mooring a boat at very low tide

[alan kemp]

has anyone out there let their boat sink into the sand/mud at low tide? we have a 6 foot tide variation and believe that a full keel would simply sink into the sand/mud. one thing to look out for would be water intake openings.

[Chris]

Alan - My CD330 spent a winter having work done on her in SC where the tide was similar to your situation. She would rise up out of the mud every day and then sink back down to where only 4 inches of water ran around the hull at the boot stripe. The entire hull from 4 below water line would be in the mud. I had to keep ALL my hull seacocks closed and needed to blow out the residual mud once I transferred her to a deeper slip. No damage occurred to the hull, but I was sure the mud was soft and had no debris in it. This arrangement was fine while she sat at the yard dock, but the job of cleaning all the seacocks would have prohibited me from using her on a regular basis.

has anyone out there let their boat sink into the sand/mud at low tide? we have a 6 foot tide variation and believe that a full keel would simply sink into the sand/mud. one thing to look out for would be water intake openings.

[chuck yahrling]

has anyone out there let their boat sink into the sand/mud at low tide? we have a 6 foot tide variation and believe that a full keel would simply sink into the sand/mud. one thing to look out for would be water intake openings.

I had my '27 in a slip last year, and on spring low tides I noticed that the rudder was sometimes unmovable. The bottom was soft mud, and there is an upsweep on the bottom edge of the rudder, so I wasn't too concerned and didn't see any damage when I pulled this fall.

If there had been a rock under the rudder - but not under the rest of the keel - I think it would have created problems as much stress would be put on the rudder heel and bottom edge.



yahrling@cybertours.com