A Little More on Mooring....
THE DAVEY HOOK
A Davey Hook is a simple item, which has many
uses on a small boat, particularly when sailing single-handed.
The original, as used by Navies on big ships, was a forged,
heavy item (pic #1), but we small craft sailors can easily make
our own version from a 6 x 3 ins piece of 1/4 or 3/8 ins thick
steel or brass (pic #2). This size is ideal for boats up to
30 or 40 feet long.
Pic 1
The proportions and shape can easily be seen from
the pic, and the two large holes are for the attachment of shackles.
The smaller holes are for mousing the hook with light line,
to prevent the load from jumping out.
Pic 2
In use, the anchor is suspended from the hook
by its neck (?) with the cable flaked out ready to run; not
forgetting to make the bitter end fast! The hook is hung from
its top, by a line running through a becketed block hanging
from the bow, or pulpit, and back to the helmsman, and cleated
off. A measured short line is shackled to the lower hole in
the hook, and made fast to the becket of the block, with a bit
of slack. When the desired spot is reached, the line through
the block is eased a little, the hook turns over, and the anchor
drops (pic #3)
Pic 3
Pic #4 illustrates a way to use the hook for dropping
a buoyed mooring from the cockpit, after cutting away the mousing,
of course.
Pic 4
All the information above came originally from
a page of Practical Boat Owner, of April 1977, in an article
by one M. Macdonald Spencer, whose prose is much funnier than
mine.
There are many other uses for such a simple piece
of equipment, which, no doubt, will come to the fertile minds
of sailing men.
