deep doo doo....boat is grounded....

[PinkHemiCoronet]

Hi all,
I'm new to sailing. Just bought my boat this year. I'm up in Sodus Bay, NY on Lake Ontario. I had my 30' Islander delivered to the bay in July and cruised it over to my marina. I didn't get a good slip because, in late July, the slips worth having are gone. I ended up with a slip that the marina said would handle my 5' draft. Lake Ontario has dropped almost 11" and is still dropping. I'm now sitting on my keel in my slip. I need to get out of that slip, cross the bay, and get to a new marina for winter storage. If I can get about 200' i'll definitely be in water deep enough to motor through. It's getting that first 200' that I don't know what to do with. I've talked with BoatUS and they won't do it because it too shallow for their boat and honestly, I can't believe it's going to cost me $1500 to get this boat moved 200'. Any ideas?

[rslifkin]

Have you measured how much water you're actually in right now? A quick search says your boat is a fin keel, so depending on how far into the mud the keel is and how soft the mud, weeds, etc. you're sitting in is, it may be possible to just power the boat out or have someone help with another boat and get it pulled out of the mud.

[Muaddib1116]

I'm totally spit balling, but maybe you can find a place to rent air bags that you can strap under your keel and inflate, reducing your draft.

[danstanford]

At a marina on the other shore of the lake, they use a masthead halyard connected to a small power boat and they tip you over lessening your draft. In this configuration you will draw far less and they are pulling you our all the while.

[Jammer]

There is no easy solution.


Here are your choices as I see them:
1. Put in bubblers, leave the boat for the winter, and hope the water is higher in the spring.
2. Tow the boat forcibly through the mud and hope you don't break anything or get stuck even worse.
3. Force the boat to heel as described upthread. It must be done gently but firmly. There is a risk of damage to the rig.
4. Have a crane lift the boat out from shore. Costs may be prohibitive.
5. Have the boat lifted out by a salvage barge with a crane. Costs may be prohibitive.


Good luck, you'll need it. This late in the year, if I were in your situation, I would talk to the marina about bubblers. They won't like it. You will have to judge to what extent they perceive the grounding to be their fault and apply pressure, or not, accordingly. You should expect to pay for electricity which will be a significant cost though probably not prohibitive. You will still need to winterize the boat and prepare for the possibility that water may enter the bilge and freeze.

[B25Matt]

I was told that they're going to raise the lake level starting this weekend. This is total hearsay.

There are lots of people hoping that this is true. I over winter in Iroquois and there are lots of boats that can't get in at the moment.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by B25Matt

I was told that they're going to raise the lake level starting this weekend. This is total hearsay.

There are lots of people hoping that this is true. I over winter in Iroquois and there are lots of boats that can't get in at the moment.

It's almost certainly hearsay. There's nothing that can be done to raise lake levels more than a small amount in a week without an enormous amount of rain to add extra water to help the process. Latest forecast is to lose another 3 inches by the end of October. Currently, we're ~10 inches below average for this time of year on Lake Ontario, but it's been quite a while since the lake has been this low.

[PinkHemiCoronet]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

I'm totally spit balling, but maybe you can find a place to rent air bags that you can strap under your keel and inflate, reducing your draft.

Already thought of that. If I knew somewhere to rent them, I would go that route. Seems the simplest solution.

[PinkHemiCoronet]

Originally Posted by danstanford

At a marina on the other shore of the lake, they use a masthead halyard connected to a small power boat and they tip you over lessening your draft. In this configuration you will draw far less and they are pulling you our all the while.

Good Idea, except my mast isn't up. That's a whole different story about a UPS truck hitting my roller furling while I was dry docked in July. New furler isn't installed so mast is down......

[Muaddib1116]

Maybe contact a marine salvage company? They probably have the float bags. It may not be the cheapest route, but you'll probably be able to move your boat and reduce the chance of damaging the keel.

[Wolfe10]

Truck inner tubes may offer a less expensive means of additional "lift"/flotation.


And, if the bottom is mud, it is a lot more forgiving than if it is rock. May have to do a little "marine plowing". Since you are coming out of the water anyway, easy to touch up bottom paint.

[PinkHemiCoronet]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

It's almost certainly hearsay. There's nothing that can be done to raise lake levels more than a small amount in a week without an enormous amount of rain to add extra water to help the process. Latest forecast is to lose another 3 inches by the end of October. Currently, we're ~10 inches below average for this time of year on Lake Ontario, but it's been quite a while since the lake has been this low.

That's what the Army corp of engineers is saying. I'm trying not to panic but if It gets 3 inches lower, I'm super screwed.

[rslifkin]

In my mind, the most important thing is to find out just how stuck you are. There's a big difference between 6 inches of keel in the mud and 2 feet of keel in the mud.

[Tetepare]

Which marina, and which dock/ which way does the dock face?

The east side of Katlynn is sand, and badly shoaled. The ones at the south are mud. Martins is mostly mud. You may get thru mud, sand will be more work.

Either way I’d call whichever marina you’re storing at. Martins has all sorts of boats; Katlynn has a strong tow boat, but may be too busy. Both have staff that might do it after hours but it’s going to cost you.

When is the last time you left the slip?

[PinkHemiCoronet]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Which marina, and which dock/ which way does the dock face?

The east side of Katlynn is sand, and badly shoaled. The ones at the south are mud. Martins is mostly mud. You may get thru mud, sand will be more work.

Either way I’d call whichever marina you’re storing at. Martins has all sorts of boats; Katlynn has a strong tow boat, but may be too busy. Both have staff that might do it after hours but it’s going to cost you.

When is the last time you left the slip?

I'm at Fowlers. I'm directly behind Peir 53. That's on the East side of the bay about half way. I'm thinking I'm in mud about 4-6" right now with a lot of vegetation around me.
I'm the last slip on the dock so my Port side is along the dock. Because the dock sticks out at the end, my bow is facing the dock as well. The good news is that I'm at the end of the dock so my starboard side is open.
Around Tuesday of last week was the last time I was there. I only live 30 minutes away.