East Coast Mud Abrasive?

[Gargleblaster]

While the boat is on the hard, I spent the weekend mucking around with my deep sea seal which has been leaking quite badly when the engine is running. I was quite surprised by the amount of mud that seemed to have collected in its small enclosure. A couple of weekends ago a few friends convinced me to partially drop my spade rudder out as there is a certain amount of play in it. As it came out first I thought it had been extremely well greased but noticed that what I thought was grease was in fact mud again.

With a deep fin keel it is not as though I ground the whole boat a lot. Occasionally the bottom of my keel has been known to cut a path through the mud, but that would be a good 4 feet or so below my rudder stock or my engine water inlet. I believe the mud has come from that which is suspended in the water. To get to my question, I was wondering if anyone knew how abrasive the mud in the East Coast rivers is? Not that I can do much about it but it would be interesting to know.

 

[sailorman]

While the boat is on the hard, I spent the weekend mucking around with my deep sea seal which has been leaking quite badly when the engine is running. I was quite surprised by the amount of mud that seemed to have collected in its small enclosure. A couple of weekends ago a few friends convinced me to partially drop my spade rudder out as there is a certain amount of play in it. As it came out first I thought it had been extremely well greased but noticed that what I thought was grease was in fact mud again.

With a deep fin keel it is not as though I ground the whole boat a lot. Occasionally the bottom of my keel has been known to cut a path through the mud, but that would be a good 4 feet or so below my rudder stock or my engine water inlet. I believe the mud has come from that which is suspended in the water. To get to my question, I was wondering if anyone knew how abrasive the mud in the East Coast rivers is? Not that I can do much about it but it would be interesting to know.

thats why shafts & bearings wear out Also pump seals

 

[tillergirl]

My rudder bottom pintle sits in a cup attached to the bottom of the keel. When I was on a drying mooring and therefore sitting in the mud, the wear used to be significant. There's a fair bit of sand in suspension in the 'mud' so effectively I had grinding paste in the cup.

 

[FullCircle]

I must admit that the mud in suspension around the Roach and the Upper Crouch is very significant. When I was moored opposite the new breaches in the sea wall at Wallasea, the hull went brown very quickly and mud stuck to it, even though in fast flowing deep water.

If you look at the leading edges of the blades on your prop, that will give you an accelerated idea of the free wear, but anywhere the mud can settle and build up will wear things considerably quicker.

i have had 2 cutlass bearings (nitrile) in 5 seasons. Not totally worn, but you can easily see the surface erosion and the abrading scratches tot the outer wear pattern.

If you take a bucket of Graham's finest mud from Sutton Wharf , you can use it as rubbing compound......

 

[christo2024]

east coast grinding paste

The silty water of the East Coast I think is very abrasive

On the Wind Farm, we change sea water impellors on the boats every 2-3 months and the inside of the Jabsco is highly polished. My trawler was the same operating from W Mersea. Compare that to 3 years plodding around the Med in my own yacht a few years later where the inside of the Jabsco was almost dull.!!

The same goes for cutlass bearings for sure. And no doubt pintles and anything that moves!

I do think its a fact of life in the Thames Estuary.