Draft too deep?

[JrbSail]

Hi All, I’m a newbie here, and I’ve got a question:
My wife and I are about to buy our first yacht and I was a little disappointed to find that contrary to originally advertised, her draft is not 1.9m but is 2.3m - a whopping 40cm more.
It’ll make no difference during ocean crossings (could actually help) but should we be concerned about not being able to get into some marinas? Obviously there’ll be mini fishing harbours always unsuitable to anything over 2m but what proportion of modern recreational marinas could be closed to us in the Med and around the world? Or should we not worry?

[Wolfe10]

Really depends on what cruising area you are looking at.


2.3 meter draft would limit where you can go in Florida and the Bahamas. Not so much marinas, but in cruising to them/anchoring out.



Can be done, but you will be limited.


Med-- no idea.

[sailorboy1]

I have a 1.93M draft. It definitely becomes limiting in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas even for marinas.

BUT lots of boats cruise with a larger draft and you have to decide the balance for your plans.

[boatman61]

It will restrict you in a few.. a couple of examples are Almerimar and Roquetas De Mar around the corner would be to shallow to enter but you would fit in Agua Dulce 5nm further on.
Just have to research and plan beforehand.

[JPA Cate]

Our boat draws 2.2m. We just run aground sooner than others. There are many places we cannot get into, and I've never much missed it. Geography doesn't change all that much, and one enjoys where one can go. It is like Boatie wrote, you do have to take depths into account and tides and plan accordingly, and it becomes like second nature to do so.

Ann

[Tin Tin]

What is really annoying about deep draft is you can not cosy in to harbors and get as much wind and swell wrap protection + shorter drier dinghy ride to shore Many harbors accommodate planing motor boats with shallow drafts to around 1.5m. Sitting out in the channel at anchor coping the wake from passing ferries and the like is tedious. Many of the shallower harbors have acres of sandy/muddy bottoms with around 2.0m deep shelf and then it drops away rapidly. So a deep draft vessel has to anchor in say 6m+ of water rather than on the edge of a drop off where anchors pull out too easily. Apart from that easily picked apart generalization, to me deeper draft means deeper stress on a cruising lifestyle. I spent a week on a RYA training yacht with 2.8m fin/bulb keel - the training captain was a a nervous nelly most of the time paranoid about running aground with trainees at the wheel in a river and bay full of shallows and little margin for error. We once received a mayday call, so he dived down below to the radio and we promptly sailed out of the channel and touched a sand bank. He was up like lightning, started the motor, took the wheel, like he had done this many many times. That experience just reinforced my conviction to stay with a catamaran.

[Bowdrie]

Three types of sailors, those who've been aground, those who will, and those who lie about it.
Here in the US 2.3m would be ~7.5Ft?, close enough.
Yeah, you'll get to plan things and places with a bit more care.
You just can't go speeding around places where you have no local knowledge.
An old Carribean saying, "Lots of water Mon, just thin".

[Island Time O25]

Friend lived aboard in Florida on a 46 footer drawing app. 2.5m. We cruised all over Florida without much problem. Sure some places we had to time entries and exits with the tides and a few days of extra low tides we bumped where the chart was showiing 12-13ft (notably fuel docks at Ft. Laud's New River) but overall not a big issue. The owner was a marine industry pro with 40+ years of active experience so that helped.

The upside of that deep draft was the boat sailed like a dream in the bluewater. We sailed the outside route from Ft. Laud to the entrance of Cape Cod canal with the engine off in exactly 5 days.

[JrbSail]

Thanks for sharing this - sounds like a fair trade-off. J.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Our boat draws 2.2m. We just run aground sooner than others...

There's 3 types of sailors: Those who have run aground, those who will run aground, and liars.

[Jim Cate]

My take on this: if you sail in unfamiliar and poorly charted waters (like many cruisers) you will eventually run aground. Shoal draft vessels do it closer to the beach, but they are still aground.

Jim

[s/v Jedi]

I would look for another boat. 2.30 meter draft is too much for so many places and there are plenty boats with less draft.

[JPA Cate]

The fellow with the catamaran wrote "cosy up to the beach". Right. That's where the mozzies and sandflies are densest, and I'd like to thank you for offering yourselves as bait! [No offense intended.]

I'm thinking that at 2.3 m. (only 4" deeper than us) there will be limitations on where you go, but that those limitations will not be a big problem if you are wanting to go international, but might be if you wanted to confine yourself to the Bahamas or Florida.

Ann