Hi McNaughtical, the main reason a boat floods when stranded is water starts entering the cockpit or over the gunwale and through an opening before she floats on the rising tide. I'm not sure how you find out your boat will refloat without actually doing it. I've tried to see if the common S&S34 will dry out and float ok but haven't found out yet.
I've been aground twice. Once I was caught buy an unexpected wind whilst motoring in tightish quarters and another I settled on the bottom on a lowering tide. Neither time I would say I was being complacent.
The saying "to be human" comes to mind.
As a live aboard my seacocks are on as I'm using them.
The main engine stays on as the the mains gets a run every week. It was good that I replaced the main 1 1/2 seacook for the main sulage tank but basicly it wouldn't of made much difference on or off in the risk of flooding.
The great thing is now I know , I can go aground and dry out for hull maintance !
Crikey, talk about a prophetic thread... I ran aground today coming out of Manly Harbour, before I even passed the first starboard marker, right in the leads !! I'm only a new sailor but I swear I was in the leads (but close to starboard to give all the dinghys some room).
The yacht in front of me bumped as well - and he looked like he knew what he was doing - so I'm thinking that maybe the mud floor has shifted a little?? Then again, I draw less than 1.2m, so who knows....
Some hard reverse revs didn't work pull me out until I put it on to a hard turn - don't know why that worked, but I'm glad it did as it saved me from maybe the most public grounding ever !!
@ McNaughtical.
A yacht with a deep draught, narrow beam and low freeboard is more likely to flood on a rising tide after a dryout grounding than a yacht with a shallow draught, wide beam and a high freeboard.
The greater the angle of layover, the more likely is flooding.
However if all possible entry points for water (including hawser to anchor locker, companionway, cabin top vents etc) are sealed, the yacht should refloat.
That is as succinctly as I can put it.
The thread seemed prophetic to him because he ran aground a few days after the thread started - thus, the thread seemed to predict his future. What's so hard to understand about that?
Cisco, he wasn't actually referring to you as a prophet - as hard as that may be to fathom!
I have always treated it as a golden rule to shut sea cocks when not in use and especially when no one is on board. I have read that in some situations like a strong bow wave from a passing boat, that sea water can siphon back into the hull through an open sea cock.
My seacocks are ball valves except for the head outlet 11/2" gate valve. I would suggest it's original making it 30 odd yrs old.
It works perfectly OK, although it feels a little 'slack' but is hidden in a cupboard and awkward to get to. Should I get it
changed to a ball valve or do these 'gate' types last forever. I don't think I'm 'flexible' enough these days to do it so it
would a shipwrights job at next slip.
Yes I have seen the South passage out of control before! Anchored one boat length forward of me in 25knots after picking up a mooring on her rudder one boat forward of me!
This pic is from the time when we ran aground below Mcleay Island. By low tide( few hours after this pic ) the boat was completely dry and still sitting perfectly upright. The problem was the 6ft of keel buried in the sandbank for 12 hours till the next high tide. There were a few nervous moments on the next high as we were worried she wouldn't come out, but thankfully the fin keel slid out of its new hole and off we sailed!
Shaggy, when it saw that you had posted on this thread I had a sinking moment of dread that you were going to extoll as one of the virtues of your new build that it could be beached with keel up sitting on the twin rudders while you careened the bottom.
The thin links are from sand abrasion I think, too uniform to be caused by mixed metals. The shiny shackle is probably mild steel partly polished.
This is mixed metal with a stainless mousing, note the pitting. The thin links are from sand in a strong tidal river. The mooring chain gets dragged across the sand with tide and wind changes. In some places this can occur in 12 months!
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