Shallow water

[questover]

Question: For anyone with a 5 foot draft. I'm in a marina on the Ohio River that has not ben maintained very well. I have a 58 MY. Problem is the mouth of marina has silted to 4 feet depth for about 50 - 75 feet.

I'm not comfortable plowing thru one foot of mud. I can get out when pool level is raised at locks. But never know when that is going to happen.

Has anyone gone thru this situation where water is so shallow. I assume sand would be different than MUD. Thanks RUSS

 

[Westfield 11]

I have plowed through mud many times on the ICW, once for over 1/2 mile in a cut at low tide. The bow drops and the boat needs a lot more helm to steer, but she does just fine. Inspection of the keel months later showed no damage, in fact, the ablative paint looked just like the rest of the hull. There is no noise when plowing mud, but the wake looks like chocolate pudding! Sand is very different, I’ve only done it once, there is a sandbar a few miles out of Cat Key on the way to Chubb that we touched for about 100yds. That you could hear: sort of a whooshing grinding sound. The boat handled the same as in mud. This was all at 1050 rpm slow cruise.

 

[oscarvan]

From a boat handling stand point, as long as you're moving you're good. I do not like to back up in those conditions as all that crap goes through your raw water system. A lot of sand would not be good for the impeller.

 

[Photolomy]

Turn off the generator. That can clog real fast.

 

[Pascal]

I am very familiar with the spot east of Cat cay, at low tide it s critical to be idling thru there since At 1050rpm the boat will squat quite a bit and draw another 6” at the back of the keel.

Soft mud shouldn’t be a problem if you can be absolutely sure it s not more shallow than you expect. That s a heavy boat to tow off!

 

[Westfield 11]

True that! I backed off to 800 rpm and it did better. Still plowed, but it sounded like it was less. I didn’t want to drop to idle in I lost momentum and stopped!

And yes, if you try to back off, the sand and mud will get sucked into the sea strainers on the main engines.

 

[oscarvan]

Turn off the generator. That can clog real fast.

Good point.

 

[madhatter1]

When things get really critical you can alternate bumping each gear in and out but only for a quick second. That will provide some forward thrust without making the boat squat and draw more. Got myself out of a sticky situation doing that and did not touch again.

 

[Pascal]

And if you hit something hard you ll only damage one wheel. Never know what s in that mud...