Swivels on mooring gear

Jeri

New Member
Looking for a 2nd opinion. I think that the use of a swivel on mooring gear that uses the "through the mooring ball" (buoy with a tube through the center; The Taylor Sur-Mor T3C buoy) system is useless when a boat is on the mooring. I think the swivel cannot swivel (rotate) 360 degrees under these circumstances unless the boat rolls over. Think of the entire mooring line as 2 solid rods. One from the mooring base (block, mushroom or whatever) to the bottom of the swivel and the 2nd from the top of the swivel to the bow cleat. The only way the swivel can rotate 360 degrees is if the boat on the mooring rolls over. Make a model. Swivels are a hold-over from the older style mooring ball (Sure-Mor Hard Skin Ball), the use of which had the pendant attached to the top chain above the swivel, but below the mooring ball.
When no boat is on the mooring, the swivel can rotate 360 degrees to allow the chain to unwind, provided the chain has not become so wrapped around itself it won't unwrap. If I am right, the swivel in the "through the mooring ball" system, does not help and as always is a very weak part of the mooring gear.
 

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