fouling and mud berths

[snowleopard]

last season was our first on a drying mooring on deep mud. we got a little bit of barnacle fouling but the oddest effect was on the saildrive anodes - they have developed a shiny brown surface that doesn't erode. there are a few patches that have pitted so the anodes appear still to be working though they are probably less effective and they are wasting unevenly.

anyone got any tips for maintenance of a boat kept long-term on mud?

(the hulls are GRP and the antifoul is coppercoat)

 

[mainshiptom]

we are on a mud berth for the third year now!

The best thing is to go out as much as poss so stuff gets washed off,

The bottom seems to be well protected,


Tom

 

[WALTERJOHN]

Mud can be a problem: years ago, I had experience of a film forming over the antifouling as the boat sinks in the mud and rises, which nullifies its effect, and the barnacles seem to love it and form a concrete-like layer. You need to scrub them off as soon as the boat comes out of the water. My present boat (on south coast) had Copperbot treatment 6 or 7 years ago, and it's still remarkably effective. No need to touch the hull this year: I have treated the keels, where rust was starting, with primer and hard antifouling.

 

[Inselaffe]

I am on a soft mud berth, German North Sea coast, with what I now know to be hard VC 17m antifouling.

Also only slight barnacle fouling between water and 'mud' lines, but below the 'mud line' when I beached to check last summer there was a 1.5cm thick all-over crop of mussels! The people in the harbour told me it was inevitable, and that I should scrape the bottom at the end of spring just after the young mussles have attached, and thereafter I wouldn't have a problem.

I don't know why it only fouled where the boat had been in contact with the mud - could it be that a film of mud over the antifouling stopped it being effective, similar to what you have on your anodes? I didn't get out much in the first part of last year as it was my first season and it seemed to be always blowing 5+.

 

[graham]

Re: Lash the helm.

Lash the helm amidships. Any swell or wash just as she takes to the mud can put enormous strain on the rudders if allowed to go hard over.

You might just as well use cheap antifoul as the mud puts a coat on it anyway.It takes a couple of miles for the mud to wash off a paddle wheel log .

if the mooring is fore and aft dont bring your mooring connecting line aboard unless you want a nice muddy line from stem to stern on deck.

 

[jimi]

Just get lashed ..

and yer past caring anyway!

 

[graham]

Re: Just get lashed ..

best idea youve had in ages /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Mirelle]

I used to keep the boat in a mud berth, but have now stopped doing so, in favour of a swinging mooring and winter storage ashore.

She did not foul in the mud, probably because as a long established mud berth the mud is incredibly poisonous already (at least, it is so according to Suffolk Coastal District Council) but acquired a generous coating of "concretion" which I have finally concluded is rather like lime scale in a kettle. It was the devil to remove, and if left on would build up, season after season.

Yes, lash the tiller amidships, and in the highly likely event that the mud slopes away from the bank towards the middle of the river always moor up stern first. This is important as she can suddenly slip a foot or two at low water...It also makes it marginally easier to get aboard.

 

[seaesta]

I had this shiny brown surface on a very soft mooring on the River Axe at Uphill (Weston Super Mud). It never was a problem and I just hosed ng out and antifouled over it.

The mud gets completely devoid of oxygen beow the surface and is great for this boats with iron keels. Try putting a steel nail on a line and leaving it deep in the mud for a few months - I did this as an experment and there was no rust on the nail!!

 

[Mirelle]

Interesting!

Is Weston-super-sticky stuff in a soft water area?

I reckon our concretion is lime scale in the shore run off, nothing to do with sea water.

 

[Mudplugger]

Re: Interesting!

Mirelle, probably like that Wivenhoe goo, black , smelly, and sticks like **** to a blanket, suspect that a good preportion of the concrete like covering, is down to the nitrate content of the fresh water coming down river??...or out of local sewage treatment plant....found that dilute mix of patio cleaner did a brilliant job of dissolving the hard stuff, last time round. HTH

 

[mirabriani]

Around the Thames Estuary the people who know
use a pressure wash immediately on lift out.
If it is left too long it imitates concrete.

Regards Briani