Tidal Moorings

[Wandering Star]

Am toying with the idea of keeping my boat on the Itchen River (Southampton) next season. She’s a small Dufour 2800 with shallow draft and a bulb keel. She has an excellent Beta 16 engine installed which I’m anxious to maintain in good order as all my previously owned boats have been “project” boats with decidedly unreliable engines

My concern with a half tide mooring is; when the boat settles into the soft mud, the natural,pressure will presumable force a plug of soft mud up the engine cooling water inlet? When the boat lifts again what happens to that plug of mud? Is it sucked up into the cooling system as soon as I start the engine and if it is, does this cause any harm/damage?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Stemar]

I've had drying moorings in soft mud for the last 20 years and never had a problem, 18 years with raw water cooling. I could imagine that just the wrong consistency could cause an issue, but Portsmouth mud, at least, has never done it.

If the water inlet has a grill, mud liquid enough to get through the grill will just go through the engine and out of the exhaust, anything thicker will stay on the outside.

There's a Dufour about that size with a mooring just off the Hardway pontoon, that spends 2-3 hours a day sitting in the mud. The important thing is that the boat rests upright, "floating" in the mud, rather than sitting on top at an angle, or you lose the ability to spend time aboard on the mooring.

 

[johnalison]

I heard of one boat that had a problem but that may have been a saildrive. In theory, if one turns off the seacock, the plug of water in the seacock should prevent mud from filling the space and one would hope that no more than a slurry would get in, which the system should be able to cope with. I have no idea if this is true or not.

 

[PhillM]

There are loads of moorings for small craft on the Hamble. Not a big waiting list but you need to talk to the HM office.

Mine can take up to 8M and costs less than £800 a year. All tide access charted at 1M, but I don't think she has ever touched the bottom. £500 bought me into the ponton (found out I bought all of it) and a few beer tokens for new warps and chains. Join a Hamble club, and you get a bosun service as well. RsrnYC has the most frequent/best service.

 

[Wandering Star]

There are loads of moorings for small craft on the Hamble. Not a big waiting list but you need to talk to the HM office.

Mine can take up to 8M and costs less than £800 a year. All tide access charted at 1M, but I don't think she has ever touched the bottom. £500 bought me into the ponton (found out I bought all of it) and a few beer tokens for new warps and chains. Join a Hamble club, and you get a bosun service as well. RsrnYC has the most frequent/best service.

Hi Phil, that’s really useful information, i’ll be following it all up next week, never really enquired about a Hamble River mooring because I thought there waiting times of 10 years or so and I’d enjoy club membership too. Thanks.

 

[Stemar]

Another possibility would be to join Hardway SC in Portsmouth Harbour and take a commercial mooring while you're waiting for a club one. Gosport Boat Yard are probably one of the dearer ones, but you get a water taxi and extremely well-maintained moorings. Quay Lane's moorings don't seem to be so well maintained and, after personal experience with them some years ago, I wouldn't touch Portsmouth Moorings (Goliath Holdings) with a barge pole.

 

[PhillM]

Hi Phil, that’s really useful information, i’ll be following it all up next week, never really enquired about a Hamble River mooring because I thought there waiting times of 10 years or so and I’d enjoy club membership too. Thanks.

Happy to meet up and talk you through the club process. Also HRSC has a few moorings.

Talk to Nicky in the HM office. Don’t email, speak. Much more productive.

Also Pink Ferry have a few moorings - about 2x the HM rate but usually they have a couple free. I’ve used these in the past while waiting for a HM one to come free.

 

[LiftyK]

My boat frequently dries out on mud and the hull rests on the mud. I'm pleased to say there has never been a problem with the engine water intake. I've no idea why but this is the case for over twenty years.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I had mud moorings for 30 years. One simply closes the cooling water stop valve on leaving boat - and equally importantly remembers to open it on going aboard.
Melted exhaust box at best if you forget the second step. Sail drives may have an issue but their inlet is usually side facing not downwards.

Mud berths give delightfully weed free hull except for boot top. Barnacles however are undetered

 

[Stemar]

and equally importantly remembers to open it on going aboard.

When I had an "ignition" key, I used to hang it on the seacock when it was closed

 

[MontyMariner]

the natural,pressure will presumable force a plug of soft mud up the engine cooling water inlet?

Only if the mud is deep enough and soft enough to allow the keel to sink deep enough to allow the water inlet to get contact with the mud.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Only if the mud is deep enough and soft enough to allow the keel to sink deep enough to allow the water inlet to get contact with the mud.

Yes but no one in the drying muddy creeks on either the welsh or english side of the upper Bristol Channel seems to have an actual problem provided they close the seacock. Thornbury, St Pierre Pill, Portishead Hole, and Chapel Pill on the Avon, Woodspring Bay, Uphill, Burnham, Newport and quite a few others. Quite a lot of boats - quite a lot of mud

 

[Stemar]

On my old boat, the engine seacock was pretty difficult to get at, so, most of the time, I left it open, but still never had any problems. I did take the hose off another seacock that was seized open when we were sitting on the mud, and got a nice big dollop into the boat, like a big brown squeeze of toothpaste, so it wasn't because the mud was hard.

 

[PhillM]

I never had a problem with the sea cock closed when Paean sank into mud on her mooring. That was a Hamble one from the Pink Fery, around HP10.

 

[Pye_End]

When in a mud berth some years ago I occasionally forgot to close the seacock, and still never had a problem with the cooling water.