Mud, mud glorious mud .....

[Dougie_the_Mate]

As a newcomer to cruising I am obviously anxious to do things properly and to take the advice of the many old salts who inhabit this board or the mud-flats at Kippford.

Having been advised by several of my neighbours to lift the riser-buoy and chain from our mooring and to replace it for the winter with a 5 gallon drum - this to ensure a longer life for the tackle - I summoned up the courage to go out at low water yesterday. Slipping and sliding and then ploughing my way through 100 metres of pure alluvium I eventually reached my destination and set about my task up to my knees in muck.

When I found after half an hour that I was completely unable to move any of the shackles - I got to the point where any one would have done - I gave up - discouraged and convinced that this sailing lark was for better men (and women) than me.

After cleaning myself up and reflecting on my failure, I went to Kippford Slipway and asked John the chandler if by any chance he had put Araldyte on the shackles when making up the tackle. 'Not Araldyte but a plastic bonding material which will ensure that it never comes undone', he informed me, 'those shackles'll no move'!

'Oh great John - good to know ....'

The Magic of the Swatchways - aye right .....





<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Dougie_the_Mate on 10/11/2004 18:35 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Katouf]

Been there, seen it and done it - just like you except the ungalvanised shackle couldn't be moved because the amount of leverage necessary (a 15" adjustable and a 2 foot bar) promptly drove me down into the black stuff here off Chalkwell in the Thames.
I got round the problem by burying the chain etc about 12" down where only the rag worms can get at it! - not forgetting to leave a bit of rope sticking out at the end for next season.
It's worked in previous years and should be OK this time. Worth a try? Better than leaving it on the top of the mud to rust or having it nicked for the swivel that someone wanted

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[Twister_Ken]

Never mind, it's good for the complexion.

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[Ohdrat]

Re: Excellent Cardio Vascular workout

Add 10 yrs to your lifespan..... but take 6 off for the stress

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[geoffatstanpit]

Lovely stuff isn't it! I can walk out to my "drying" mooring at high tide but at low tide the mud is too luscious to support my whole weight so I take the dinghy - the sort with a plywood transom for a motor - which I hang on to.

Pulling all the chain into the dinghy lets you get a much better purchase on overtightened shackles with a 3/4"bar, old adjustable spanner and 2x 2' lengths of scaffold tubing. It also helps to have a lump of iron and a hammer to "exercise" the thread side of the shackle to remind it you've come to get it unscrewed and who's boss.

It always looks to me that the only bit of the mooring that gets significantly wasted over a summer's use is the top part of the riser. In my case it is attached to a swivel on the bottom of the buoy so I detach it there and drop it into the mud with a temp buoy on rope so I can find it again next spring.

Luckily my house with hose and nice warm shower is only 1/2 a cable away.

Geoff

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[Benbow]

your chain will be perfectly happy to spend its winter in the mud. What you need to do is stop it working as the buoy bounces around in the gales. I suggest, you leave the riser, remove the buoy, replace it with a length of polyprop rope just long enough to reach the surface at the top of the tide. Put small float on the end. Bob's your uncle. All this can be done from a dinghy, although of course you do need to put your wellies on to check the swivel and riser next season.

If you think walking out was hard, imagine what fun it would have been to drag the chain back through the mud!!

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[Dougie_the_Mate]

The problem is that our esteemed chandler who put the mooring together has sealed all the shackles. He said that he had read that a combination of air, water and sand working over time eroded the shackles, therefore he had employed this technique of totally sealing them in a plastic bonding material. I was way out there with my 5 gallon drum and length of rope to do exactly as you guys advise, but I forgot the dynamite! He assures me that if I wrap the chain around a pole hammered into the mud to stop un-necessary movement that it will be fine. Somehow the thought of going out again with a big piece of wood and a hammer does not sound too attractive.

Perhaps I need to seek further clarification from him as to the exact technique required.

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