[C320-list] Keel draft

[Guy Smith]

Hey Tim (and everyone)!
Couple of things come to mind when I think about draft...I don't mean to insult anyone if you already know this stuff...
While it's important to know the actual draft from the bottom of the keel to the waterline, use that in combination with your depth display to calibrate the display. This can be hard to do in the water, based on where the depth transponder is mounted in the hull and determining the depth of the water you are in. 
I know from (bad) experiences that Pleiades touches at 5.0 ft. on her depth display, even though the draft is 4 ft 10 inches (or so).So if we are seeing values 5.5 ft or lower, it's time to start thinking "What the hell are we trying to do here?!?!?"If we're sneaking over a high spot on the bottom (happens quite frequently getting into our slip.), we would be moving as slow as possible in case we ground. Easier to get "unstuck" that way. But keep in mind the following stories about the shallows...
I wanted to relate that even though you might be in 7 ft of water, the bottom is not uniformly 7 ft down.When we first purchased Pleiades, we would routinely anchor in 7 ft depth. Remember that, if 7 ft is the current mid-tide depth, you might be in 6 ft or less by low tide (in the middle of the night?).
Whenever we anchor, I put my dive mask on, grab a brush and scrapper and inspect the hull for barnacles and fuzz before the Dark and Stormys start flowing. One time we were anchored in 7 ft of water in Still Pond. I and dipped down to the bottom of the wing keel to inspect it because at my marina, the bottom of the keel sets in the Chesapeake mud at low tide and this must be great conditions for barnacles to grow! There was boat traffic in the area as the "stink" boaters were cruising in to the anchorage at high rates of speed. While I was down there, Pleiades was bobbing up and down and the approximately 2 ft of water I thought we had under the keel was being cut to 1 ft or less at times! AND Pleiades was Pitching fore and aft in the wakes, so the rudder was approaching the bottom with speed at times. So I think "Well, this is scary but we still have a margin before Pleiades bottoms out". But on one dive down I noticed a dark shape standing proud of the sandy bottom that was 5-10 ft to port of the keel. I swam over to inspect it and it was an immovable rock sticking up 8-10 inches  above the sand! Pleiades was swinging on her rode and it would just be a matter of time until she would be bobbing and pitching on top of the rock! Needless to say, we pulled the hook and moved to deeper water. We very seldom anchor in less than 10 ft of water  (Low tide) anymore. This is hard to do in the Chesapeake.Even with this precaution, I have dove on the keel and found sunken logs and other scary things that we didn't want to be anchored around.
Fairwinds everyone,~g
Guy and Liz Smithsv Pleiades     '97 C320 #452Worton Creek, MD