Marina Berth

[David 75]

We have a marina berth for our Baycruiser 23. What is the consensus of opinion when leaving the boat in a marina - centreboard up or down, ballast water in or out?
I am thinking centreboard down, if there is sufficient depth, to take the load off the lifting tackle and ballast water out to avoid the growth of organisms in stagnant sea water.

[Rob Johnstone]

Hi Davdi,

The wear and tear on the lifting tackle never occurred to me - I was always concerned about the wear and tear on the cb pivot arrangement when leaving Vagabond alongside, in a marina or at anchor, so I always lifted the cb when moored. It also stopped that annoying clonking. As for leaving the wb in place, I think it stayed in VB's tanks for at least 4 months one summer - this didn't seem to have any untoward effects.

No doubt others will have a different set of views!

[Sea Simon]

My BRe is in its 4th season on a tidal swing mooring in an estuary (high fouling area) which dries at LWS. Obviously the board has to stay up.

I have had issues with lift tackle wear, but do not believe that this was due to "wear n tear", but to compromised alignment/cheap n nasty blocks. I have already posted here full details of my repairs/mods, inspired by owner llafurio.
One key issue here, worth reinforcing imo, is to make sure that you can access the board case from above while afloat. I don't know how to do this on a BC 23, but will be interested to learn. Some board case caps seem to be well glued down?

The board pivot pins seem ok, as far as i can see with the boat on a trailer. No untoward corrosion on this boat, at this location. Others on here have not been so lucky! Recommend you research here.

My boat has copper coat, which includes the board case internals. There was a little mussel/barnacle fouling on the upper parts of the board case at the end of last year. The board itself was clean, suggesting higher water flow plays some part? This was after 3 seasons, and the first time that the board case top had been removed.
Despite common misconceptions, you can get shell fouling (hereabouts mussels n barnacles) in dark, relatively stagnant water; I've witnessed a lot of this at work (offshore rigs n ships) too. See below re ballast!
Im aware of several cases of "old school" Avon RHIBS with free flooding stability keels that have experienced bad internal fouling.

Ballast. My pattern of use tends to mean that mine normally stays in all season; certainly for extended periods. I add a splash of Jeyes fluid or bleach at launch/fill (the bottle lives inside the ballast tank, to avoid mishaps!) This stagnant, treated water means that I've had no tank fouling issues. I really wouldn't want to fill from the river at every use; time consuming, and "fresher" water brings more fouling risk.

I'm out of action with more health issues for yet another extended period this year, so it will be interesting to see how the boat fares.