Posted by Mike Field on January 20, 2005 at 02:01:13 from 203.166.84.10 user mikefield.
In Reply to: Re: Availability of Splatchers posted by Jon on January 04, 2005 at 12:49:08:
I have the same Secret Water type of mud here in Western Port, and some years ago I made a pair of splatchers from marine ply to see if I could get them to work. They had cleats on the bottom which helped prevent their sliding round on the mud, but overall I can't say they worked very well. I think that was partly because as 20" x 10" ellipses they were possibly too narrow anyway, though.
I agree with Jon's comments about the fluidisation of the mud under water -- I suspect any splatcher would be well-nigh impossible to use in these conditions. But I don't think any form of mesh, a la snow-shoe, would work the trick. Snow clumps up and supports itself to some extent and thus provides some resistance to mesh, but silt just doesn't. (Even the Nylon Stocking Test fails as soon as the silt is under pressure.)