moorings and 7/1 for deeper installations?
Thinking of using a washtub filled with concrete with some sort of stainless fixture sticking out of the concrete. From there going chain to the buoy, and then a bridle to the front spreader bar. Thinking that a five gallon bucket will be a bit too small.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Troy Hamon]

Anyone have some experience with mooring a seaplane they'd like to share? To free up some dock space in the summer months I'm going to put in an offshore mooring for the pacer. Very sheltered bay. Maybe 14 feet of water.
I've read that for line length you want 3/1 for shallow moorings and 7/1 for deeper installations?
Thinking of using a washtub filled with concrete with some sort of stainless fixture sticking out of the concrete. From there going chain to the buoy, and then a bridle to the front spreader bar. Thinking that a five gallon bucket will be a bit too small.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Concrete is not dense, so a lot of the effective weight of the concrete is lost in water. So if you have a 60 lb bucket of concrete, it is like using a 30 lb weight after you submerge it.

I don't know what wind or current you might have in the shelter of your bay, but if I was going to put in a mooring for an airplane, it would be at least a 135 lb steel anchor.

[rocket]

I had vary good luck with a 40# danforth and a good 30' rode of heavy chain straight out from the beach on the Kvechak River that is tidal so it flowed vary strong both ways and the worst wind was on shore. Just had a couple stringers coming up from the running line with a setnet cork on the end to keep it floating.
Wave action is the deal breaker so you need to take that into consideration.
A calm lagoon sounds easy.
Tie off bow to anchor line then tie a running line from a stern cleat to the beach set up so you can pull the plane to the beach and just barely hop on the stern before going over your waders.
Harder to write on my phone then do

Rocket


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[flynfish]

A good stainless pully attached to Danforth or Bruce Anchor with a 10-12ft of good chain. Have an endless loop running through the pully to shore. Beach the plane (or skiff) have a chunk of line to tie to the running line and through the eyes on bow tiedown lines to make a bridle. Run the plane out on the running line and it will move freely with currents/winds.


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