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Understanding the purchase of a swing mooring

Posted on December 27, 2016

Not all swing moorings are the same. Factors such as location, water depth, weight of tackle and swing room will determine what length and weight of boat can be safely moored.

There are two parts to the ‘ownership’ of a mooring. Firstly, the tackle that sits on the ocean bed to hold the boat is owned by the mooring owner. Secondly the ‘Permit to Moor’ in a particular location that is granted annually by Parks Victoria, provided you have complied with their regulations – including having the mooring inspected annually by a Parks Victoria authorized mooring contractor and payment of the annual fee.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not own the site; you are the holder of the annual permit to use the site. Typically a mooring to suit a boat to say 10 meters will have up to three large anchors embedded into the sea bed and connected by heavy ground chains. Rising from this up to the boat is the riding chain on top of which will be the bridle that connects to the boat and the buoy.

The weight of chains will, to a large extent, dictate the weight of the boat that can go onto the mooring. Swing room is really important as displacement hulls i.e. a keel boat, will swing according to tide, whereas a non displacement such as a fiberglass powerboat will swing on the wind. Sometimes they can be direct opposites causing boats to come together if they are too long for the particular mooring.

When a mooring changes hands, an ‘ Application to Transfer a Permit’ must be completed by both parties and lodged with Parks Victoria, along with a current Mooring Report completed by an authorized mooring tackle contractor, showing the mooring to be in good condition, and this report cannot be more than 14 days old.

There are a number of authorized mooring contractors within the Mornington Peninsula area and they can be found on the Parks Victoria website under Authorised Mooring Contractors. For the best place for information on moorings please visit the Parks Victoria website www.parks.vic.gov.au or our website marinaberthsales.com.au to see what moorings we currently have available.