Can I leave my boat in shallow water through low tide?

[MikeDobbs]

I have an 18ft bowrider with an Alpha I stern drive. There's an area I'd like to get into that gets very shallow at low tide (great for clamming, etc). I can easily get there when it's not dead low- but I am concerned about whether it would do any damage to the outdrive if it sits on the bottom a little at dead low tide. The boat will not be high and dry- probably a foot or more of water. So, it will still be floating, but the lower end of the lower unit may sit on the bottom. It's a soft bottom, more murky than sandy, and the area is very protected from boat traffic, so there shouldn't be any wakes (in other words it won't be bouncing up and down on the drive).

Should I be concerned about damage from this? Or does this sound like a reasonably safe thing to do for the 2 hours or so of dead low tide?

Thanks in advance.

 

[achris]

Tilt the drive fully up, no sweat.

We were like this for 6 hours!

 

[MikeDobbs]

Oh my gosh achris! I have to admit that would probably terrify me. Like I said, I'll still be in a foot or so of water, so it's just the very bottom of the drive that may sit in the mud a while. Thanks for the post.

 

[achris]

Just tilt the drive up, you'll be fine. Heck, I've crossed sand-bars with the drive all the way up and the keel of the boat bouncing on the sand.... :facepalm:

 

[tpenfield]

Should be fine as Chris has described . . .

Here is my unplanned attempt at doing that sort of thing

 

[redneck joe]

Got a buddy on my other forum and his boat is in the bay of fundy. Twice a day it sits.

 

[Bayou Dave]

Got a buddy on my other forum and his boat is in the bay of fundy. Twice a day it sits.

When tide comes in there it really comes in fast!

 

[Speak]

Wow - that looks really scary.

 

[Oshkosh1]

Boats are more rugged than most give them credit for. As long as the drive is up and care is taken on restart not to suck junk up into it...the hull itself will be fine. May get scratched up a bit...but nothing that's anymore than cosmetic.

Just think of it like seeing a Subaru with dents/scrapes; It just shows the owner's using it as designed!lol!

 

[Fishermark]

Chris - I spent a summer up in Northern Queensland in Mackay a few years back. The tide went way out like that there. Those pics brought back memories!

 

[achris]

Chris - I spent a summer up in Northern Queensland in Mackay a few years back. The tide went way out like that there. Those pics brought back memories!

Those photos are from northern Western Australia, Dampier to be precise. Tide moved 15 feet every 6 hours.

 

[redneck joe]

Yeah hes got a webcam set up i watch it occasionally pretty awesome

 

[MikeDobbs]

I just wanted to say thanks to all who posted to this thread. Thanks to your support we went out and had one of the best days we've ever had with the boat sitting through low tide.