Make a Boat Buoy Easily
Picking up mooring lines can sometimes be difficult, especially if they are drifting under the water. They're much easier to pick up if they're floating. Mooring line floats are expensive, but you can make your own.
Steps
- Pick up the mooring lines so that you can work on them. If the deck of your boat is high off the water, you may need to pull the mooring buoy up onto the deck (this may need to be done at low tide). Or you can work on the lines from a smaller boat.
- Cut a length of pool noodle. Cut the pool noodle to a length from the mooring buoy to just before the mooring loop. If you don't have quite enough, don't worry about it. Cut a piece of pool noodle for each mooring line.
- Cut the noodle pieces lengthwise. Make one lengthwise cut in each of the noodle pieces.
- Push the mooring line into the noodle. Pick up one mooring line, and push it into the center of one of the pool noodles, so the the mooring line is running down the center of the pool noodle. repeat for the other mooring lines, and the other noodle piece.
- Zip tie the noodles shut. Put zip ties around the pool noodle at intervals, so that the mooring line is firmly held within the center of the noodle. The zip ties should indent the noodle foam a little bit. Repeat for the other mooring lines and the other noodle piece.
Tips
- Choosing a brightly-colored pool noodle will make your mooring easier to differentiate from everyone else's.
Warnings
- Be very careful when cutting the pool noodles, especially if you're sitting in an inflatable boat!
Things You'll Need
- One or two pool noodles.
- Zip ties (8 or more).
