My next project

Emp_Fab

Are you bastards taking the piss ?

Well...  this, being, plan C... or is it D.... Either way... if the boat doesn't slip out slowly, then I'll abandon it as a hopeless job.  I'm not digging.  I don't like being out there in the deep mud... it's not a very pleasant place to be, and something about it gives me the creeps.

Very much like the Thames does...

Ugh.... even looking at that photo gives me the willies....

Anyway...  as I was saying.... if it doesn't come out on a rope, it's staying put.

As for mud 'suction'.  I disagree.  Mud doesn't 'suck'.  It just stays there.  Right now, the mud is supporting the boat.  If it wasn't, it would have sunk completely.  My logic goes like this:-  If you were to try to yank the boat out in a matter of seconds, the force required would be astronomical because you would be creating a vacuum in the voids left by the moving boat.  If you take your time - a lot of time if needs be, then the vacuum is almost nil as the mud and water will seep into the voids.

Look at it this way...  soft mud is effectively nothing more than a very viscous liquid.  Now if the boat were semi-submerged in, say, treacle, pulling it out quickly would never work... but with a constant tension on the rope, it would slowly slide out wouldn't it ?  The only question is how long it needs.  If there is enough tension on the rope to counteract the weight of the boat and the mud inside it, then it surely has to move.  The only way it could not move would be if it were attached to something more solid than the soft mud.

It may take a weekend of retensioning the rope if the boat moves just millimetres each time.  It may take a fortnight - or longer.

However - as long as the tension exceeds the weight of the boat and the mud in it and the boat is not attached to anything else, and the bow eye doesn't rip out, then my understanding of physics says it has to come out.

snakemanStoo

Less "taking the piss", more gently "extracting the urine" in a chummy manner

mike_l

Would we take the piss Emp, really, you think we'd do that to you?

Emp_Fab

I'd be most disappointed if I thought you wouldn't.   :>

Misterg

Emp_Fab said:

Look at it this way...  soft mud is effectively nothing more than a very viscous liquid.  Now if the boat were semi-submerged in, say, treacle, pulling it out quickly would never work... but with a constant tension on the rope, it would slowly slide out wouldn't it ? ...  The only way it could not move would be if it were attached to something more solid than the soft mud.

The trouble is, that mud/sand doesn't work like that - on the surface it does, because there's plenty of water sloshing around in the mix that lets the sand/mud grains move past each other. As you go a bit deeper, the mud / sand gets more compact and the particles lock against each other, transferring your pull to the rest of the seabed - that's why anchors work.

And, seriously, don't stand anywhere near that polyprop rope. It will stretch to buggery and if/when it/the boat breaks, it will come whipping back towards you, maybe with a lump of your pride & joy attached. (I think you need a bigger rope, anyway).

Good luck, regardless!

Emp_Fab

I was planning on hiding behind a big lump of concrete when tightening the cable puller anyway !  I figured on using 8mm polyprop as it has a breaking strain of roughly 1000kg, and to be honest, the bow eye is surely going to give way before then.  I doubt it's designed to take a metric tonne of tension on that little metal tang.

One thing I can do to assist the extraction is to poke deep holes in the mud all around the boat with a pole or similar, just before the tide covers it.  The water should help loosen the denser mud lower down.  If I take a couple of boards to stand on and distribute my weight so I'm not sinking in the soft mud, I may try digging a bit around it.

PolarityMan

It'd be funny if it was a mirage.

Emp_Fab

Nope..... it's definitely a boat.

chillidoggy

I've just had this vision of Emp as Count Arthur Strong, for some strange reason.

mike_l

That'll be the drugs Chilli unless Emp really is Count Arthur Strong

Emp_Fab

I've been asking questions on a boating forum, and the general consensus seems to be that I'm nuts.  As one poster put it, "Unless it's full of gold or drugs, I wouldn't bother" :-)

They seem to think the bow eye will rip out before the boat moves and that my best bet is to hire a petrol powered pressure washer and try to wash away as much mud from around the hull as possible.  Well.... I ain't hiring anything - especially after getting done for speeding again.  I'm willing to risk the price of a pair of wellies, a cable puller and some rope on it (under £50 all-in), but I'm not going to spend any more on it - certainly not hiring gear at £60+ per day.  It may well be completely buggered after all.

I do however have some great advice on walking on mud....  a very helpful chap there pointed me in the direction of home-made 'mud pattens' - basically 12" square plywood flip-flops with rope loops to stick your wellies in.  Gotta give it a go !

mike_l

@Emp_Fab last seen walking on mud with plywood tied to his feet.............

 

And yes, the consensus of you being nuts, I agree entirely. At your age, a nice comfy rocking chair, and a pipe is what you need......

PolarityMan

Emp_Fab;11249" said:

 it's full of gold or drugs, 

In Wales you say?

chillidoggy

Ahem.................I refer you to my earlier post:-

 

The suction will be far too great to pull it out. You'll break the GRP long before anything starts to move in the right direction. Watch out for the flying cleat!

 

Dunno why you felt the need to visit boat forums, when you got all the advice you needed from an in-house expert!

fatherjack

chillidoggy said:

Ahem.................I refer you to my earlier post:-

 

The suction will be far too great to pull it out. You'll break the GRP long before anything starts to move in the right direction. Watch out for the flying cleat!

 

Dunno why you felt the need to visit boat forums, when you got all the advice you needed from an in-house expert!

And my even earlier post.

I remember from It'll Be Alright on the Night some clips of an American chap doing a fishing programme having all sorts of amusing disasters based on not thinking things through properly at all.

I suspect our lives would be much more entertaining if in future:

1. We were only to offer encouragement to any future Emperor's Exploits.

2. Emp were to wear a webcam whenever he went out of the house or picked up a power tool or approached any flammable substance.

chillidoggy

And he could make a small fortune from sending the vids to "You've Been Framed". Enough to buy a decent boat, and get someone to lay his laminate flooring, at least.

fatherjack

You say that, but you need to factor in the extra cost of having the boat adapted for a wheelchair and/or iron lung user.

Sporky

chillidoggy said:

And he could make a small fortune from sending the vids to "You've Been Framed". Enough to buy a decent boat, and get someone to lay his laminate flooring, at least.

It could be called "You've been Fabbed".

Or "Some mothers do fab 'em".

We could club together and get him one of these:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ojEtai7KL.jpg

Emp_Fab

WTF is it ?

Sporky

It's a pet-collar webcam.