Chrysler Sailors Forum

Hi All,

I need a comment or two on letting the 22 sit in mud all winter with the
keel about halfway down. Not that I have much choice at this point as the water level in my lake (Lake Norman, NC) has dropped dramatically and very
quickly and is off by many feet from 'full pond'. So, it looks as if the 22 is caught at the dock with the keel on the bottom. I tried to crank it up but it will not move so it's either stuck in the mud or just stuck. Either way, does anyone have experience with letting their sailboat stay in the mud for a few months waiting for the H2O to come back? Unfortunately, I have no idea how much lower the lake level will drop or how long it will be until rain and snow melt fill it back up some.

A few more feet of drop and I can probably walk across the lake bed. Well, not really, but you get it, right? Pretty bleak here. Would trade drought for a nice hear rainstorm any day.

Thanks for the help. Keep Sailing.

Jeff

I feel for ya !

don't go breaking your swing-keel cable or anything....
you're simply dealing with the suction from the mud around the keel,
and that turns into many hundreds of pounds of glue-like adhering forces.

For some reason this reminds me of a story I read about a guy in Alaska that was hiking with a buddy, and fell into quicksand {yes, actually, there is a fair deal of quicksand in Alaska}. The quicksand comes, apparently from volcano ash mixed with water, and is nearly impossible to distinguish from the surrounding land. Anyway, this guy is in real trouble, and his friend is forced to hoof it for help. Hypothermia is setting in, and there is just no getting out. They send a helicopter, lower ropes, etc., tie them around him, and proceed to break his back in 3 places, related to the glue-like adhering forces. Finally, nearly dead, someone gets the bright idea to stick a pipe in the ground, and blow a serious amount of air underneath him. Bubbles released the adhering tension around him quite easily, and they were then able to pull him out. So...... maybe helpful, maybe not, but take those surface-tension forces seriously.

Rain dance anyone?

Thanx!
Bill Williams

Another possibility would be to have someone try to move the boat forward as you apply cranking tension on the keel winch.