l don't have much experience with Monties yet but I have tons of experience with moorings. I have kept my 23' VN23 on a mooring for at least 25 years. IMHO, the very best attachment point for the primary mooring pennant on a trailerable boat is the trailer eye. Think about it: there is absolutely no chance of chafe, the lower attachment point effectively increases the scope, and if the eye is strong enough to pull the boat uphill onto the trailer it will be plenty strong enough to hold the boat on a mooring. The bow eye is a great attachment point for the anchor rode as well but access is difficult from the deck. With a permanent mooring you can attach or release the pennant from the dinghy. Disconnecting it is the first thing I do when I arrive at the boat and hooking it on is the last thing I do when leaving the boat. (The boat is still attached to the buoy by a longer secondary line that goes to a mooring cleat on the bow. This line also serves as a pick up line and as a back up to the primary pennant.) I connect the primary pennant directly to the bow eye with a large stainless steel carabiner with a locking ring. The 5/8" primary line is spliced around a thimble at both the buoy and the carabiner ends. The 1/2" secondary has a regular eye splice to fit over the bow cleat. It has leather chafing gear where it passes through the chocks and also where it sometimes hits the bow. No chafing gear is needed on the primary as it runs directly from the trailer eye to the buoy. Sorry I can't help with the bow chock mounting problem, I don't have my new-to-me M17 home yet. I would think about mounting a pair of mooring cleats at the deck edge instead of chocks. On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 12:35 PM, <swwheatley@comcast.net> wrote:
I am planning to keep my 1976 M17 (aluminum toe-rails) on a mooring this summer, but it is curiously bereft of bow chocks and I'm trying to decide what to do about that. The toe-rails are pretty smooth; do people just put some chafe gear on their mooring pendant and let it hang over the side? If not, what have people done to integrate bow chocks with the aluminum toe-rail? Photos of particularly elegant solutions would be appreciated. Thanks.
-- Henry https://picasaweb.google.com/heinzir