[Joe Kerr]

When you are talking about less than a few inches of needed clearance to get under the bridge I have a solution. I accidentally discovered that my boat would sit a few inches lower in the water when the bilge had a few inches of water. The bilge pump cleaned out the bilge in minutes and I got the leaky hose fixed.

If I needed an extra inch or two of bridge clearance I would consider pumping water into the boat before going under the bridge. In my boat there is nothing in the bilge that would be damaged by a few inches of water or sloshing water.

It's a similar principle to big trucks that need an inch to get under a bridge. They let air out of the tires until the truck is an inch lower.

I got to believe that someone slipped in back Bay or at Parker Marine has thought of this or tried this before. It's a little extra work but may be worth it.