About Floating Jetties
Making boat ramps safer and more accessible.
Users of boat ramps without mooring provision face a number of access and safety problems. If any mooring is provided it is usually a stepped jetty or short jetty with a gangway and pontoon. A Tire-Link Floating Jetty is superior to these systems.
The Problem at Boat Ramps
Users of boat ramps without mooring provision face the following problems:
- Slippery or muddy surfaces, particularly near the bottom.
- Danger from marine stingers and predators.
- Danger of injury from shellfish etc as well as the obvious, getting wet.
- Rough water due to prevailing wind and/or tide and the effect of boat wakes.
- Nowhere to secure the boat after it’s off the trailer, particularly for the solo boater.
- Difficulty boarding the boat if it’s large or the party are less than athletic.
- Difficulty holding the boat whilst the trailer is parked or retrieved.
- Blocking access to the ramp, in or out whilst holding the boat
The Usual Mooring Solutions
Jetties and Pontoons provide boat users with a place to secure boats and reduce some of the access and safety problems, but they are far from ideal.
The Jetty
A rigid structure built out from the land over the water at a convenient height. Usually the whole deck is at the same level although some may be stepped, or sloped. The length is usually such as to ensure at low tide there is water at the end.
Often there is a series of steps and landings near the end to make all tide access to boats possible. The lower levels of these are usually marine growth covered, slippery or sharp, this poses a serious safety hazard. A jetty may have a pontoon moored at its end when used at a boat ramp.
A fixed jetty mooring facility, sloping at the end.
Photo Courtesy of the Shire of Roebourne, WA.
The Pontoon
A rigid floating structure moored in a fixed position able to rise and fall with the tide and accessed by a gangway from some point above the high water mark, often a short jetty. On a boat ramp, the area between the pontoon and shore is exposed to weather, waves and boat wakes, which can make securing and boarding the boat difficult, especially in rough weather.
Loading and unloading a boat from a trailer can be difficult at a traditional jetty and pontoon mooring facility.
Photo Courtesy of the Bemm River Angling Club, VIC.
Pontoon gangways often become very steep, making them hazardous to walk up and down, especially for the elderly or less-abled.
Photo Courtesy of Petr Baum, Rowville VIC
The Tire-Link Solution
The Floating Jetty
A continuous flexible structure beginning above the high water mark and extending down the ramp and onto the water to a point beyond the end of the ramp. As the tide rises and falls, more or less of the jetty is afloat.
When a boat is launched from a trailer it is always adjacent to jetty that is floating, making mooring the boat easier. The deck of a floating jetty is always above water so it does not become slippery or sharp due to marine growth.
A floating jetty is a barrier against the prevailing weather - all the length of the ramp is sheltered at all tides offering increased protection and safety for both people and boats.
Floating jetties are safer and more accessible than jetties and pontoons.
This video shows how a Tire-Link Floating Jetty reacts to tidal movement.
Structurally, a Tire-Link Floating Jetty is immune to the marine environment as it is built primarily from tyres and recycled plastic.
View the full list of Tire-Links benefits.
