Drying pontoon berth in mud. Any issues?

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Apologies if covered before, but what are the issues, if any, of a drying pontoon mooring into mud?

Shaft drive, semi displacement with skeg. 0.75m draught. Do we need to shut WC and engine seacocks? Have read that a 'plug' of mud can find it's way up into pipework and cause issues.

Access is 3 hour window each side of high water. Will this be a pain and stop us going out?

Advantages are cost. Disadvantage top end of Portsmouth harbour?
 
Have had a series of drying mud berths with both O******s and good old reliable shafts.
Have never bothered to close raw water seacocks or other below the water line stuff ever.
Have never ever had any problems with plugs of mud or anything else clogging up heat exchangers or bog systems.
Only reason to shut valves would be peace of mind if inlet hose fails
We do however have seasoned boaters in our club who will not under any circumstances go to any destination which dries out.
Go figure !
2 x Sarah T. On their shared mud berth just afloat as tide floods.
P33 was on the devils egg whisks and when sanity finally arrived the Transocean is on shafts.
twoboats.jpg
 
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Any issues? Other olde wyfes Tales.

Boat is coming out this week for A/F,good polish n clean and other work to try and help sell boat.
Comment from another boater, "But if you take it out now the frost will damage gel coat."
All my boats have come out sometime during winter and curious as to where this story has come from.
The only long term damage appears to be hypothermia and the frostbite suffered by the bloke doing the work and reeking of antifoul for ages afterwards.
Really must use gloves all the time this time. :)
 
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Re: Any issues? Other olde wyfes Tales.

oldgit said:
Boat is coming out this week for A/F,good polish n clean and other work to try and help sell boat.
Comment from another boater, "But if you take it out now the frost will damage gel coat."
All my boats have come out sometime during winter and curious as to where this story has come from.
The only long term damage appearsto be hypothermia, frostbite suffered by the bloke doing the work and reeking of anti foul,
Click to expand...

Surely the gel coat on the topsides of the boat is still subject to frost regardless of if the boat is in or out of the water?

For what it's worth we always have our boat out at this time of the year and concur the only frost damage is to the muppets stood outside working on and polishing the boat :)
 
Cashbuyer said:
Access is 3 hour window each side of high water. Will this be a pain and stop us going out?

Advantages are cost. Disadvantage top end of Portsmouth harbour?
Click to expand...

Will it be a pain? Yes, because for 6 hours of the day your boat is aground. Consider early or late season when it gets dark around 7.00pm for example. HW at 9.00am means you have to be back by mid-day, or stay out until its nearly dark. 7.00pm tides mean you cant get out until 4.00pm, or you have to be afloat by 9.30am. At least with a pontoon berth you can get on and off at any time. I havea drying mooring on deep mud, and once the tide has gone there's no safe way of getting on and off.

If all that matters a lot (i.e you only occasionally can get to the boat because of work/family commitments) then you pay more and get better access. I've lived with it the last 50 years or so, and have missed some excellent days when I could have been afloat. You get what you pay for, and as in most areas of life if you cant afford better, you do without and be glad for what you have! My current solent mooring gives me 3 hours or so each side of HW, I cant get aboard once the tides gone, and it costs me just £200 a year. For about X12 that money I could have a nice safe pontoon berth and come and go when I like. Thats what I choose. Its occasionally inconvenient, but then Im an old skinflint! :)
 
Thanks Oldharry. Those timings had crossed my doubtful mind, hence the question. And now confirmed. Cannot afford to hang around. Looks like access at all times is needed.
 
oldgit said:
Have had a series of drying mud berths with both O******s and good old reliable shafts.
Have never bothered to close raw water seacocks or other below the water line stuff ever.
Have never ever had any problems with plugs of mud or anything else clogging up heat exchangers or bog systems.
Only reason to shut valves would be peace of mind if inlet hose fails
We do however have seasoned boaters in our club who will not under any circumstances go to any destination which dries out.
Go figure !
2 x Sarah T. On their shared mud berth just afloat as tide floods.
P33 was on the devils egg whisks and when sanity finally arrived the Transocean is on shafts.
twoboats.jpg
Click to expand...


Is that "The Command House" and Lloyds in the background? I used to work in one and drink in the other many moons ago.
 
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