Bad idea to dock 23 mk2 in shallow slip?

[ben]

I'm very close to buying my first boat, an Ericson 23 mk2 with swing keel. My local marina has shallow (3') slips available that she could fit into with her keel up, but I'm very worried that it might be a bad idea.
My biggest concern is a failure of the keel pendant dropping the keel into the sand and making the boat stuck. We get 5' of tide so I _think_ it would still float once or twice a day even if that happened, but I'm worried I might be cutting it too close.

I could put it on a mooring instead, but those are significantly more expensive and more trouble in my harbor, so the slip sounds like a good deal if it doesn't mean getting my new boat stuck as soon as I buy it.
I'd only have it in the water this year for about a month before taking it out for the winter and doing some work on it.. so any advice on maintenance specific to this idea would be appreciated too.

thanks
-Ben

 

[Christian Williams]

I agree (if the rudder isn't a factor)

Welcome to the forum.

 

[davisr]

You might want to take into consideration the tides and currents. If the E23 is like the E25, the centerboard gives you a lot more control when it's down. If the fairway itself is shallow, and if the tides and currents are considerable at this marina, then you might find it harder to dock if the board is up.

Roscoe
E25 #226
Oystercatcher

 

[ben]

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot this Fall and if it works out, put it back there next Spring too.

 

[Christian Williams]

I had a 4' draft 25' boat on the Chesapeake in a slip where it often bounced on the bottom at low tide. If the wind blew the water out of the bay, nobody could get out of the marina. There was a mud bar often waist deep. Four guys leaning out off the stays, get her going full speed (outboard power!) , bounce and wiggle over.

This insane but entertaining behavior eventually destroyed the aluminum retractable outboard bracket (turn the motor at full torque to bust groundings), but never bothered the keel connection or anything else.

If you can't push the envelope and cram into cheap corners with a 23' boat, what's the point? When you move up to a Swan 50, nothing will be fun anymore so let's have some now, before a tugboat is required.

 

[bgary]

hmmm...

When you move up to a Swan 50, nothing will be fun anymore.

I dunno, might be worth testing this theory... ;-)

 

[Slick470]

In a previous life I owned a Macgregor 22 and kept it at a lake in a shallow end slip at the inboard end of a dock. The slip also had a angle steel bar that was down about 3 feet to help add some rigidity to the dock setup. Needless to say I had to raise the keel up at least that much to keep from whacking into into that bar. I never worried about the swing keel attachment failing, maybe I should have.

I did learn that the the boat motored just fine with the keel down part way, but I couldn't steer if I had it up all the way. So, coming into my slip, I'd raise it up all the way while going straight and then drop it back down a foot or so to regain steering.

 

[Vagabond39]

Tides

The E-23 II rudder extends 33" below the cove strop. The receint super moon tide was much greater than normal. And remember the hurricane season is not yet ovr.
Good Luck.
Bob