Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

I moved north out of the Burlington Vt area almost to Canada. While my 38ft houseboat has been in Malletts Bay, I enjoyed a nice sandy bottom. The new location I've worked out to moor the boat is much more rocky. I haven't done any diving to inspect the bottom at this location, but what time I've spent in the water north of my old mooring has shown a lot of solid rock. I'm talking about slabs on slabs... probably 3-4 tons each if you were to pull them out of the water (somehow) and weigh them.

I'm hoping I find something I can anchor into with my old mooring setup, which was a couple of 42" helix type anchors from the hardware store, but if I can't penetrate the bottom with those, I'm trying to figure out if I can drill into the rock(s) for anchor points.

I'm considering either buying a cheap cordless drill from harbor freight and putting it in a plastic bag with mineral oil to use on the bottom, or stepping up to a hammer drill I run off the deck, coupled to a bunch of steel rod/pipe with a drillbit on the other end. I'd have a drill operator taking cues from me while I was in the water guiding the drillbit to where I wanted the holes.

I expect to be in 15-20 feet of water.


Anybody ever hear of anything like this? Closest I found was a research article about saving coral reefs by discouraging anchoring by providing moorings, and one way that was done was with drilled holes and cemented eyes.


Use some imagination here, and don't just shoot me down. I've got a leg up on a lot of people trying something like this with my background in metal working/fabrication/welding/tooling design/etc.
Last year I cut 8ft off the bow of my boat and rebuilt the bow to my own design after the old one rotted out.


Thanks

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Back in the good old days??? guys would drop a line attached to a big block into the water and anchor to that (400-500 pounds of steel)
How about diving and wrapping one of the big pieces of rock with some steel cable and put a shackle around it?
As for a rock anchor, first can you dive? (scuba) second can you rent a hydroulic hammer drill as you will probably need a 3/4-1 inch galvinized rock anchor, and the stub end is 8-12 inches long.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

That reminds me, that there is a D-9 Cat at the bottom of one of the Twin Lakes, near Leadville, CO. That would work as an anchor.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

If it wasn't such a long haul from anywhere, I could get pretty big rocks, some with the drilled blast holes left in them from a quarry. New issues doing that would be getting it to the mooring site, and then getting it out to the water.

Steel wouldn't be too bad since it'd be a smaller package, even at the same weight as concrete or stone. I'll have to start looking around for scrap as another option.


A D-9 Cat would make an excellent anchor. Too bad the most I've ever come across was a John Deer lawnmower. Although about 20 miles down the lake, and on the NY side, at around 90ft deep there's a big tugboat from the 50's. Peeled her hull open like an oil can on a reef one night I guess. Funny how lakes can go from 2ft deep to 100ft deep in the span of a few boat lengths.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

I would think a cordless hammer drill would work just fine in fresh water. Heck even if it rusted up afterward you'd be out a couple hundred dollars for a mooring

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

On our sand bottom lake in Michigan, they use the following: engine blocks, old tires filled with concrete (not very environmental), or 8-10 cinder blocks with chain. If you are concerned about getting out, the cinder blocks would work.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Could you make a mooring block out of concrete? I've read concrete will set under water. If you made a box* and placed an anchor (not necessarily a real anchor, rather sometime like a big eye-bolt that you can attach a shackle to) inside (but above the "top"), you could then fill the box with bags of concrete. Not sure if this is environmentally friendly or feasible, but it's what came to mind when I read your post. NO experience with this at all, so if it's a completely wacky idea, fire away.

* Volume calculated to hold proper amount (weight) of concrete.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Eric, that idea has crossed my mind. Found somewhere on the internet that it takes 27 80lb bags of concrete to make a yard, and that'll cost me about $100. Add the cost of a form on top of that.

That's on the low side (about 2500lbs) of what I'd consider safe for a boat this size, but if I can find a bunch of scrap steel to just toss in the mix, it really brings up the density. I was researching pretty late the other night, and forgot half of what I read by the time I woke up in the morning, but I think I should be going for more like 3,000 to 4,000lbs. It'd be a bear to try to get that mixed and in location I fear.

I think I'm going to call that Plan B. If can find a cordless hammer drill for less than $100, if it's a use once and destroyed situation, I'm not going to stress. As long as it can make it thru that first job...

I'm eying these, probably two of them, to hold the boat in place. Drill, bit, and a couple anchors will put me a little over $100 I think, but I don't believe I'll be draggin bedrock with me in a big storm.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

argh. or not.

didn't realize how big of a drill was required for that anchor...

Need to downgrade my rock anchor size, or Plan B becomes Plan A...

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

I'm with rbh...

If you have the technology to dive to 38 ft, just tie off a big block of rock with cable. If the blocks turn out to be smaller than you expected, tie off two or more, and equalize the forces to a common point, and run your mooring cable to that.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

soggy_feet said:

argh. or not.

didn't realize how big of a drill was required for that anchor...

Need to downgrade my rock anchor size, or Plan B becomes Plan A...

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... While my houseboat is moored over river bottom sediments, 'n weeds, 'n clay,...

I think my method might work for ya,...
Insteada countin' on a single huge weight(moorin' block),...

I used a cleaned up long block V8, then 'bout 8'/ 10' of 1/2" chain, then a cleaned up I4 long block, then my 3/8" lead chain to the cables, to the lines tied to the houseboat,...
With a 50 lb hunk of scrap steel clevis'ed to the loop in the cable the line is tied too,...

When the wind blows, the boat's gotta lift the 50 lb weight, to pull the cable, which tugs on the I4 block, which if it ever moved, would drag the V8,...

You could chain up to a boulder on the bottom, to some chained up heavy scrap, to cables to lines to yer boat,...
A few hundred lbs will do the job of the 2 tons yer thinkin',...

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Ugh... now I"m back to wondering if it's even going to hit the water at all. Went out to dry dock today to check the boat over, found the dirt below the lower unit to be a bit oily, so I pulled the drive and brought it home.

Some do-dad that flips up and down at pivots where the (assuming) reverse lock sits has returned to the earth. Hardly anything left of it, and it pretty much disintegrated in my hands.
Shift shaft seal has seen better days, possibly the cause of the oil I'm told.
Had a little water getting into the boat last year, wasn't sure where it was from, turns out my drive bellows lasted 2 seasons before splitting. I'm not replacing the gimbal bearing until it starts making angry noises.
Also, the bearing carrier has finally eroded away enough that the outermost oil seal doesn't have anything left to press into. A very likely source of my oil spill..


Shopping list put together for the boat, going to go dive and scope out the situation at the mooring site, and I'll go from there.

Sometimes my life feels like an old video game. Every time you beat a level, the next one is a little harder. You never beat the game, it just eventually overtakes you and you die.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

In the tropics, it is common to Cement Eye Bolts into Dead Coral Heads.

Coral is relatively soft, it is just limestone in the making.
If your Rock is hard, shorter pins in smaller holes may work.

A Cheap, $15 Air Chisel could be sacrificed if you have a method of getting it air.
Lacking a compressor, at 4cfm, a Scuba Tank will power one for 15-20 minutes.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

You can find used concrete 'Lego' blocks in many places for very cheap. They are expensive to buy new but maybe $50 used as they are a pain to transport. (The problem with this idea) If you can put one of those down you can be sure that even a houseboat would have trouble moving it.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

double post, sorry

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

soggy_feet said:

Ugh... now I"m back to wondering if it's even going to hit the water at all. Went out to dry dock today to check the boat over, found the dirt below the lower unit to be a bit oily, so I pulled the drive and brought it home.

Some do-dad that flips up and down at pivots where the (assuming) reverse lock sits has returned to the earth. Hardly anything left of it, and it pretty much disintegrated in my hands.
Shift shaft seal has seen better days, possibly the cause of the oil I'm told.
Had a little water getting into the boat last year, wasn't sure where it was from, turns out my drive bellows lasted 2 seasons before splitting. I'm not replacing the gimbal bearing until it starts making angry noises.
Also, the bearing carrier has finally eroded away enough that the outermost oil seal doesn't have anything left to press into. A very likely source of my oil spill..


Shopping list put together for the boat, going to go dive and scope out the situation at the mooring site, and I'll go from there.

Sometimes my life feels like an old video game. Every time you beat a level, the next one is a little harder. You never beat the game, it just eventually overtakes you and you die.

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... What drive,..?? What motor,..??

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Bond-o said:

Ayuh,.... What drive,..?? What motor,..??

Click to expand...

MC-1, 165hp GM I-6 (1970-ish)


Well, I THINK it's an MC1. It's pre-alpha for sure, but years of neglect have left me with little in the way of serial numbers.

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

UncleWillie said:

In the tropics, it is common to Cement Eye Bolts into Dead Coral Heads.

That's the article I had found about cemented moorings the other night.

Click to expand...

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

Alright, re-devised plan in the case of a rocky bottom.

-If there's a rock I can chain to, chain to it.
-If Its rock, but nothing I can get a chain around, air chisel 3 holes, cement anchors in place. (I can't imagine how loud that's going to be under water)
Thanks for the air chisel idea UncleWillie. That's a cheap option, and I'm sure I'll find a ton of uses for it even after the mooring.


I appreciate the block (concrete or engine) ideas from you guys, but just in case you weren't aware, concrete loses nearly 60% of it's weight in water.
I'd need an entire jersey barrier (about 600lbs/ft) to be comfortable that I wasn't going to drag the mooring.

If it was in a sand/mud bottom, I could get away with less, but if it was a sand/mud bottom, I wouldn't have an issue because I'd be using my helix anchors. ha

Re: Permanent mooring into rocky lake bed

I am not sure if an air tool will work under water as the cylinder where the piston is would fill with water, maybe start in the air then submerge?

Just not sure, I mentioned hydroulic drill as it is a closed system.