beach a sailboat

[tweitz]

Beaching

It is common practice in Europe for boats to be beached for work, and in fact many boats sail on moorings that are dry at low tide and therefore have to be able to stand. For these purposes a lot of boats have bilge keels -- twin keels at 45 degree angles. Many years ago Tylercraft made US boats with twin keels, I don't know too many other in this country. I have a Beneteau with a lifting keel, which allows for shallow draft. in order to provide adequate rudder area without the rudder being too deep, these boats all have twin rudders, offset at an angle. I have seen in some European literature that these rudders are supposed to be strong enough to keep the boat upright on its keel if you want to dry it out. I did not see this in the US literature, and have not tried it myself.

 

[Ross]

Nodestination, We try to make allowance for

Waffle. His social skills are rather priminative and he tends to blurt out whatever comes first to his mind and rarely gives considered responces.

 

[BobW]

Hey, lay off our Waffle!!!!

he has enough dents ;D in him already!Some of us are articulate, some of us aren't. Some think long and hard about what we say, some don't..... but if you're going to keep calling people names, our Omnipotent Potentate (he of the battleship avatar) is going to either give you the boot or invite you over to the 'dark' side of the forum. Nobody 'let' him 'get away' with his comment.... we all read it, some of us chuckled, some of us ignored it, some of us replied, and one of us got outraged.Besides, while you might think Waffle's post is 'crap', that doesn't make him an A**, does it?As a matter of fact, boats really ARE about spending money, and cruising is merely the pastime of fixing your boat in exotic places.Cheers,Bobs/v X SAIL R 8

 

[Nodestination]

I am sorry

Some of us often speak too quickly as I did. I guess I gave him a bum wrap for not considering his statement. So if you will consider my appoligy I will assume his even if he doesn't state it. I will stipulate that he isn't an A**, but maybe he should still consider a captained power boat.

 

[Challii]

Hi Rob 1981 Cat 30

I am interested to know more detail procedure of using tide grid for clean the bottom. I google the internet but can't find any article or pictures. I appreciate if you can post the details of the facilities, procedure and what precaution should be taken when doing tide grid. Some pictures would be helpful.Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[Ross]

Ed,lake travis,tex, One advantage of working

with an ebb tide is the stuff you scrape off goes out with the tide.(it might come back on the next tide). If you pick your day water will dry pretty fast. As short as I am when my boat grounds I am only shoulder deep in water. If I were to start scrubing and scraping then and hour or two later the side would be clean and ready to paint as soon as it was dry. The tides along the gulf coast never seem to have the range that the East and West coast enjoy.

 

[tony litvak]

good set of feedback

I expected a lot of input, and it looks like I got a lot of good ideas. Here's what I've decided. The idea of beaching the sailoat so that I can clean the bottom and apply a new coat of bottom paint is impractical. The group was right - this procedure will take many attempts and it may be more practical for me to do this on land, considering that I may need electricity. As far as replacing the thru-hull - right again, I assumed I can do everything w/o any unforseen issues. As I know well enough, I always come across issues, and this is not something I want to do when the tide is coming back in and I have a hole in the bottom.That being said, I still want to beach my sailboat - if for no other reason, to learn how to do it so that I can have access to the bottom and clean the grit when ever I want.Thanx for all the advise, and again - if anyone has links to sites that demonstrate how to beach a sailboat with a keel 4' draft, please share.

 

[tweitz]

beaching

In Eric Tabarly's book, "Practical Yacht Handling" he has a section on how to beach a boat, although, being English, he assumes you have "legs." The Legs appear from the illustrations to be sort of like bilge boards that are fitted in place to keep the beached boat upright.

 

[WIndwalker]

Tidal Grid

Although I don't have any photos of a tidal grid, I will attempt to explain: Essentially a tidal grid is a vertical wall with a connected floor. Think of the profile as an "L" shape. Partially submerged at high tide & exposed at low tide. The process is to tie up your vessel to the "wall" at high tide with your keel ending up resting on the floor when the tide lowers. Then with bumpers & VERY secure lines (as to keep the vessel from tipping away from the wall) await until the tide lowers leaving the boat high & dry to perform minor repairs while the tide is out. The difference between this & simply "careening" on the shore is that the boat is secured in an upright position by being tied to the wall (aka tidal grid). Several marinas in the Pacific Northwest & Canada have them. I suppose you'd need to be far North enough to have the tidal range to accomodate this. & yes, the keel is strong enough to hold the boat, provided you've secured it so that it doesn't tip over. If all you are attempting to do is replace a seacock, it should be easy. A new through hull might be sporty, pending the cure time on the adhesive. I think painting the hull is a major job, & not advisable. Good luck!

 

[Rob 1981 Cat 3019642]

Challii...

Windwalker said it all. I don't have pics. I have never done it myself. I have only seen others do it. I absolutely agree that $300 is a lot of money to spend for a travelift. If the tidal grid was located near my marina, I would use it.Cheers,Rob

 

[Challii]

Thanks for both..

..of you. Now, I am try to figure out the momentum of the boat if it isn't sit straight up. If the boat is to be hold by rope tied from the mast to something on shore and rope in run horizontally, would the mast will take the load? I think the answer depends on: 1. The weight of boat. 2. Height of the center of gravity of the boat measure from ground. 3. Distance from the center of gravity to the point where the rope is tied. 4. Most important, the angle of lean. Theoretically, if there is zero degree lean then there is no momentum. But since bottom of the keel is too narrow, it seems impossible the boat will sit perfect straight up without something hold it up. Also there are going to be some movement while working on her. So the questions are:1. Where is the center of gravity of a sailboat? Right on water line? Below water line? or above water line? 2. Can the mast holdup to the load if the lean is say, at five degree maximum.(I would say leaning more than five degree is dangerous)Suppose the distance from the center of gravity to ground and tie-point on mast are the same.Any input?

 

[Ross]

Challii, The wind loads the mast and rigging

enough to cause the boat the heel or even capsize so there can be no question of the mast and rigging withstanding a static load.

 

[Ctskip]

I wouldn't

even contemplate holding the boat up using the mast. Make some poles and platforms to hold the boat upright while its still floating. As the tide leaves, make the poles adjustable, so as they settle into the earth, you can turn the screw to adjust for settling. I'd rig up something using the stands people use on land to hold up the boat. Make a plywood platform for the stands to sit on to reduce settling. A couple of cinder blocks to hold the stands in position and voila you are vertical and steady. Not relying on your mast for anything. Just don't forget to set your anchor out in deep water so when it comes time to leave you just winch yourself out. This is one of those cases where it's easier said than done. Good luck. They have done this sort of thing for centuries. Do your homework and use tried and proven methods. Just my $.02 Keep it up, Ctskip

 

[gpd955]

Careful

Tony,I would check with the EPA about whether or not you can scrape and paint like that. Last year when I did my bottom in the marina where I bought the boat, I had a minor paint spill (probably about 1/2 cup or so) on the rocks and the marina advised me that they are subject to heavy fines (upwards of $15,000/spill) if paint is located on the ground. I spent about an hour picking up rocks and putting them in a bucket! I don't know if they were exaggerating or not but it was clean up the area or no launch!!I tried to find some info on the EPA's web site but they answers were kind of vague. Maybe you'd want to contact them and get an answer. I'd hate to see you nailed by an EPA official and have to pay a huge sum of money that could be better spent on something like, say beer!! ;DHere's the # (212) 637-3660I'll take a ride up and give you a hand when you're ready to go!!Jack Mannings/v Victim of FateAtlantic City, NJ