On 2008-11-20 10:50:35 -0500, Larry said:

Jere Lull wrote in news:2008112000140375249-
jerelull@maccom:

I sorta agree with both, but have seen a tower-friend dig a channel and
increase the depth at the same time with prop wash. He was sorta crazy.
Obviously did damage to impellers and pumps, and he rarely had paint
(or barnacles) on his props.



We have one towboat captain that comes to our little kiddie beach in the
Stono River with the towboat. He digs us a channel to run the family
runabouts through to the backside of the island to keep our boats out of
the wakes from the other boats. Doesn't seem to bother the massive screws
on the towboat that take the brunt of several thousand horsepower pulling
massive barges all day or he wouldn't be doing it. Several thousand HP
make a great little makeshift dredge...(c;

Oh, that's an order of magnitude difference! The particular boat was an
old Chesapeake Bay working boat re-rigged for towing small boats. Might
have had a couple of hundred HP on tap, probably closer to 100. But
draft was about 2.5 feet and that big 4-blade prop let him pull stumps.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/