Is a drying out berth OK

[stephenmartin]

I have a 42ft twins screw hard chine metal boat currently on the south coast which as you know is a tad expensive......would it be ok to move the vessel to the east coat on a drying berth or would the mud damage the props and rudders....

<hr width=100% size=1>Don't make the same mistake twice...Make a different one

 

[tillergirl]

Tiller Girl dried out in the mud for 10 years between tides burying her prop and the bottom part of the rudder with no ill effects. But there are swinging moorings on the East Coast that don't dry out! Probabty the most important thing to make sure is that whatever way she sits if she is on drying mooring or in a creek that gets very narrow at low water is that whatever direction she is lying at low water, she either stays afloat or sits in soft mud. It's not unknown for our mud to be side by side with one or two harder patches.

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

10 year tides, that must have been a cheap mooring. Did you find the grass growing around the boat to be a problem /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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[Cantata]

Tens of thousands of us happy as Larry in the E.Coast mud, away from all the tosh and expense of the S.Coast. Follow Tillergirl's advice and enjoy!

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[stephenmartin]

i'll go anyway....just wanted to check if any damage will be caused to the props on an "A" bracket and the rudders from a post....I've heard horror stories about them being pushed into fibreglass hulls and sinking when the tide comes in.....Will steel sustain any damage

<hr width=100% size=1>Don't make the same mistake twice...Make a different one

 

[Cantata]

Best to check with the locals.....but most mud is extremely soft and in effect the boat simply floats on it as if it were water. I have a yacht with a saildrive in a mud berth, and that arrangement's got no strength at all compared with yours! Even if the mud seems firm at low water, when the tide comes back it virtually liquefies around anything you push into it.

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[peasea]

If you sleep aboard you may find it noisy with any sort of breeze since the wavelets slap the hull as the boat dries out, or with the incoming tide. Heavy sleepers will be o.k.


<hr width=100% size=1>PC

 

[peasea]

I had a twin keel yacht on a drying mooring for years with no problems. It needs to be sheltered since any swell will cause the boat to pound on the ground as it dries out or picks up on the new tide.If its on a swinging mooring it may swing through 180deg. with the incoming tide, dragging along the ground in an arc before it fully floats. Spring tides and wind shifts can put high stresses on rudders,
props and keels as the boat swings.

<hr width=100% size=1>PC

 

[mainshiptom]

My boat is in a mud berth for two years now !

It is great, we totally dry out between tides and we have spent many nights on the boat afloat and dry, no problem there !

One only issue is to be awarw that thw mud could block water inlets, So each time I start the engine I make sure that water is coming out !

Sometime the toilet intake gets blocked but after a quick spin that seems to realse itself as well !

Save the money and have a dry mud berth ! Very sage in the winter when the wind is howling !

Tom

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[ditchcrawler]

I have been in a half tide marina for eight years without any problems(twin keel yacht with shaft & P bracket) on the Blackwater.Log takes a while to clear due to the mud but it can be removed for a quick clean when the tide is out.There are plenty of power boats in the Marina & fin keel yachts as the mud is soft.Some areas have harder mud/sand so ask the locals.

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