Moving another mans boat

in sailing •  7 years ago  (edited)

We approached a harbour two days ago, and my wife wanted to make a stop there. We were circling a bit, searching for a free space ... my wife suggested to stay on the inside of the breakwater, behind two motor boats, but I considered the space to be too short for our boat. Eventually someone suggested moving the last boat a bit closer to the first boat so it would be enough space for us, and it was promptly fixed while we were circling around.

We had pretty strong side wind there, it was very difficult to get the boat close enough to the breakwater; I think eventually six persons helped us out - and after they left, we still spent plenty of time adjusting ropes. Unfortunately I took no pictures after our arrival - during the evening the two motorboats left, and the morning after it was perfectly quiet. As you can see from the picture, boat was held in place mostly by three long breast lines with plenty of dampening (and, of course, we had some spring lines as well). I was a bit bewildered that the neighbour apparently managed with only some short breast lines and no springs , but considered that it probably worked out fine as the boat was much smaller. If the boat owner was OK with such a mooring, let it be ... I didn't even consider the possibility that it wasn't the boat owner itself that moved the boat, I thought he was among the people helping us with the mooring. I was too busy with the ropework to notice where everyone went when they were done helping us.

Later in the evening, the owner of the motor boat that had been moved came knocking on our boat. He was very angry. He said it was perfectly OK that we moved his boat, but very bad boatmanship to not fix the mooring ropes properly. He had spent quite some time mooring up properly before the boat got moved, and he could clearly see that our boat was pretty well moored up, so he was wondering why we didn't spend more efforts on his boat.

Some years ago there was a discussion on a Norwegian boating forum on weather it was OK to move another boat without the explicit permission of the owner. Quite many in the discussion thought it was never OK to do such a thing. What do you think?

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Okay, so it sounds like the owner of the boat was okay with the boat being moved, so in this case it was fine, but it also sounds like that might not always be the case. In those situations, I would probably err on the side of caution, but I don't know what that would have meant for you.

The next thing is, it sounds like mooring up properly is the main issue this go around, so if that was done, again not an issue.

Was the motorboat that was moved in the wrong place to begin with? Is there an expectation that three boats will be moored there?

This being a breakwater (and without water and electricity) it's actually the quay of the last resort, with an expectation that it won't be used muchexcept for shorter stays. The motorboat was in it's perfect right to moore up as he did, and it would have been space for one more boat there had it been the same size as the motorboat.

I usually try to make as little space as possible to the boat in front when mooring up, but there are some disadvantages:

  • In situations with lots of wind, it can be challenging enough to get the boat moored up at all, fine-tuning the distance to the other boat may take lots of time and effort.
  • Too short a distance may be considered inappropriate for different reasons - like, a big boat may cast a shadow on a smaller boat, if both boats have sitting places aft and the first boat has the port side towards the quay and the second boat hes the starboard side towards the quay, a short distance may feel awkward, etc.
  • It will be more difficult to get out in the morning if one is "trapped" between two boats, while it's trivial to get out when there is no wind, things can be pretty complicated if there is much quite wind in the air.

Even if one ensures the distance is as small as possible to the next boat, there will eventually become a gap when the boat in the middle leaves.

Moving another man boat that like same as moving another motorbike because we can't move own and without permission😅 yeah maybe that is an amazing experience sometimes, but when we get the owner angry we feel like so sorry because doing it😁

I see you enjoy enough about your sailing @tobixen😉 I am never sailing yet as long as I life😂 I think you have an awsome experience in your life when you are sailing with your family🤗🤗🤗🤗

If the boat is "parked" wrong I see it perfectly reasonable to move it. Of course with care and fix the mooring ropes properly so you don't upset the owner.
After all it's not your fault that he didn't appreciate the space well enough and didn't consider that other boats have to come there also.
Never sailed a boat and don't know how hard it is to put it on the right spot so I'm just assuming. I will learn though in July to sail a 6 meters with one motor boat.
At least on the open waters :)

I understand the display of an angry neighbor. But I don’t see a bad thing moving someone’s boat to create space for yours . What if the person won’t come around earlier enough to give the permission or the person might not even get back to the boat that day .

It’s not cars that we’d have to wait for the driver to bring the key , boats could easily be pulled and that way makes it easy to move . I don’t see a bad thing in it as long as I don’t cause damage to the other man’s boat

Cool boat you’ve got there .

Looks like you are a sailor? I always see your post about the ship,
Hope you guys are fine.

I always dreamed about having a boat when I was a child. My grand parents bought a piece of land for building a boat house, and I had a grand-uncle that had a rowing boat, but except for that I'm from a land-lobber-family.

One day I found myself getting old and decided I either had to realize my childhood dreams or forget about them.

First I bought a rowing boat. Then I used that boat for building a mooring bouy, and bought a small, cheap sail boat that I had anchored up by the mooring bouy. I'm very happy that my first boat was an old, small and cheap boat, because I did all the mistakes in the book and then some during my first two years as a sailor - but I learned a lot! I moved, got rid of that boat and got another old, cheap and small (though a little bit bigger) boat here in Oslo.

As my family grew bigger (we're five now - three children) we found that we needed a bigger boat - and eventually we bought a much bigger boat.

I always enjoy the pictures in your posts, and these are the ones I prefer when the water is completely calm and looks like a mirror.

I've tried taking photos of the really rough seas ... but one rarely get the same impression of the waves on a photograph. Calm water at the other hand ... that usually looks as calm as it is :-)

I think a lot of boat owners can get really angry if you move their boat without their permission, but I don't really see any problems with it as long as it does not damage the boat. However, I think the owner is right to point out that it should have been moored properly.

I think moving the boat without the owner being there is not so pleasant, however if it had to be moved, then the roped should be properly moored, people seem to take their mooring very personal because of the effort they spend doing it.

I guess thats the reason why the other guy was upset, bad boatmanship

You did right thing. Your wife will always remember this moment how you moved the boat of another man without telling him. If we don't do crazy things in life then life would be boring.

The boat was moved by someone else. I've edited the post now to make it more clear.

Alright seems good

You have posted two pics of boat probably first one shows where the boat actually was parked before it was moved and the second one shows where it was moved, if it is like that it doesn't seem clear. The boat has not moved a bit in both of the pics the only difference is, first is a close shot and second is a long shot.

We were three boats there in the evening two days ago. The middle boat had to be moved forward some metres so we could get space behind them. The two motor boats left during the evening, hence we ended up alone at the end of the breakwater. Both pictures are from the morning yesterday.

Okay! I got it.

There should be some adventure in life u did it for your wife

The boat was moved by someone else. I've edited the post now to make it more clear.

Awesome gentle river. So cute ship.