Water pickup vs anchoring

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

Just curious:About how far off the bottom do most people have their water intake?

Mine is about 18 inches off the bottom in about 7 feet of water but it seems to pick up more sand than I thought it would.

Mine is in about 10’ of water, on a stand at a 45 degree angle. I would say the bottom of it is less than 12” off the bottom….

Dan

[ApS]

Originally Posted by TiltonBB

Just curious:About how far off the bottom do most people have their water intake? Mine is about 18 inches off the bottom in about 7 feet of water but it seems to pick up more sand than I thought it would.

No sand in our intake at 18 inches, but we had no boat traffic in 1956.

After the galvanized pipe rusted through, we went to plastic poly pipe in 7 feet of water.

Around 1980, Winter Harbor got "discovered", and boaters picnicked at anchor directly over the intake. Waterskiers returning from a "run" had to deal with those picnicking visitors. Food discards sank or floated away.

Oversized boats anchored in Johnsons Cove (where a slalom ski course had been sited).
Their wakes eventually made picnicking off Wolfeboro Neck not worth considering!

We kept our fingers crossed and made another change to the intake. In 1991, a friend built a stainless steel "T" bracket that supported two intakes, then buried the 3-foot-tall structure in a wide concrete base. That went out 100 feet from shore in about 11 feet of water depth. Things unwanted in our water were too high or too low in the water column to affect our water quality--which is how we always had remembered it.

While an energetic boat skipper (or anchored with a strong wind) could have moved that intake, it hasn't moved in 18 years.

ETA:
Eighteen years ago, the "nightmare-water-intake" thunderstorm story occurred in front of me--highlighted by an inept Cigarette ocean-racer skipper!

(Pardon the redundancy)...

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums...t=intake+water