Moorings Maintenance

Published 19:30 on 9 Nov 2025

The club's annual overhaul of the moorings took place over the weekend of 8th / 9th November.

Fortunately the weather was kind to us - quite warm, no run on the river and no snow (as we have had some years!)

On Saturday we tackled the west chain, and after a little difficulty in splitting the chain, we re-made the joint along the moorings boat, adding a short piece of main chain. Starting from the most southerly mooring, we worked down the chain, checking and adjusting the risers and shackles. We found no damage to the rope risers, but some shackles were not moused and some appeared past their best, so were replaced. We also found that some parts of the chain were lying in very smelly mud!

We completed the west chain just as the tide was beginning to come in, and came ashore for lunch, which we shared with Paul Sizeland's work party who were trimming trees in the dinghy park.

Unfortunately, only 5 of the 8 members scheduled for Sunday actually turned up, which was very disappointing and obviously made the work that much harder. It took us ages to split the east chain, but eventually we succeeded and then, as the rain came down steadily, we worked our way down the chain checking and replacing any worn out components. On the whole, the risers and shackles were in good condition, which is encouraging. Again, we made a few adjustments to the length of some moorings to allow for changes in next year's allocation.

At least the small number of workers meant we had extra pies for lunch!

Many thanks to the members who turned up and worked hard for the benefit of all our keelboat owners. It's a hard, dirty and tiring task but it's necessary to do it every year to ensure the security of our moorings.