Beaching question

V

Valkyrie

New member
Hi Brats,

Marcia and I are at her folks place in SC right on St. Helena Sound and looking at the mud flats at low tide has prompted this question.

We would like to bring Valkyrie down this summer for a few weeks of fishing. Most of the ramps (landings down here) don't have dock to tie up the boat and I really don't want to pay for two weeks or so of dock space if I don't have to. Having the boat anchored right here would be great.

I'm wondering if it makes sense to just anchor the boat out in front of the house and let it settle on the mud flats at low tide. A bow and stern anchor could hold it on place with the bow facing the incoming tide. The bottom is fairly firm and it would be easy to anchor away from the oyster bars. Waves rarely reach over a foot, so that wouldn't be a problem and it would be easy to wade ashore.

Personal experience and any ideas are appreciated.

Oh yeah, we're going to the Charleston Boat Show next Friday to get our C-Dory fix!

Regards,

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
Nick

Just another thing that makes the more flat bottomed boat so great. Love that feeling of the boat settling and then slowing being picked up again. Like Dan said just make sure the motor or motors are up and the trim tabs too. We just make sure the bottom surface is ok, prepare and then relax and enjoy it.

Jay
 
Robbi

Got my curiosity up. Does that mean with the 19' there's no problem if the trim tabs are left down? I know we have come in very close to shore and the bottom while getting in or out with the boat parallel with the shore and forgetting to raise the tabs with no damage.

Jay
 
It would be a problem if the tabs were left in any position other than fully retracted. When I turn off the ignition key, the tabs retract automatically, so one less thing for me to remember to do when docking or beaching. One thing that I don't like about the tabs is that I can't go into a beach with a slope stern first without digging the tabs into the beach material. I am not sure how much pressure that they can withstand. Robbi
 
Be careful when wading to shore. Some muck can be so deep you can sink up to your knees or more. Boots can get lost, clothing and gear coated in stinky goo. If you get stuck and the tide comes in..... scary. C.W.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. Looks like it's a go!

Having Valkyrie within yards of the house will be handy for loading and unloading, close to good fishing in the sound, easy ocean access and Charleston, Savannah and Hilton Head are all reachable from here.

Best of all, having Valkyrie in front of the house will also make the view that much better.

Regards.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
We beach our boat all the time...just approach very slowly, raise your motor a bit and keep a sharp eye out for anything on the bottom that would cause a problem. Gotta love that flat bottom...
 
I have some experience with Honda motors and Mud. Be sure to have a wire to unplug the water cooling discharge port on the engine. A straighted fish hook will work in a pinch. So I'd do like Dan said and raise the motor. The hulls on 22's are freakishly strong (IMO) and a soft bed of mud would be better than hard rubber rollers on a trailer . Waves and rocks are the combination to avoid. Keep in mind I have no experience with tides and C-Dorys but I do beach them often in muddy crap and plug my engine intakes and discharges a little to frequently.


Chris Bulovsky
 
Yes....Be REAL careful of that mud.....several years ago I did a mud rescue where the guy had stepped out of this boat...walked about 8' and went into a soft goo up to his chest....the only thing that kept him from going under was his shotgun....and he was laying his weight on it..... The rescue went well, I went out using back boards as steps....one after the other.... and worked a backboard into the mud in front of him...then we used the winch from the rig to pull the backboard (and him) out and to the shore...

Only problem was when one of the sheriffs let out his K-9 dog and the shepard came racing out to see what I was doing...... I wanted to jump up and run...... scared the Hell out of me as I have seen this dog in action.... I thought I was a goner.... Lunch.. think I peed my turnouts.

Who says it's dull living on a lake in the woods...

Joel
SEA3PO
 
Nick:

Let me know if you need any chartplotter routes for the areas you're discussing. As I recall, you're running a Garmin, and routes in that format e-mail very smoothly. I also have some offshore charts, and links to photos of inlets.

David
 
Be careful of that pluff mud. Try walking out on low tide before you try carrying anything or having anyone you want to see again walk through it. That stuff is often deep and sticky.
 
David,

Thanks! I appreciate the offer, especially for the inlets. I am running a Garmin and fortunately it has all of the Blue Chip info for the entire country loaded into it at the factory.

Are you coming to the Chesapeake Gathering this year?

All: on the mud issue: good advice, but we have been walking and crabbing these flats for years and the bottom here is not gooey. Also, where we will be beaching the boat is close to shore and hard-packed sand. We appreciate your concern.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
A little SW experience about gooey mud -- we have quicksand in many rivers or creeks in the SW and any of you who loved to watch westerns as a kid (or still do) know the scenes of some hapless cowboy (or cowgirl, or black hat) thrashing in the quicksand and going under for the third time -- why there are even authenticated tales of rr locomotives slowly sinking into oblivion. Well, hate to pop bubbles (I'll leave that up to Bernacke) -- but those tales are pure Hollywood!

Yep, a locomotive can (and did) go under, but people? -- not if they have an ounce of sense (of course, who ever said a cowboy was sensible) -- anyway, if you know how to float on water (and most of us do, I should hope -- where I went to school, you couldn't graduate without passing the swim test) -- anyway, in quicksand (or mud) you keep your cool, let go of anything you are carrying that sinks, lie down, roll over on your side, (DON'T thrash, like that pretty heroine in John Wayne flicks, waving her hands over her head) -- and slowly, calmy disengage each leg from the bottom and gently swim to shore (on your back if you like to watch the clouds float by quietly in the blue sky).

Most human bodies float (until they fill their lungs with water) -- and they float in quicksand, mud or water -- so don't panic -- just like you don't if you fall overboard -- behave the same way -- calmly remain floating and dogpaddle (or whatever) your way ashore.

I can't count the number of times I've sunk to my neck in quicksand and calmly 'swam' to hard ground -- only thing lost, except my dignity, were a few rockhammers or a lunch.
 
Good advice Bill, thanks. They even proved it on myth busters a short time back, in fact, they 'couldn't' sink in their fabricated tub of the sticky wet stuff.
 
Maybe I'm too cautious but I'm not a fan of setting the hull down with the tides. In my opinion there is too much risk that the boat may land on a rock or shells or whatever and cause damage. As the tide is coming and going there will be a period of time where the boat is moving a bit and rubbing in the sand acting like sand paper. This will remove some bottom paint or whatever it is touching. If the wind or waves pick up the sanding effect will be greater.
 
El and Bill":20u5qiy4 said:
Yep, a locomotive can (and did) go under
Click to expand...

I'm certain that the C-Brats living in this area remember the following occurrence next to the SR 2 Hewitt Avenue Trestle.
I'll try to relay the following story as I remember, it may not be totally accurate but is close.......
Just this last summer and fall a fellow in our local area rented a brand new excavator to use on some property belonging to his family. In order to get to the property he had to cross some rather tenuous terrain. As he moved forward, the excavator began sinking into the ground until it was almost invisible. Obviously, lawsuits began to enter into the situation and eventually another company purchased the sunken excavator and in their process of retrieving it nearly lost another excavator. Eventually a crane was brought in and it successfully retrieved both excavators.
 
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