cruising Level 2?

[Terry B 29]

I'm going single handed cruising (but only for a few days) on Thursday as the weather up here in the land of Auckland looks bloody good!!!

Have to be back monday to get hull checked for osmosis 😟

And then go again for a few more days. 

Who is heading out? Might be more crowded out there than ever at this time of year!

Fisherman with time on there hands, boaties just desperate for a change etc...............

[Fish 594]

I'm going to support local business by going and spending my life savings on boat and marine related stuff in the first day of L2. It sounds like retailers are expecting things to be heaving.

Of all the thing I can get in my first taste of freedom, I'm going to collect new engine anodes and a spare impellor! My 6 month engine service is overdue due to the rona. It might sound odd, but I haven't got my head around actually being able to go boating any time I want yet. I feel the need to ease myself back into boating by spending boat money and doing maintenance. Only then could I possibly conceive the idea of just sailing the boat...

[Deep Purple 218]

I’m not feeling very boaty today

 

[chariot 131]

At least the rain washes the sparrow sh*t out of my cockpit

[Black Panther 654]

Would like to pop out again next week but for the first time in 3 years struggling to find a suitable tide to escape the river 

[Fish 594]

1 hour ago, Black Panther said:

Would like to pop out again next week but for the first time in 3 years struggling to find a suitable tide to escape the river 

Can't you just go out on the high tide?

I've got a well calibrated tide programme if you want me to tell you what will work for your draft? I haven't gotten stuck for ages, promise

 

[Black Panther 654]

Officially i am 2.7m. There's a handful of really low lows next week.

[Fish 594]

You mean there are some low highs next week?

Hmm, I see your problem. Have you thought about going on a diet? A bit of weight loss might reduce the draft a bit

I've checked my little tide programme. I record the depth and time every time we cross the bar, and cross check it against what the programme predicts, so it is fairly reliable. I've calibrated it with some percussion hydrography once or twice, but haven't carried out a calibration for several years now. The bar is at 0.6 m below datum.

For this Sat 16th, HT is 14:36 and 2.38 m (at Weiti River entrance, not Auckland) note Metservice says 2.5 m so a slight discrepancy there.

My programme predicts at bang on high tide you will have 0.28 m clear under the keel. With the datum of -0.6 plus 2.38 = 2.98 m of water. If you draw 2.7 m, you are left with 0.28 m clearance.

Some caveats with that, is that my sounder doesn't go to more than 1 decimal place, so there is at least a 0.1 m margin of error on my calcs. You also need to consider climatic conditions, which I don't allow for. Big highs push the water down, so less depth, but the main issue, if there is any bouncy bouncy on the bar you need to allow more safety factor. We hardly ever get bouncy bouncy, only when the wind blows from the East... like it has for the last week... You would also want to have some confidence about your actual draft.

I'm not sure how prone your boat is to moving in the bouncy stuff, ours does, but we are literally half the size of you. Cross the bar with no clearance in any bouncy bouncy is a completely different proposition to scraping over in flat water. You don't really wont to land on the keel in a wave trough.

If its flat water, you should be fine to cross between 13:15 and 15:55 on the 16th. I've adjusted that to give a 0.1 m safety factor, but you will still only get 0.1 or 0.2 m clearance around the high tide itself. In saying that, it looks like its going to be in the east or SE for the rest of the forecast period at the moment (7 days).

It is a fairly soft bar, so it doesn't hurt if you hit it. Last time we did it properly (tried cutting the corner on the Arkles side) our keel just dug a hole in the mud. You might fall over though with your draft.

If you want to try sneaking out on any other day, let me know and I'll run the numbers.

[Black Panther 654]

That confirms what I thought.  Bloody tight..

[B00B00 170]

My new boat draws 2.15m and I will be keeping it up the river just past the stillwater wharf. Pretty keen to hear more of your thoughts on the bar depth and the best way to go. 

I am delivering it down this weekend.