beaching with retractable keel?

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sail22sandiego

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Jan 19, 2009
2
2 22 San Diego bay
As novice sailors and clueless keel users, is it safe to beach our boat (with the keel up of course) as long as we go in slow and back out exactly the same way? We always want to go ashore to picnic etc ...and we don't yet own a kayak or dinghy:confused: Thanks for any advice/warnings. A new Catalina 22 swing keel owner:dance:(San Diego bay)
 
Ken

Ken

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Jun 1, 2004
1,182
Catalina 22 P. P. Y. C.
No problem!! We beach anchor ours all the time. While you can put the bow on the beach we prefer to toss a hook then back right up to the beach, toss another out. Your ladder will be the controlling factor, on mine I like it about 4 -10 inches from the bottom. This stops it from banging should there be any waves. (Before you start backing in loosen the rudder so it can be raised)

Watch the tides though or you'll be pushing the boat off the bottom. If you run your anchor line back to the winch, it's just a matter of loosing the stern hook then taking in the bow, slipping the boat off the beach. Make sure you raise the keel first, but should you forget trust me you won't be the first. Just take your time after a while you'll think nothing of it.:)

I meant to post this picture before but forgot. As you can see one can get quite close to the shore with no problems. Again if there is tides you'll want to keep an eye on them.
 

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sail22sandiego

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Jan 19, 2009
2
2 22 San Diego bay
beaching with retractable keel

Thanks Ken !!!! Great info,very comforting!!!! Also nice picture.........We will try it very soon and let you know how it went. Arlene
 
Aldo

Aldo

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Jan 27, 2005
152
Catalina 22 Middle River, MD
Ken: That photo really is great.

Is that a solar panel on top of your Bimini? If it is, can you comment about how you hold it on. My son is working on doing something like that now. Thanks, Aldo
 
Ken

Ken

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Jun 1, 2004
1,182
Catalina 22 P. P. Y. C.
It is a solar panel, a 32 watt soft panel. When I bought it I had no stern rail so that was the best place for it. It's tied to the Bimini frame on all four corners using 1/8" line.
I used three breakers in place of fuses, I also needed a controller, with two batteries I needed one for dual batteries.
 

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Aldo

Aldo

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Jan 27, 2005
152
Catalina 22 Middle River, MD
Ken: Thanks for your reply. I used to use a similar panel to charge my size 27 battery during the week, after cruising it on the weekends. I just laid the panel on the cockpit floor during the week, and put it in the car on the weekends. I also used a regulator similar to the one that you show.

As I said, my son wants to use this solar panel on top of his Bimini, so I will show him your photos. He also wants to use 2 batteries like you.

Last summer I bought one of the little solar panels from Harbor Freight. It's about 14 inches square. It was cheap, but it, of course, doesn't have anywhere near the output of the big panel. (I got the big panel for free at work after one of our customers sent it to us to examine. It wasn't perfect, one of the cells has a little chipped corner, but it was free, and it still had plenty of output). I now use the little panel to keep my battery charged, and it's OK, but not great. I do really like using the solar panel to keep the battery charged. I don't have to worry about a connection to the dock. Another thing is tha the batteries last years longer. I also keep them on floating chargers all winter. I tweak the resistors inside the floating chargers so that the batteries stay at 13.2 volts.

Thanks again, Aldo
 
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