Re: [Cal_Boats] Shallow Dock

Well, it is not an ideal situation by far. My observations of sailboats in "shallow" slips, that is ones where there is less water at minus-tide low tides than the boats draft, has revealed that the keel does tend to dig a hole in the bottom that, if sufficient current is present and if the bottom is firm enough.... will remain allowing the boat to float in her own little (keel-sized) basin! However, the boat can't enter/leave the slip at low tide and I can't be sure this will work everywhere! If there isn't much wave action in your area, it might work out in the short-term, but it would not be very good if a strong storm blows in! I'd be less concerned about this type of slip with a sturdy, FIXED-Keel boat than I would with our old CAL 21 that had a retractable-keel which was locked down while in the water (strong and sturdy enough for sailing, but not really built to withstand (in our case) twice daily sitting into the muddy bottom. I'd recommend a deeper slip if possible! Rod Johnson, "SUNBIRD" 1979 O'DAY DS II (centerboarder) former co-owner of "NODROG" 1970 CAL 21 #285 On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:48:34 -0400 "John" <st… [at] embarqmail.com> writes: Hello All, I just moved my Cal 31 to a new dock but, based on my depth gauge and tide calculations, it appears the boat will be grounded once a day on the extreme low tide. In the worst case this would mean the water is 3' deep, while the fin keel is 5'. I'm almost certain that the bottom is soft, deep muck. The dock is floating. So the question is how bad is this for both the keel/hull and the dock? Is it likely that the bottom will be quickly dug deeper by the keel or will the muck just continually be refilling (I'd guess the latter). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. John Stacklyn Cal 31 #33 "Sol Survivor" Shell Point, FL Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video Chat! http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210