Mud Weight

[Lastdraft]

What is the correct mud weight size to hold a 35ft / 8 ton boat please ?

[alexandlorna]

John,  ours is 26 kg and seems to work well, except when it gets very windy 

Braveheart weighs about 7.5 tons

I would imagine you would suffer the same, as your boat has a fair airdraft also

[petersjoy]

You can buy them from Brian Ward, dont forget the 10% NBN discount.

[Viking23]

John, ours is 26 kg and seems to work well, except when it gets very windy

Braveheart weighs about 7.5 tons

I would imagine you would suffer the same, as your boat has a fair airdraft also

This is approx the same size at a 56lb cast iron weight, as used on Potato scales.

These can be obtained as collect only, from ebay.

You can pay as little as £10 or far more if you believe they are vintage lol....

We have a 28lb cast iron weight, with our viking 23, which weighs around a tonne, and it is not enough if the wind gets up on Barton Broad.

It's not only the weight you need to consider, but what the river or Broad bed consists of.

If 4 feet of mud, you might have to reverse to help break the suction.

Sometimes I put 2 or three out.

[ranworthbreeze]

I am sure ours is a 26kg, we also have a spare 22kg when and if needed.

Regards

Alan

[Lastdraft]

Thanks all. I have a Bruce anchor not sure of the weight, but the gentlest of breezes has it dragging. I will go for the 26kg if it can hold Alex's boat "The Boat that Rocks " it will hold mine !

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi John,

 

We used to have a Bruce anchor fitted on Ranworth Breeze which was unsuitable for the Broads but the boat was taken to sea at the time. I purchased the 22kg mud weight that I used to take with me as part of our boat kit, I would change it over at arriving at the boat and the anchor was put into the car boot until we left.

When the owners decided to stop taking the boat out to sea in 2006-2007 we permanently fitted a heavier mud weight. I left mine on-board as a spare.

 

Regards

Alan

[Polly]

It's not just the mudweight to consider, it's allowing 'scope' the length of rope you let out that is important too. You probably know that of course, but if the weight is really hard to manage, you can augment it with a length of chain, then line.

[Lastdraft]

Yes very true. It is the weight of the chain that hold ships in place, the anchor just takes it to the sea bed.

[bgw]

The anchor is absolutely required to hold the boat.

The weight of the anchor chain does not hold the boat - the weight of the chain (if you have sufficient scope out) ensures that the anchor is pulled into the sea bed rather than upwards so that it can dig in. Rope is lighter than chain and that is why it requires a greater scope to achieve the same effect.

I would be very surprised if a boat could be held in place simply by a length of chain on the sea bed unless it was so heavy/long that you would not be able to store it aboard.

Chain will sink quite happily without an anchor.

When I anchor, after letting out the correct scope, I always reverse the boat and the chain will pull back until the anchor digs in.

[JanetAnne]

Oh come on you lot!

 

There is a very specific formula with regards to the ratio of weight of mud plug versus size of boat and, ultimately, strength of owner.

 

Put simply, the perfect mudweight will be just too heavy for the boat owner to be able to lift from the river bed whilst being just too light to actually hold the boat when stuck in the mud in the first place!

 

Some owners opt for a lighter mudweight to allow actual ability to lift said item. These people are usually observed giving the weight a full swing off the bow of their boat (usually followed by a big splash and a certain amount of splashback that needs to be dodged) in an effort to get it to hold better when it arrives in the putty at high speed. Of course they fail, but at least they gave it their best shot.

 

Others have gone for the unliftable full weight in an effort to actually hold the boat in place! To compensate for this they have attached a nice winch to the lump and then are able to gracefully lower it into the water nice and gently. Of course the weight then descends to the river bed and sits on top of the mud rather than digging in and once again off we go across the broad.

 

So, there you have it. If you can lift it its too light and if you cant its too heavy.

 

I hope this has helped  

[ranworthbreeze]

Oh come on you lot!

 

There is a very specific formula with regards to the ratio of weight of mud plug versus size of boat and, ultimately, strength of owner.

 

Put simply, the perfect mudweight will be just too heavy for the boat owner to be able to lift from the river bed whilst being just too light to actually hold the boat when stuck in the mud in the first place!

 

Some owners opt for a lighter mudweight to allow actual ability to lift said item. These people are usually observed giving the weight a full swing off the bow of their boat (usually followed by a big splash and a certain amount of splashback that needs to be dodged) in an effort to get it to hold better when it arrives in the putty at high speed. Of course they fail, but at least they gave it their best shot.

 

Others have gone for the unliftable full weight in an effort to actually hold the boat in place! To compensate for this they have attached a nice winch to the lump and then are able to gracefully lower it into the water nice and gently. Of course the weight then descends to the river bed and sits on top of the mud rather than digging in and once again off we go across the broad.

 

So, there you have it. If you can lift it its too light and if you cant its too heavy.

 

I hope this has helped  

Hi Janetanne,

Hence the reason we do not use our spare mud weight much being as it attached by a rope, the real one is attached by a chain on the winch.

Note to self and committee, we should get one of those electric ones, but there again we need the exercise.

 

Regards

Alan

[SueH]

Oh Alan

 

You mean that Breeze hasn't got an electric mudweight yet?

 

This is one thing on MS that is an absolute bonus - I never managed to 'woman-handle' the manual ones out of the oggin!  It always had to be left to Him in Charge.

 

SueH

[BroadScot]

Hi Alan,

 

THAT was one of the main reasons we hired Broadway, no way any of us now can lift or drop the mud weight. Pressing buttons is soooooo much easier IMHO.

 

 

Iain

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Iain,

 

I am sure you could use the capstan handle for lifting our mud weight, however the kneeling down might be the death of you. Tricians and knees most of us suffered, I can kneel down, its just the getting back up that the problem.

 

Regards

Alan

[Lastdraft]

The anchor is absolutely required to hold the boat.

The weight of the anchor chain does not hold the boat - the weight of the chain (if you have sufficient scope out) ensures that the anchor is pulled into the sea bed rather than upwards so that it can dig in. Rope is lighter than chain and that is why it requires a greater scope to achieve the same effect.

I would be very surprised if a boat could be held in place simply by a length of chain on the sea bed unless it was so heavy/long that you would not be able to store it aboard.

Chain will sink quite happily without an anchor.

When I anchor, after letting out the correct scope, I always reverse the boat and the chain will pull back until the anchor digs in.

We will have to agree to disagree, the purpose of an anchor is not to hold the ship but to hold one end of the chain on the sea bed, in much the same way that a chain would hold itself, given a chain long enough not to drag any anchor at its end is entirely superfluous.

[BroadScot]

Hi Iain,

 

I am sure you could use the capstan handle for lifting our mud weight, however the kneeling down might be the death of you. Tricians and knees most of us suffered, I can kneel down, its just the getting back up that the problem.

 

Regards

Alan

Alan, my knees are cream crackered, I need help if on all fours now. Know one told us bending 1" Galv conduit was bad for your knees in the 1960's

 

 

Iain

[Hockham Admiral]

I'm not too sure if comparing a mud weight to an anchor is feasible... but here's what I remember from yotty days when we had a 35lb CQR anchor and 150 metres of chain.

 

How an anchor works:

Scope is the ratio of the depth of the bottom from the bow to the horizontal distance the bow is from the anchor. The depth can be conveniently measured by the depth sounder then add the height of the bow above the water. In areas of large tidal range what is adequate scope at low tide may not be sufficient at high tide. Generally speaking, 7 to 1 scope is considered adequate for overnight anchoring. The more scope, the better the anchor will hold. There are many factors that come into play but, if you have the room, why not throw out more rode creating more scope? After all, it's free.

Boat anchoring showing how the anchor holds with different amounts of scope.

 

[Lastdraft]

Hi John

An excellent explanation thank you. My second post in this thread I think has been misread/interpreted, I said it was the weight of the cable (chain if you like ) that holds SHIPS in place, huge steel monsters that feed fathoms and fathoms of cable onto the sea bed, not broads cruisers !

[Hockham Admiral]

Thank you, John.

 

The problem with a mud weight. used in a stern-on mooring on The Broads, is that if you use an adequate amount of scope then the bow will still be able to move about to a degree in a wind.

 

At Oulton Broad Yacht Station I find it advantageous to throw the plug overboard about 50 ft from the mooring and then drag it in reverse to the quay. I probably only use about 20ft maximum of scope in this situation.

[Poggymale]

My parents had the biggest & heaviest mudweight I have ever seen. It came with the 1950s Broads wooden cruiser they had for years and took 2 of us to lift it! I can't remember it ever dragging. . Ours is much lighter & its painted with Gold Hamerite! Had an interesting morning last year trying to remove the boat away from a post near the island on Barton due to the wind & the mudweight dragging!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk