Drying out on a berth

Mymobo

Mymobo

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Hi,

I want to Know if it is safe to let a Sea Ray 220 DA dry out on a mud or sand mooring, has anyone got any advice other than lifting the leg up, will it damage the hull?

Cheers
 
Shouldn't be a problem with the leg up. Mud will be kinder to the hull than sand. Sand is normally pretty hard and it could bump around quite a bit as it dries and refloats.
 
We've been on a drying berth for years, it can have a couple of advantages in that we can service seacocks, check anodes etc between tides.
The softer the mud the better, I've never had a problem with it plugging inlets but have heard of others that have, as you have a leg it should be fine.
Have a look at the mooring first to see if there's any half buried bits of wood or metal that may cause you a problem.

P1000295.jpg
 
The outer harbour at Port Dinorwic dries out twice a day and there are loads of boats there. Good thick mud protects delicate shafts and outdrives.
 
Yep, they have been for the last five years, the mud is so soft I can't tell you how many plimmy's I've lost in there!
Keeps the props shiny as well.
 
We've got drying berths. One against our quay wall and one on a pontoon. The latter is very soft mud and the boat sits upright in it. The former is mud to one side and hard sand/coal slack - it was a coal berth once - on the other. In this instance we put a couple of 50 liter cans full of water on the side away from the wall, so that the boat always leans to that side. If you don't do this, when on hard sand, the boat may crash over rather violently.

We've also had to dig a small hole, about a foot deep and 3 ft wide, in the sea bed. The skeg on the outdrive sits in here and it's necessary because, even when fully raised, the bottom of the outdrive is below the line of the hull/keel. You should check this on your boat.

As others have said, it's very handy for cleaning off the hull. We just lean the boat over to be able to scrape one side and then do the other side on a following tide.
 
If she is safe to leave on a drying mooring, make sure that it is well sheltered as she takes the ground.

Good drying moorings tend to be protected by a higher drying bank so that as she actually takes the ground she is sitting in a little flat pond regardless of the wind speed or direction. This removes (or at least significantly reduces) the risk of pounding.
 
The boat looks well.

I have had my eye on one.

Amazing spacious laout.

When I see yours I think I should buy one.

Ramble over.
Have a nice day.

kind regards,
Les.
 
We once moored a shaftdrive Turbo 36 on a drying mooring way up the River Itchen. I was sceptical before I took the mooring but the owner of the marina kept his own Aquastar in the marina so I thought it would be OK. And so it was. Apart from having to wait for the tide and not using the bogs when the tide was out, there were no other problems. The boat made it's own hole in the mud and I'm convinced that reduced hull fouling. Obviously, keeping a shaftdrive boat on hard sand would be a problem unless it had a keel
 
Rob

The props dig the mud out (as long as no bricks or wood?) so every time I get in and out the hole gets deeper? I can go in backwards once I used the same spot loads, it takes a bit of time, I got the boat in July and left in October so did not realy make a big hole as yet but right behind my morings where I backed into, made a hugh hole !

People on the creek are really pleased with my boat because it makes loads of impact on the creek or the depth of it !

Tom
 
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