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John H.

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:14:09 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:04:04 -0500, John H.
wrote:

Jim was talking about running through sand to get to his favorite beach. If
the water was that shallow, I'd get out and pull the boat rather than fill
up the water pump with sand.

I think this "fill the water pump with sand" is a bit over hyped.
Certainly if you are stuck and grinding your way out, you are pumping
a lot of sand but if you are underway in shallow water the sand is
going out behind you.
Backing down is worse than going forward because that puts your water
pickup behind the prop.
You should still not be running with your prop in the dirt, simply
because it tears up the grass but if you can jack your motor up you
can run pretty shallow without hurting anything.
18" of water is plenty for me to go withouit leaving a mud trail in my
wake.

JimH was talking about all the sand he had to go through. I just don't do
it. If I'm in two feet of water at my beach, I get out, grab a rope and
pull the boat in. Why take the chance of hitting something that doesn't
show up on the depth/fish finder?