Mooring water depth

[rodcapedory]

How deep should the low tide water depth be for a cd that draws five feet of water when moored in relatively open water. Any insight would be appreciated.

rod

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[John Vigor]

What you're really asking is: How big are the waves in relatively open water?

The only completely accurate answer is: Relatively big.

If the waves were 5 feet from trough to crest, with a draft of 5 feet you'd obviously need a minimum depth of 10 feet, plus a foot or two just in case. But I don't think anyone can answer your question without more information about how protected the anchorage is, the direction of prevailing winds, and the speed of the strongest winds.

To make things more complicated, 5-foot waves won't necessarily move your boat up and down 5 feet because not all the waterline length of the boat will be floating on the very lowest level of the curved wave trough.

This is not very helpful, of course, so I would hazard a guess that your "relatively open" water is not normally likely to produce waves more than 15 feet high, in which case I'd recommend a minimum anchoring depth of 25 to 30 feet of water. But local knowledge and practice, if any, is likely to provide a more accurate estimate.

Cheers,

John V.

[Neil Gordon]

If the waves were 5 feet from trough to crest, with a draft of 5 feet you'd obviously need a minimum depth of 10 feet, plus a foot or two just in case.

How big do waves need to be in 10 feet of water for the waves to break? Five foot breakers smashing onto the boat doesn't sound like a secure mooring situation to me.

[Carl Thunberg]

Rod,

You really don't want to be including your e-mail address in the text of your message. This Board has many built-in features where we can send e-mails and PMs to each other while retaining electronic privacy. You have an e-mail button on your user profile. It's there to protect you.

As for mooring depth, check with a marine contractor in your area. You'll probably end up needing one to install the block anyway.

Carl

[Al Levesque]

If your concept of an open mooring area is better than that facing the open sea then in addition to the items mentioned by John and Neil you should also consider the nature of the bottom, the possible amount of negative tide, and the degree of access you want. Soft flat silty bottoms let you play it closer than rocky bottoms. Also allow for tides below mean low water. Although a soft bottom in a quiet area may do little harm to the boat you may not be able to move until the tide rises again, especially if there are other mooring blocks in the area.

[Neil Gordon]

Although a soft bottom in a quiet area may do little harm to the boat you may not be able to move until the tide rises again, ...

One boat aground or at anchor in a mooring field or anchorage is a target for surrounding boats when the wind or current shifts.

[viejo]

If the waves were 5 feet from trough to crest, with a draft of 5 feet you'd obviously need a minimum depth of 10 feet, plus a foot or two just in case.

How big do waves need to be in 10 feet of water for the waves to break? Five foot breakers smashing onto the boat doesn't sound like a secure mooring situation to me.

Three feet.

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Rod,

Since I know exactly where your boat is -- in the mooring field of the Raritan Yacht Club at the far western end of Raritan Bay -- I think I can help a little.

Raritan Yacht Club's mooring field is VERY exposed to the prevailing summer southwesterlies, as a matter of fact, it's exposed from SW to SE with a fetch well over a mile on all of those points. It has good protection from the NW -- afforded by the NJ mainland. Poor protection from the N -- the wind can blow straight down the Arthur Kill. And some protection from the NE afforded by Staten Island. But in NE and E winds, the wind and the water can whip around the SW edge of Staten Island right into that mooring field and quite a chop can develop.

Under normal conditions, which is most of the summer, a boat with 5-foot draft can bob happily on a mooring in 8 feet of water providing anchors rather than mooring blocks are used.

But knowing that a BAD storm's coming (like Ernesto which destroyed and/or sunk 28 boats in Atlantic Highlands, NJ), if my boat wasn't moored in at least 10 feet of water, if I couldn't increase the length of the mooring penants (at least double their normal length), and add additional mooring penants, I'd move it.

Head for one of the marinas up Cheesequake Creek like Lockwood Boat Works, Brown Boat Works or Morgan Marina -- Lockwoods is the best protected and out of the main current of the river if you keep the boat in the water. But it would be better to have the boat hauled. I keep my boat at Lockwoods so I know that they have limited transient dockage and it gets downright dangerous in there when so many transients arrive before a strom that they have to be rafted together. Anyway, it's better to pay for the haulout and to have the boat relaunched after the storm than to lose her.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

By the way, have you sold Patina yet? And what have you replaced her with?

Fair winds,
Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[tartansailor]

Does that ever bring up memories!
I kept my boat at Lockwood's 1954 to 1959 when we had to move to Chicago. Yes, it is protected.
Dick