Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on December 28, 2003 at -1:00:04 from 217.137.108.19 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: boats at low tide... Damaged? posted by Ed Kiser on December 27, 2003 at 22:08:26:
Ed is absolutely right in principle.
However in a tidal situation there often isn't much choice. Boats have been kept on moorings which dry out from time immemorial - sometimes there is just nowhere to keep them afloat which is at the same time safely sheltered from bad weather, sometimes (as in my own case) every spot in the river where a boat could lie afloat outside the deep water shipping channel is already taken up, so a partially drying mooring was the only option.
The alternative suggestion of taking the boat ashore is fine for dinghies but otherwise even so comparatively small a boat as the Beckfoot war canoe Timothy was using is so heavy and awkward to handle that it really isn't practicable to bring her ashore and chock her up after every use - certainly it would be impossible for a single individual to do it. Bigger traditional boats were often brought ashore, but only in circumstances where there was plenty of human muscle power available - as in most traditional fishing villages.
Today the problem is solved for many people by keeing boats afloat in marinas. Some of us, however:-
a) detest the whole atmosphere of these beastly yotty places.
B) detest even more paying the extortionate mooring charges
c) rather like the element of messing about in the dinghy at the beginning and end of the day.
And in fact a reasonably built and maintained boat 'drying' (or not exactly so, as Roger points out) on nice soft mud doesn't seem to suffer much harm. And if she isn't reasonably built and maintained I for one would prefer not to go to sea in her!
Belated Merry Christmas and more timely Happy New Year to everybody.