Ran Aground

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Nice way to keep the bottom clean. In Alaska there still a few places you can dock your boat over a frame. When the tide goes out, you have access to the bottom, until the next tide.....

 

[Nomad Willy]

Many more than a few in SE. Basically every town and city has one .. or several.

 

[Art]

Beaching is really not a big deal if you know the pitfalls...even bottom paint survives unless you REALLY wallow in sand or plow through it.

Correctopeal!!

 

[Art]

What are the reasons for beaching vs. anchoring and using one's dinghy to get to shore?

All depends where you are, what you look to do, and how well you can handle the attributes and/or downfalls of beaching. Much needs to be taken into consideration. YRMV

 

[BandB]

All depends where you are, what you look to do, and how well you can handle the attributes and/or downfalls of beaching. Much needs to be taken into consideration. YRMV

Just curious and so was asking those who do beach, why? Trying to understand that which I don't currently.

 

[Art]

Just curious and so was asking those who do beach, why? Trying to understand that which I don't currently.

B - Please refer to my post #42. - Art

 

[psneeld]

Easier than anchoring in the right conditions.... but you do have to have the right boat, being able to stand and walk around your boat, being able to leverage against the bottom to work on your boats bottom, your dingy is missing or unusable, you are on fire or sinking

In the assistance boat I would say I nosed into the bank 50 -100 times for every time I dropped an anchor to hold position. 26 foot, full keeled inboard.

Very comfy doing it with the towboat....right conditions and I may try with the trawler.

What you generally don't want is high, rude traffic volume ...

 

[BandB]

Easier than anchoring in the right conditions.... but you do have to have the right boat, being able to stand and walk around your boat, being able to leverage against the bottom to work on your boats bottom, your dingy is missing or unusable, you are on fire or sinking

In the assistance boat I would say I nosed into the bank 50 -100 times for every time I dropped an anchor to hold position. 26 foot, full keeled inboard.

Very comfy doing it with the towboat....right conditions and I may try with the trawler.

What you generally don't want is high, rude traffic volume ...

Thanks. Makes sense in the assistance boat. Most of the towboats are designed well for it and you don't intend to stay long. On the lake, pontoons did it a lot and I've seen catamarans do it frequently in the Bahamas. Obviously on fire or sinking you're not going to take time to anchor. Also, in center consoles with outboards it's easy. We do it with our RIB's frequently.

 

[BandB]

B - Please refer to my post #42. - Art

I read #42. Told me what you did but I didn't quite grasp why instead of just anchoring. It seemed like just as much work but perhaps seems more in writing than in person.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Just curious and so was asking those who do beach, why? Trying to understand that which I don't currently.

Sometimes it's just for the fun of it. And it makes for a neat photo op.

 

[psneeld]

Thanks. Makes sense in the assistance boat. Most of the towboats are designed well for it and you don't intend to stay long. On the lake, pontoons did it a lot and I've seen catamarans do it frequently in the Bahamas. Obviously on fire or sinking you're not going to take time to anchor. Also, in center consoles with outboards it's easy. We do it with our RIB's frequently.

Most assistance tow boats, like the Shamrock I drove are just recreational hulls.

The Shamrock hull didn't look all that much different than my trawler...it drew 22 inches and my trawler draws 48 inches.

But both have a nice gentle keel slope back to a protected prop and rudder.

Any steeply sloped sand bank with not much tide should not be a problem to nose up to for almost any boat...other things considered.

 

[Marin]

Some cruisers are not conducive to putting on the ground, particularly those with keels.

In Europe, particularly the UK where the tidal range is huge and the bottoms in many of the bays like the famous Morcambe Bay slope so gradually that at low tide the water is not even visible on the horizon, one solution is to use two keels which act as a stand when the water goes out.

This is a particularly popular configuration on sailboats over there. But it's not uncommon on powerboats, either a set of bilge keels that keep the boat upright on the bottom or shorter keels let it heel over only a certain amount. The boat we have in Europe has this feature and it will sit level even when left completely out of the water by a receding tide. This is a feature of many of the twin-engine RNLI motor lifeboats, which is where we got the idea.

The problem with letting a boat like a GB go all the way over onto its chine is there is a risk that the boat will not start to right itself until the rising tide has started to flood the boat though openings on the downside of the boat like engine room vents, doors, etc.

I met some people in a local harbor here many years ago who had salvaged a wood, single-engine GB42 that had suffered this very fate. It had gone aground in the mud at the north end of the Swinomish Channel on a falling tide and ended up high and dry resting on its keel and the hard chine like the GB pictured below. When the tide came back in it reached openings on the low side of the boat before the boat began to float and flooded the boat to the point where it couldn't float.

The man and wife who salvaged the boat were in the process of restoring it when I met them.

These photos were taken off the web and illustrate what happens with a boat like a GB and the twin-keel concept as applied to sail and powerboats in the UK.

 

[READY2GO]

I want one. That is my kind of boat. If only I could afford it.

 

[psneeld]

beaching and hard aground are 2 different animals.

 

[Art]

I read #42. Told me what you did but I didn't quite grasp why instead of just anchoring. It seemed like just as much work but perhaps seems more in writing than in person.

Sloughs we frequent in SF Delta are called secondary. In that these sloughs are considerably narrower than the primary sloughs and way narrower than the rivers that feed freshwater to the Delta. Sometimes a secondary may narrow to only 150' minus... usually a good bit wider though. So, I feel it is not wise to swing on anchor in fear of a boat coming through and making a mistake; especially at night. That's why we hang nose-in, close to the Islands' shore. We frequent the secondary sloughs because traffic is next to nil; due to close quarters nearly everyone that passes slows for low wake, and, the water flushes clean with each tide. Additionally they are usually 15' to 30' deep in center and maintain a good depth to within 10' of many islands' shore. There are 100's of small islands. Many have small bays; however, the bays get filled with sediment and marine growth grows to surface because the current does not run quickly through them as it does in the sloughs.


We do it all for R&R, Fun, and Pleasure!

 

[BandB]

Sloughs we frequent in SF Delta are called secondary. In that these sloughs are considerably narrower than the primary sloughs and way narrower than the rivers that feed freshwater to the Delta. Sometimes a secondary may narrow to only 150' minus... usually a good bit wider though. So, I feel it is not wise to swing on anchor in fear of a boat coming through and making a mistake; especially at night. That's why we hang nose-in, close to the Islands' shore. We frequent the secondary sloughs because traffic is next to nil; due to close quarters nearly everyone that passes slows for low wake, and, the water flushes clean with each tide. Additionally they are usually 15' to 30' deep in center and maintain a good depth to within 10' of many islands' shore. There are 100's of small islands. Many have small bays; however, the bays get filled with sediment and marine growth grows to surface because the current does not run quickly through them as it does in the sloughs.

We do it all for R&R, Fun, and Pleasure!

That makes a lot of sense. I'm learning a lot here from the responses.

 

[Marin]

That's why we hang nose-in, close to the Islands' shore.

So Art, how are you secured in place in your photos above? Is the anchor taken ashore and set and then the slack taken out of the rode to hold you into the bank which is what I think I'm seeing in the first photo? There does not seem to be any means of keeping your stern in place against the wind's effort to pivot it. Is the pressure on the bow sufficient to do that? Thanks.

 

[Art]

So Art, how are you secured in place in your photos above? Is the anchor taken ashore and set and then the slack taken out of the rode to hold you into the bank which is what I think I'm seeing in the first photo? There does not seem to be any means of keeping your stern in place against the wind's effort to pivot it. Is the pressure on the bow sufficient to do that? Thanks.

Marin - Look closely at top photo. You'll see anchor line going to shore. read my post #42 carefully; steps for my accomplishing items are explained. Due to the location captured in the two photos I for reasons did not need to set a rear anchor... then.

 

[Marin]

read my post #42 carefully; steps for my accomplishing items are explained.

Okay, thanks, just did that. Your process is well thought out and obviously works great for that environment.

 

[Bob Hudspeth]

Up in the Pacific Northwest we have few sandy bottom landing strips, when we go aground/a-rock the props and rudders are usually the least of our problems, keeping the boat afloat is our goal. I am aware of many multi-decade skippers that have never ran aground, due mostly to our desire to stay alive. The larger issue for me is hitting logs or trees and shearing off the prop as it goes by, thus I have a single screw protected by the keel and prop guard.

 

[Art]

Up in the Pacific Northwest we have few sandy bottom landing strips, when we go aground/a-rock the props and rudders are usually the least of our problems, keeping the boat afloat is our goal. I am aware of many multi-decade skippers that have never ran aground, due mostly to our desire to stay alive. The larger issue for me is hitting logs or trees and shearing off the prop as it goes by, thus I have a single screw protected by the keel and prop guard.

Bob - Picts of the prop guard, please! TY, Art