Sailboat stuck on sandbar

[Russ]

Ran into submerged steel pipes exploring the shallows around Key West. Left a nice gouge I had to fix.

I bet there are all kinds of submerged stuff around there. Wisteria Island is an interesting place with all the homeless boat dwellers in and around the island as well as tons of sunken and abandoned boats.

[Ixneigh]

Using the boat like I do, debris presents a real hazard. Even going extremely slow, hitting those was quite a bump. All that water ballast has inertia. Bow rode up a few inches and there was an audible scraping. Oh oh! On Inspection later, there was a six foot long scrape forward and another one aft. Probably about 1/8 of an inch deep. I repaired them with epoxy and cloth fiberglass. Hitting a submerged steel pipe is about the worst case scenario though.

Ix

[Ixneigh]

Ran into submerged steel pipes exploring the shallows around Key West. Left a nice gouge I had to fix.

I bet there are all kinds of submerged stuff around there. Wisteria Island is an interesting place with all the homeless boat dwellers in and around the island as well as tons of sunken and abandoned boats.

One thing about climate change that probably at least a few people will appreciate, is the virtual end of any but wealthy boat dwellers. If the trend continues, it will be nearly impossible to live without air conditioning. That requires a bit more effort than just finding a free boat to crash on. The temps at night have so far been ok, sleeping nude with no blankets or sheets. But it’s only May still.

[OverEasy]

The temps at night have so far been ok, sleeping nude with no blankets or sheets. But it’s only May still.

TMI IXNEIGH TMI

[OverEasy]

An aquaitance of ours (who asked to remain nameless ) related a story of how he and his brother , both in their then late 60s , managed to sail full speed up onto a black mud bar while river sailing in the MidWest in their Mac26M with full ballast tank and a weeks worth of supplies of food, water and fuel!
They just barely managed to pull up the dagger board before the they ran hard aground avoiding snapping it.

They weren’t high enough to drain their ballast, were surrounded by marsh, didn’t have cell coverage and nobody was around or in sight.

They spent the day dragging an anchor out astern wading through the muck, setting the anchor, then making a bridle to each cabin winch to eventually pull themselves backward and eventually, after several iterations of anchor sets, pulling from in the muck, digging out the stern, pulling from the cockpit, finally managed to free themselves all while laughing up a storm at themselves fully enrobed in black muck!
There wasn’t any place that they weren’t intimately associated with their muck! To hear them tell the tale one would think that they could have given lessons to Laurel and Hardy or the Marx Brothers! I can’t even hardly imagine how fouled they and their boat became.

In the end no permanent damage was done to them, their boat or their pride that a lot of water and soap couldn’t fix.
They later ended up with a small self priming 12 VDC transfer pump and vinyl tubing so should it happen again they could literally pump out their ballast tank. So far, many years now forward, the kit remains unused.

What a pair!
Fun is where you make it and find it!

Best Regards


PS: With the above story in mind we’ve made our own ‘kit’ for our Mac26X but have chosen to go the ‘Blow Ballast’ route rather than ‘pump out ballast’ approach. Hopefully in the next several weeks we plan on making it a more permanently installed mod with a switch run from the air compressor to the pedestal and a remote solenoid ballast fill vent valve so we won’t have to go forward and do it manually. Contemplating (but haven’t settled on) running the ballast tank air vent line up forward to the upper sidewall of the anchor locker. There have been several times when in the slip or when slowly cruising along with full ballast and have desired to empty it without having to get up to planing speed. Never mind if we ever find ourselves run aground on one of the innumerable uncharted ever moving sand bars in our estuaries surrounding us. It’s nice to have options! We’ll also keep our Tow Boat Policy current too!

[Be Free]

Reminds me of a time early-on when I was moving my X between two lakes near Clermont, FL. It was near dusk and I took the wrong tributary and ended up in a marsh barely deep enough to float in, forget about using the outboard. My brother and I managed to get it turned around between the banks and I ended up pulling it back out "African Queen" style with me in the Humphrey Bogart role. At least it was February and not gator mating season.

[Russ]

The temps at night have so far been ok, sleeping nude with no blankets or sheets. But it’s only May still.

TMI IXNEIGH TMI

Don't ask about Peaches.

[Stickinthemud57]

On my first foray into the ICW (last week) I managed to get my 26S stuck on a sandbar. The wind should have blown us off, and even running the kicker did not help. We got in the water and pushed, and were finally able to get the boat moving once we got the stern swung around such that the wind was coming from behind us. I think the centerboard must have been jackknifing into the sandy bottom at first.

[OverEasy]

by Stickinthemud57 » Sun May 14, 2023 3:05 pm

On my first foray into the ICW (last week) I managed to get my 26S stuck on a sandbar. The wind should have blown us off, and even running the kicker did not help. We got in the water and pushed, and were finally able to get the boat moving once we got the stern swung around such that the wind was coming from behind us. I think the centerboard must have been jackknifing into the sandy bottom at first.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that!
It’s a challenge down here in the various estuaries surrounding Beaufort as the bars and mudbanks are constantly changing.
Sometimes quite dramatically from 6-8 feet to as little as a foot with little warning. We’ve been fortunate so far and have been able to raise the swingkeel and back off. Deceiving buggers they are!

We’re still piddling about with other projects but your recent experience has reminded me to “find the time” to finish our “Blow Ballast” system I’ve been collecting parts for….🫣

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Stickinthemud57]

by Stickinthemud57 » Sun May 14, 2023 3:05 pm

On my first foray into the ICW (last week) I managed to get my 26S stuck on a sandbar. The wind should have blown us off, and even running the kicker did not help. We got in the water and pushed, and were finally able to get the boat moving once we got the stern swung around such that the wind was coming from behind us. I think the centerboard must have been jackknifing into the sandy bottom at first.

Ouch! Sorry to hear that!
It’s a challenge down here in the various estuaries surrounding Beaufort as the bars and mudbanks are constantly changing.
Sometimes quite dramatically from 6-8 feet to as little as a foot with little warning. We’ve been fortunate so far and have been able to raise the swingkeel and back off. Deceiving buggers they are!

We’re still piddling about with other projects but your recent experience has reminded me to “find the time” to finish our “Blow Ballast” system I’ve been collecting parts for….🫣

Best Regards,
Over Easy

Thanks for the sympathy. My passenger, who is a "skinny water" fisherman who knows the area waters very well, tried to warn me, telling me that there was a "shallow spot" up ahead. I should have heeded his warning rather than assuming that my c-board and rudder would just kick up a bit and I would be OK.