Shallow draft.............

[Frank]

The deep draft guys say 'performance is more important' and 'everyone goes aground...we just do it sooner', but after sailing the Florida Keys and Bahamas I view a boats draft as being important. I've seen too many aground, taking the long way around or waiting for the tide to change to leave etc. It gets stressful enough when you draw less than 4ft....can't imagine 5 to 6ft. How important do you view a vessels draft in relation to cruising enjoyment? In my mind, 4ft max.      PS...Lynx will prob. think 2ft is too much  ;)  He can anchor in less than that.

[Tim]

It is all about balance  ;) 
Last year I sailed a Sea Pearl for a week around Exuma, the ability to beach and camp/explore without a dingy was great. I thought about how my Potter would also be great down there for that reason. Of course the "getting there" would be the problem.

Also up in the PNW there are many places that a draft of more than 4' would limit access.

All in all the Ariel with a draft and ballast meaty enough to make her seaworthy but shallow enough to go most places fits my needs to a T

[Captain Smollett]

Draft is a serious psychological hurdle for me.

For many years, I sailed a centerboard boat that drew 4 ft board down, 1.5 ft board up.  Though I planned trips on 'always' having the board down, I know now that I also always had that "out" of just raising the board.

Didn't always work, though... ;D  

Anyway, my experience with a fixed keeler that draws just over 4 ft has me ALWAYS wondering where I am and how much water is under me.

It's a completely different mindset.  And it does not help that I HAVE run her aground several times...

Drawing 6ft?  I'd probably have to give up sailing.  A fellow here in the marina had a boat that draws 6 ft, and he was PROUD of the day he finally went sailing that he did NOT run aground and have to call SeaTow to get him floating again.

[s/v Faith]

It will probably come as no great surprise to anyone here, but I think the Ariel is justa bout right.

 There are boats that draw less then the published 3'8" but they lack a strong keel and protected rudder.. and often will not anchor were Rose and I were.  The multi's that drew less were afraid of touching the bottom... and stayed in the deeper water.

 I personally would not want to sacrifice the seakindless of my boat for something with less draft, or the added complexity of a retractable keel.  I might be open to deeper draft in other areas but for the East coast, Bahamas, and Gulf Coast I like drawing less then 4'.

 You were just asking opinions right?   ;)

[Frank]

Yep...just opinions. ;D  I can't stop thinking about truly shallow draft boats while exploring. We'll see a beauty lil shallow bay or a deeper opening across a flats and I wish I had a centerboard. There is no 'perfect'...just 'perfect compromises' for how you use your boat. Thats one benifit of us smaller boat guys...for most, reasonably shallow draft is a given.

[Captain Smollett]

Yep...just opinions. ;D  I can't stop thinking about truly shallow draft boats while exploring. We'll see a beauty lil shallow bay or a deeper opening across a flats and I wish I had a centerboard. There is no 'perfect'...just 'perfect compromises' for how you use your boat. Thats one benifit of us smaller boat guys...for most, reasonably shallow draft is a given.

One Word: dinghy

We've gotten into some pretty, REALLY cool, shallow draft areas with the dink.  Ya gotta love draft measured in inches...    ;D

Tool for the job, eh? 

[CharlieJ]

The spec sheet says Tehani draws 3'3". When we are loaded and cruising, we figure 3'6" and I have the lead line marked with a "go/no go" mark at 4'.

I really don't like having less than 6 inches under her keel, but it's really nice to be able to sneak into some places.

Our previous boat drew 28 inches and when we started cruising Tehani, we got aground a number of times until I got back into the "deep-draft" mindset. ;D

Even at that, I prefer anchoring in 7 to 8 feet unless in a VERY well protected place. Remembering that we cracked the hull aft of the ballast by slamming bottom in a squall, while anchored in 6 and a half feet of water.

I once delivered a boat down the ICW from Norfolk to Jacksonville that drew 6'6" - was NOT a fun trip although we didn't ground the boat. I'd hate to try that draft in the east coast ICW today :o

[AdriftAtSea]

I like having the very shallow draft of a trimaran. In a pinch, with the board up, I can get through places that are less than 2' deep.   The boat handles much better with the board at least 1/3 of the way down, or the bow blows around a bit too much.

I'd also point out, that with my boat's draft, that going aground is often not a big deal.  I can often just hop overboard and push her back into deeper water.  Can't do that with a boat that draws five feet.

[Auspicious]

Auspicious draws 5'8". In Chesapeake mud that isn't a huge deal. Even with a propensity for gunkholing I've only run aground four times in the last three years. Only once was it any effort to get off. In places with harder bottoms I'm more conservative.

Serious creek crawling happens in the dinghy either with the outboard part way up, rowing, or poling. A long closet rod with a 4" plywood disk screwed to the end makes a dandy pole.

I've been talking to Steve Kaulback about one of these. The draft is three-ish inches and there is a nice sail kit with lee boards. According to Steve they behave well when towed.

[Amgine]

Njordson draws 3' 6", which is pretty good for a cutaway full-keeled 25 footer. The previous boat, also a a cutaway full-keel, drew 18".

I would have to politely disagree with Tim, though. Here in the PNW there are few places where draft is an issue. Usually the issue is finding someplace shallow enough to get the hook down. Which in part explains all the 6-8 foot keels - even saw a boat the other day which drew 12', and a towering noodle of a mast with 5 spreaders.

I like the shallow draft when I get to the head of an inlet and am feeling along in the milky glacial runoff. The depth sounder is often useless in those situations, but with the shallow draft I can use the boathook to check how much room I have as long as I'm cautious.

In the channels and straits, though, the course seems always to be either upwind or downwind, and I usually wish for a bit more keel. It's frustrating to beat back and forth with shallow tacks because you can see on the plotter that the VMG is better at 110° than at 90°. And some hot racing boat will sail by so much higher than me that it looks like it's feeling a completely different wind.

[keelbolts]

I think it depends on where you sail.  Favona was designed for the North Sea so a 6' draft is nothing.  She now lives on the Chesapeake Bay and 6' is a lot here.  Having said that, when the wind's honking, I'm glad to have all 6'.  My other boat draws 2'10".  i love it.  The bay got way mo bigga when my keels got smalla.

[CharlieJ]

Be REALLY careful of that draft in the creeks ;D ;D

That 6'6" draft boat I was referring to earlier spent some time in the Chesapeake. One time he ran into a creek when a squall was building up, blowing into the creek mouth. Spent the next day there too, then tried to get out.

OOPS!!

The winds had blown water up into the creek and the 7 foot he carried going in, was now 5 foot ::)

He spent two weeks up that creek until a spring high gave him enough water to get back out.

[Auspicious]

[Favona] now lives on the Chesapeake Bay and 6' is a lot here.

Where on the Bay are you finding 6' limiting? There are a few places I can't go, or have to be very careful, but I haven't really found it limiting.

That 6'6" draft boat I was referring to earlier spent some time in the Chesapeake. One time he ran into a creek when a squall was building up, blowing into the creek mouth. Spent the next day there too, then tried to get out.

OOPS!!

The winds had blown water up into the creek and the 7 foot he carried going in, was now 5 foot

Now that is common around the Chesapeake. Lunar tides are only a foot or so, but the difference between a North wind blowing water out of the Bay for a week and a similar duration South wind blowing water in can be four or five feet. That does get interesting since tide tables don't do any good. You have to find something (like a bridge) that is calibrated to look at.

[newt]

I own two boats. The one I take out in serious bluewater has a draft of 6 feet. Now I just looked at your tide tables down in Florida. You are now around 2 feet up at high tide. To me: if I really wanted to get that close (4 ft draft) I would wait for high tide and find a hole that I could anchor into. But running around the Bahamas I have not really found it to be a problem. Maybe next time I will get really stuck, but for now I am happy with my cruiser and her 6 ft draft. I think what gets you stuck is the blind ambitions of your captain.
Just a different perspective I guess.

[keelbolts]

I can carry my 6' up & down the bay all day long, but many of the best places on the bay have been, for decades, off limits to to me.  The bay is a gunkholer's paradise, but a 6' draft is not conducive to gunholing. 

That's a scary story about being stuck up a creek for two weeks.  I can see how that might happen if the lead says 7', but the brain fails to take the wind's effects into account.

[newt]

We get "Wind tides" of up to a foot or so here in Utah. I have seen wind tides in Galvaston bay that were at least 2-3 feet.  That is something else to consider. Do wind tides only push the water when the wind is blowing, or is there a residual effect, like ocean tides up a river? What has been your experience?
BTW- neat topic! :D

[maxiSwede]

we are experiencing them here right now. It's blowing 41 knots sustained and gusting to 50. The boat is on the hard on a trailer right at the waterfront with the rigging on and lying beam to the wind.

No tides in the Baltic sea and here in Öresund (between Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden) the tides never exceeds 0,2 meters. The wind tide effect gets a kind of  'Turbo' effect  here so right now its 1,5 meter lower than usual.

All is well on board and the wind is forecasted to decrease during the evening. tomorrow we'll probably be able to get on with the paint job.

Cheers from 'Viking Land'  ;)

[Captain Smollett]

I don't know if this is universal, but the wind tides here on the coastal NC rivers are more of a local thing...it is amazing how fast the water returns to 'normal' when the wind dies down.

We have a lunar tide of less than 1 ft...probably usually less than 6".  But our wind tides can be 4 feet (or more) either way.

The funny thing for me to learn was to tell which direction wind caused an up or down 'tide.'  We sit at the confluence of one river that runs E-W and another that lies pretty near N-S here at the junction,  So, you'd think at first glance (or at least I did), that a N wind would cause the water drop and a S wind would cause it to rise.

Nope.  The wind tide is the wind blowing water from Pamlico Sound into the river or out of the river into the Sound, and down there at the mouth, the river runs NE-SW.  Sooo, N and NE winds cause the water to rise, and SW or S winds cause it to drop.

I've seen the water return to 'normal' in as little as two hours after a SW  wind died.  When flowing back in, i t creates a noticeable current, too, though not as strong as the lunar tidal currents around say Georgetown or Charleston.

[Lynx]

It will be advised, as it has been said many times. It depends on your cruising area.

Florida and Bahamas. With my boat I could have gotton into the magrove creeks in ManJack Cay Bahamas. Not many others could.

Advantages - You can anchor in places that are not bumpy at night and where the BIG boats will NOT drag into you like Marsh Harbor Abacos Bahamas. On the down side, Without a Keel you do swing at anchor and have more boat motion in the wind and waves.

So, if your cruising grounds are going to be water deeper than 5 feet, get a boat with some draft. If you plan to go voyaging in shallow water places then get a boat with the lest amount of draft you can get.

Please note that the MacGregor 26M needs 1 foot to sleep at night. Very nice if you can find an anchorage. Bad if you cannot!

Another point - the captians of 5 foot draft boats do not want to talk about the places where I anchor at. The power boats do not want to talk to me after they come by me at 20+ MPH slinging mud and hitting my chain. The pump out boat will not pump me out during low tide. the Water Police will not check me out during low tide (most of the time)

[newt]

'the Water Police will not check me out during low tide (most of the time)"
That sounds like a big advantage. ;D