Galvanized chain should be used and the buoy at its upper end should be large and buoyant enough to support the entire weight of the chain.
There are metal buoys, made for the purpose; a strong keg, such as a beer keg, makes a good buoy; a spar buoy or a cork float may be used. If a keg is used it should be provided with brass or galvanized hoops and should be kept well painted and spars, metal buoys or cork floats should also be taken up, dried and painted at frequent intervals to prevent them from becoming overgrown with marine plants, waterlogged or destroyed by teredos.
The buoy is intended to support the chain and to make the location of the mooring plain. You are not supposed to make your boat fast to it. For fastening the boat a ring should be provided on the chain below the buoy and the buoy left floating or it may be placed on the deck or inside the boat when the mooring is in use. Have your mooring buoy painted in bright colors so as to be easily visible and see that it is always kept in such good shape that it floats high and plain above the water. It’s a very easy matter to miss a buoy in a fog, at night, or even with a sea running, and the higher it floats and the more brilliant the colors, the more readily you can “pick it up.”
When you come to the mooring you may catch the buoy by hand or by a boat-hook. To make this easier a large loop of rope or a ring should be provided on the buoy and the buoy left floating or it may be and you use a boat-hook, be very careful not to punch a hole in the buoy as you reach for it with the hook.
While getting your boat ready for the water, while sailing her, and, in fact, whenever you are handling or working about boats, you will find it necessary to tie many knots.
Everyone can tie some sort of a knot, but comparatively few can tie really good knots and as they are very important and useful, you should learn how to tie all the common, and some of the fancy, knots and should know how to splice. There is a good portion of the year when you cannot use your boat and during this season you can employ a great deal of your time to good advantage in studying the next chapter and following the directions for making knots, ties and splices.
CHAPTER VII
MARLINSPIKE SEAMANSHIP
To sailors the ability to tie knots, make splices and do other ropework is known as marlinspike seamanship. The name “marlinspike” refers to a metal instrument used in making knots and splices and this tool, or a somewhat similar but smaller implement known as a fid, is the only article except the ropes which is required in making any knot, tie or splice.
There is a vast difference between tying a knot and tying a good knot, and while the one is an abomination, the other is a thing to admire. To be a good knot a knot must combine a number of important points. It must be of such a character that it can be quickly and easily tied; it must hold securely without danger of slipping or loosening; it must be free from the danger of “jamming”; it must be easy to untie or cast off, and it must be perfectly adapted to the particular purpose for which it is used.