Dry mooring

[DazedConfused]

Know it's probably the easiest of questions but moving my boat to a swinging mooring which dries out to sand. It's sheltered in a harbour (Bembridge). My boats a 23' sports cruiser...will this cause any damage to my boat over a period of time?

Thanks in advance

David

 

[whisper]

Presumably your Falcon has a sterndrive and so provided it does not stick down below the line of the keel/bottom of the hull it should be ok. This only applies if the mooring is sheltered and does not get any significant wave action. Otherwise there may be excessive shock loads placed on the skeg as it bounces on the sand - especially if this is hard sand. This in turn may not do the transom much good.

 

[DazedConfused]

Thanks Whisper

Will have to take a look whilst she is on the hard for the winter. What i hear is that there is only about a foot or so of sand with mud underneath...not sure of the source though. Getting nervous as half expecting my girl to bounce around on the ground when the tide is at that state.

 

[whisper]

You could always take a spade with you and have a look at the area you will dry out on. If your feet sink into the sand then you may well not have a problem. Mind you don't get caught out by the tide though /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[DazedConfused]

actually a good idea. might be worth the trip. Been down to check to see if the sterndrive raises enough and looks to be close. May be worth having a word with one of the guys from the Falcon owners club. Thanks again for your help on this.

 

[Elza_Skip]

Hi,

I made enquiries about drying out my sportsboat with Stern drive.

The advise from the importer was this is ok on a softish surface as the outdrive does not quite raise clear of the keel.

I was also advised not to leaver her unattended as the shape of the hull onmy boat meansshe will lean to one side and if there is wind/swell this could swamp her.

One suggestion was that if she is tethered front an back then the keel will make a hollow the shape of the boat and sit more comfortably.

Will be interested to hear how you get on

 

[stelican]

With dying out legs the boat will be much safer and still habitable when tide is out or low

 

[whisper]

Our boat is moored/dries out alongside a wall so its position is relatively fixed. We've dug out a hole in area where the outdrive settles and the tides just slowly fill this with very fine silt which causes no damage.
The only problem is that when you walk around on the bottom at low water you can misjudge where the hole is - thank god for thigh high waders /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
In theory the idea of mooring both bow and stern is ok but this could lead to neighbouring boats colliding with yours when they swing about. Also it would be quite difficult to ensure that both mooring lines were tight enough at low water to "force" the boat to rest in one place every time.
We've thought about legs but decided to give them a miss due to a) their cost and b) the messing about that is required to fix, unfix and store them.
We also actively persuade our boat to lean over, away from the wall, by putting two 5 gal. drums of water on that side of the deck. We've allowed our last two, smaller boats, to lean over whichever way they wanted to. We never had a problem with swamping over a period of 5 yrs or so but we are in a relatively sheltered spot. Wave height rarely reaches 2ft and this is only during a S'ly gale with wind against tide.