Wot we did over BH.

[oldgit]

Numero Uno....any mention of weather forecasts were verboten.
Swale Marina is at the end of a muddy creek located in the Swale on the North Kent coast,hiding behind the Isle of Sheppey and protected from most not very nice winds.
Around 20 boats finally made the four hour trip from Rochester,past Sheerness,under the Kingsferry bridge and across the mudflats into Conyer.
The marina boasts its own club house and very handy pub close by and is big enough to swallow up most club boat quantities.
The creek totally dries by the way.

We spent the night at an "interesting" angle.
Previous night was spent at the opposite angle,so decided to move boat so it stayed upright...fat chance.

Waiting for the bridge to lift.
arrived as British Rail enacted a shift changeover and no way the guy on duty at the time intended to do the business when he could palm it of on the next bloke coming in duty.
always interesting watching 20 odd boats hold station in brisk wind for nearly an hour

Worth a click....http://www.swalemarina.co.uk/pages.php?pid=13&page=find_us

 

[Chill]

I am guessing that this does not harm your props shafts and rudders!

Would be no good for us as no gas onboard we have to start the gennie to boil the kettle and cook breakfast..

Looks a nice spot

 

[sharpness]

I too was curious about damage to sterngear, but i guess the mud is soft enough to not cause issues. For the seacocks, do they have to be closed to prevent blocking with mud?

Your club and its organised cruises always looks well attended, its great to see.

 

[oldgit]

I too was curious about damage to sterngear, but i guess the mud is soft enough to not cause issues. For the seacocks, do they have to be closed to prevent blocking with mud?

Your club and its organised cruises always looks well attended, its great to see.

In the 50 years I have been boating locally have only ever had drying mud berths( cheapskate) until my present mooring. Have never yet had any problems with mud getting into cooling system and to be honest seldom bother to shut seacocks much either . Never had problem with props or stern gear and have never heard of anyone else having suffered damage on the east coast which has vast numbers of mud berth moorings.
However we do have several club members who adamently refuse point blank to go anywhere their boat will dry out.
On this trip the vast majority were shaftdrive boats including everything from a big Broom,Princess 45 right down to loads of commonasmuck Turbo 36 via the odd Sealine, a Fairline Phantom and Sedan. !

 

[david_bagshaw]

In the 50 years I have been boating locally have only ever had drying mud berths( cheapskate) until my present mooring. Have never yet had any problems with mud getting into cooling system and to be honest seldom bother to shut seacocks much either . Never had problem with props or stern gear and have never heard of anyone else having suffered damage on the east coast which has vast numbers of mud berth moorings.

+1
In my youth we moored at Jarmans yard for about 10 years, just slightly upstream in the main creek from the ops's first photo. Never had any problems on shaft wear or seacocks bunging up. It is mud, not clay. (classic motor boat on shafts 5 foot draft)

As to the funny angles, stay a few days and the mud takes the shape of your hull, leading to a more upright way of life.

 

[tony_lavelle]

The old problems at Kingsferry Bridge are resurfacing. It seems to be one particular member of the bridge operations team, run by Network Rail.
The MSBA (www.msba.org.uk) is working with Peel Ports to try and get things improved.

 

[byron]

The old problems at Kingsferry Bridge are resurfacing. It seems to be one particular member of the bridge operations team, run by Network Rail.
The MSBA (www.msba.org.uk) is working with Peel Ports to try and get things improved.

What problems dost thou speak of ?

 

[oldgit]

What problems dost thou speak of ?

A marked reluctance by duty staff to raise the bridge......
Suspect it costs a few few quid to raise that bridge and perhaps the operators have been told to keep lifts to absolute minimum.
Perhaps requires expensive safety check every 100 lifts or so and BR reluctant to fund as a private company operator ?

It also has the interesting habit of jamming in warm weather.
Motorists using the bridge have on occassion driven through a spray of salty water pumped out of the Swale in order to cool the road deck down and stop it expanding .