Mud Berths

[Skipper599]

This is a question for our friend in England - - - Does a mud berth prevent marine growth on the hull? I'm curious because, although I'm unaware of any such accomodations in BC it doesn't mean it can't be done, particularly in Fraser River mud which looks suspiciouly like what you have over there. And if it is possible, I believe there to be a number of locations where such mud berths could be created free of charge . . . or almost.

[Rich P]

The quick answer is YES!

The slightly longer answer:
When the yacht sits up to her marks in the mud, it keeps the hull completely clear of marine fouling. Although we still anti-foul for when we travel elsewhere etc.

Its important when you lift out to clean the bottom of the Hull straight away, on my first boat this hadn't been done and then it had been left out of the water to dry for a couple of years. The result was I spent around 4 days with wet and dry to remove the baked on cack, nothing else would touch it!

When you first sit in the mud you might be sat at an angle, eventually the boat will dig herself a hole and sit upright.
Hope this helps, anymore questions just ask :)

[earlylight]

Curiosity has gotten the best of me. Does a mud berth present any special problems from the grit getting into the seacocks?

[Rich P]

Its not grit, its like a thick ooze, you'd sink up to your waist at least if you fell in.
It does clog up log paddlewheels sometimes though :)

[Shark]

This is probably a naive question but do you know of any instances in which a boat has become stuck in mud on a rising tide?

[Rich P]

Never a yacht, they're far to buoyant, with enough freeboard to be fine.

There was a narrowboat in the creek once and being long and flat bottomed it had insufficient buoyancy to break the muds suction and filled with the tide and sank! We had to refloat her the next tide by pumping her out and as the tide flooded we used an old barge trick of passing warps under the boat with a person holding them on each side and then walking up and down the boat.
This breaks the muds suction.