Getting a Cat Out of the Mud

[thinwater]

A. Bow bunnys do not get off into mud and push.
B. Wife is bigger and stronger than bow bunnys. Stronger than all 5 combined... when angry.
C. Wife let me buy boat.

[SilentOption]

I saw this the subject line "Getting a cat out of the mud" and of course the first thing that comes to mind is a gaff hook. Then I realized we were talking about a Catamaran.

[Tropic Cat]

I've gone aground more times than I can think of this morning. With the easy groundings, you just back up. the harder ones, you get off and push. It's not like you're in a power boat and hitting a bar at 25 knots. Nor is it the same as a mono where your keel is 6 feet down.

I agree. Grounding a Cat is not only a non event, the boats could be said to be designed for it.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by SilentOption

I saw this the subject line "Getting a cat out of the mud" and of course the first thing that comes to mind is a gaff hook. Then I realized we were talking about a Catamaran.

Everyone is a comedian!!

[schoonerdog]

BTW, I've had monos follow me into anchorages that were surround by shoals to shallow for them. Three boats, one after the other, got stuck like darts in the mud. You want to know why mono's hate cats, that's it.

[sandy daugherty]

An interesting alternative, Mike. I had always thought they were to short and would complain about things in the mud, but you're right, everything on board should be able to serve double duty. This would make up for some of the down sides having to do with the heads.

[svstrider]

I ended up high & dry trying to run a 30 mile shortcut thru mangroves called the Narrows at the back of Curtis Island in Qld OZ. Depths thru there fluctuate between 4 and 6 ft even at high tide. Unfortunately I became stranded at the "Cattle Crossing" (that's why they used it, I guess) which is the shallowest part of the whole shortcut which can dry 6 ft at low tide. The bummer is you can see deepwater only a few hundred yards ahead.

So we sat down & dried out - no big deal you would think. I put the anchor out, emptied most of the water & moved the spare fuel drums to the RIB in preparation for refloating when the wet stuff returned. I did not have any bow babes to unload & the beer was all drunk. I took the opportunity to explore the remainder of the channel & discovered there was some nasty pointy metal things poking out in some places & marvelled at the furrows ploughed by boats that had bulldozed through in the past.

UNFORTUNATELY I did not take into account the 15 - 20 kts of wind that was blowing against the side of the boat. As the water returned, the boat agonisingly scraped & bounced across the gravel of the bottom and attempted to wedge us into a high mud bank with tree roots protruding opposite us. The result was a cracked dagger board case as they still protruded a little way even when you had attempted to pull them up all the way.

We were saved from being blown up onto the mudbank & skewered by the roots by winchinh off using our anchor that I had laid out earlier.

I had forgotten to take into account the effect of windage on the hulls from the strong wind. The returning tide was not going to be the only force acting on the boat when it refloated.

LESSON LEARNT = if / when it happens again & there is wind blowing, I will secure the boat laterally fore & aft to the mangrove trees with looped lines, for easy retrieval (HOPEFULLY) when boat refloats. If the wind is coming from behind then ropes to both banks astern would be the go.

PS You don't want to be wading around in the water in a mangrove swamp in Australia's north. You may end up as a tiger shark or saltwater croc munchie.

You live & hopefully learn by your mistakes.

[ldrhawke]

Float the cat out. Buy two or three cheap king size air mattresses on eBay for less than $50 each.


You can buy them nearly 20" deep. Stack them under the bridge deck, to make the total thickness 40" to 60" when inflated with an portable 12 volt portable electric air blower to blow them up.

Cheap and easy insurance for an emergency. Plus you have an emergency bed for guests.......