They have recently installed six permanent mooring bouys at pancake creek , two out the front and four just after you enter the back section. After a fast sail from Gladstone single handed and a rough ride in with a runout tide I decided to grab one , big mistake. The bouys have a strop on them suitable for a very big boat , the length would have to be 5 or 6 metres .So if your boat likes to do circle work around the anchor when the wind and tides are opposite the bouy likes to bash on the side of the hull or pop under the boat ,I have a full keel , my mate on a cav 32 had the line catch on his keel . They would be great for a big cruiser or larger yacht , rated to 34 knots and 15 metre vessel ( from memory) or a toy like mine in calm conditions. I moved out the back to anchor and discovered that navionics tide information is vastly different to the tide charts , I'm still floating so navionics in this case was correct

i was there after gladstone race when they were surveying for them we were anchored right where they were going to lay one so at least they are in the right spot

Good to hear about the moorings. The more the better. Pancake Creek has good holding but once you get in the back section there arent to many deeper spots for keel boats if there is more than half a dozen boats in there.

Attached to one of the four public moorings at Pancake creek..
All good till 2am, I was awoken to the sound of the float hitting against hull and then going under and popping up and banging the under side of my tunnel.Not looking forward to see what damage was done.
Found that retrieving as much strop as possible onto the deck from the mooring , keeping the float directly under bowsprit was the only way to stop anymore damage.
The strop as approximately 50mm dia so retrieving on board at night fighting the wind and tide was difficult due to the weight and size.

Attached to one of the four public moorings at Pancake creek..
All good till 2am, I was awoken to the sound of the float hitting against hull and then going under and popping up and banging the under side of my tunnel.Not looking forward to see what damage was done.
Found that retrieving as much strop as possible onto the deck from the mooring , keeping the float directly under bowsprit was the only way to stop anymore damage.
The strop as approximately 50mm dia so retrieving on board at night fighting the wind and tide was difficult due to the weight and size.

There are many around Whitsunday , I used the as much I can, you right not easy to retrieve.
Typical boat hook is a joke. I was thinking have larger hook and much stronger.

We have been around the Whitsundays since mid August. The moorings have a second, submerged, float that is around 2-3m below the surface and about 5m from the floating bouy . Our boat has a fin keel and bulb. Once the wind drops and tide swings the boat the rope between surface and submerged floats is brilliantly positioned to wrap the rope around the keel.

We have used the moorings three times and caught the keel twice. Untangling is not fun. Pulling the mooring line in reduces the chance of wrapping around the keel, but then the float bangs on the hull.

One day I would love to talk to the designer and ask why????

Given any option we anchor.

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LMY said..


One day I would love to talk to the designer and ask why????

Given any option we anchor.

They unfortunately don't get any better from state to state.

The ones in WA have a nasty big steel eye on top of a great red buoy that threatens to punch a hole through your bridge deck and some of the ones in Tas (Port Author) have a steel mooring line hanger arrangement about 4 feet high that belts on your fore beam before ending up under your boat.

When you shorten the line right up to stop it going under the boat the jarring gets pretty bad in slop or when a big cruiser goes past, and then waterways rolls up and tells you off for not mooring correctly.

Can't believe its so hard to design a mooring for small boats :(

Yeah the moorings up here are awful for smaller boats. Can understand the big diameter long lines for the larger capacity moorings but even the 10metre max moorings have the same set up. Loops way to big for the average cleat too so had to make a bridle for them. I spent a few nights at Pancake sitting out a blow and was much more peaceful once I gave up on the moorings and anchored further in after getting tangled up several times. Up in the Whitsundays there are some places where there is no alternative but to use them and it's never a good nights' sleep.

Hoorah, Marine parks came today and replaced all the large diameter lines on public moorings at Pancake to bridal setups.
They're also sending divers into the water at the turn of the tide to alter main line from the anchor point.