GL: Mud Berth Storage.

[fred]

Winter is almost here, up in the frozen north (Champlain Canal), and the canal
will be closed in 2 weeks.  I had arranged for winter storage at a nearby
marina but that is turning into a comedy of errors.  First we planned to put
it into a nice storage shed, then discovered there's not enough air draft to
get under some power lines.  Now, they're telling me their horseshoe trailer
might not lift the boat high enough to clear the keel on my trawler.

Right
now I'm running out of options and must do something very very soon, before
the canal closes and I get stuck right here.

I have been thinking of
letting the boat sit in the mud right at my dock.  The canal will be drained,
leaving a nice mud flat ... just soft mud and no rocks.  The boat could simply
sink her keel into the mud, and rest there until spring when the canal is
re-filled and the boat refloated.  This has the advantage of being free, plus
it will be right in front of my house.

I know there are a lot of boats
sitting in very shallow slips, which drain at low tide, leaving the boats in
the mud and those boats all seem to be fine.

Has anyone ever heard of a
fiberglass trawler be beached in the mud for the winter?  Does it make any
sense at all?  Or is the idea completely crazy?

Comments appreciated....
Fred
Tug 44