Protecting the hull when beaching

[QBhoy]

Hi
Since buying an immaculate and rather special and well cared for boat, I am really reluctant to put the boat on the beach. Here at Loch Lomond, most of the hot spots require access to the beach.
Previously, I had a larger cruiser and always anchored off and used a small and easy to carry/tow tender. This isn't really a handy option now.
Up until now this season and last, I have anchored off the beach and in private part depth of water. This means carrying everything and everyone ashore in the tackle shrinking temperatures of former glacial lake and is not always pleasant !
I have seen the keel guards you can stick on, but this involves a permanent, unsightly and non efficient invasion of the hull and lines. It also means doing some permanent damage to your glass to get it to stick. I don't fancy this and don't want to affect the performance of a high performance hull.
I was thinking of making a protector from carpet.
By means of making a few attachment holes in the carpet with metal ring eyes, attaching rope in such a way that when approaching the beach, I could lower under the hull and secure on the trailer eye and two cleats on each side in such a way that the carpet section would protect the foot or so of contact made between the hull and sand.
Just can't bear the thought of the sand cutting away at the beautiful hull finish !
Any ideas or methods currently in use, I would love to hear.
Thanks

 

[Scott Danforth]

You can try your method, however it won't stay in place. If you want to beach it, get a meal guard and go boating. They make them in nearly every color so it blends into the boat

 

[SeaDooSam]

Although your idea may work it may malfunction a loot. Keel guard is really the best way, they come in many colors and if you really cared that much about the hull finish, you would just not beach it. We don't beach just avoids the hassle

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I bought keel guard for my Capri. The idea was to cover up some dings from years of beaching the PO obviously did. I can tell you it went on easy, adhered perfectly, and I didn't notice any performance issues. Overall I liked it. I will most likely put it on my Chap as added protection against the inevitable "oops".

 

[JASinIL2006]

Hard to imagine that your section of carpet won't slide around and out of the way when beaching. Maybe the carpet would abrade your gelcoat as it slid around as you beach, too.

I applied a Keel guard and it does a nice job of protecting the hull. It's not 100% perfect, but it saves your hull from the vast majority of beaching scarring.

I don't know what you mean when you write that it requires "permanent damage to your glass" to get it to stick. Mine didn't require that.

Sounds to me like you either need to wade thru cold water or get a few scratches on your hull. Or just never stop at beaches.

I have seen folks who drop a stern anchor on a stretchy bungee line, then motor in as far as they dare, and the tie up off the bow. When passengers and gear are offloaded, you let the bow line out a bit and the stern line will recoil and pull the boat a little deeper. Then tie it off until you're ready to leave and reverse the process. You'll still have to get a little wet, though...

 

[rallyart]

Keel Guard is your best bet, and they sell it on iBoats.
The alternative is to not beach the boat, but put an anchor out and a shore spike in. Connect your boat to those two, bow out, with long bungee lines. You pull the boat in with the stern line and disembark or reload in shallow water. Let the line go and the boat drifts out to a safe depth.

 

[alldodge]

Only way to keep the hull nice and pretty is to not beach it. Keel guard keeps the center undamaged, but just past the guard will scratch. Get a light inner tube, canoe, kayak, raft, etc to float across with. Then you have the issue of dragging it around

 

[Watermann]

I have seen folks who drop a stern anchor on a stretchy bungee line, then motor in as far as they dare, and the tie up off the bow. When passengers and gear are offloaded, you let the bow line out a bit and the stern line will recoil and pull the boat a little deeper. Then tie it off until you're ready to leave and reverse the process. You'll still have to get a little wet, though...

This is the best way to beach longer term and not just for a quick stop. I do the anchor bungee and can tell you it sure gives you peace of mind knowing that every wake that comes along isn't grinding your boat on the shore.

http://www.iboats.com/Poly-Covered-...803279--session_id.580653456--view_id.1144203

 

[ondarvr]

I'm a "beacher", the boat is a tool that I use to have fun, if that means putting it on the beach, that's fine with me. Put a Keel Guard on and beach happily.

I use the anchor the out back and tie to the beach method when there are waves or tides complicating things.

 

[QBhoy]

Thanks for all the opinions guys. A lot of fans of the keel guard.
The bungee anchor looks interesting. Not sure I've seen that before. I usually just use a 5kg anchor off the bow and a 1.5 kg anchor off the stern and back onto or close to the beach. Still involves getting cold and wet.
I shall read a little more into the keel guard, but I thought you had to rough up the surface of the glass to get it to bond and it would probably put me off a boat, should I ever sell on.

 

[Scott Danforth]

You do need to scuff the surface, however its a 3M scotchbright pad.

This is to give the 3M tape the best chance of staying in place considering your beaching the boat and the keel guard is under water

 

[frantically relaxing]

it's a case of 'you can't have your cake and eat it too'-- you can either beach it to make your boating life more pleasant and enjoyable, or "carrying everything and everyone ashore in the tackle shrinking temperatures of former glacial lake and is not always pleasant" just for the sake of a little gelcoat. Which can be fixed later

Me, I base everything I do on the "Life's Too Short" philosophy. A keelguard or a few gelcoat scratches is more than a fair trade for "pleasant"

 

[jkust]

Put a keel guard on there or do what people on my lake do with their 6 figure boats and gun it onto the rocky sand and open a beer. Odd as it sounds, nobody cares about their keels on my lake on some very expensive boats. Like someone said above, they are vehicles with with to have fun.

 

[JimS123]

A "Keel Guard" is a waste of time and money. It mostly covers the stem, and not where the damage is done.

We beach mostly every time we are out. The terrain is sand, mud or light pebbles. If its a rock beach we avoid it because it can do a lot of damage.

My Keel has lost its shine and looks like its sanded. In the water you can't see the scratches. On the trailer you have to drop to your knees and look under the boat to see it. Its a surface defect only - there is no penetration thru the gelcoat and no holes in the hull.

In the olden days when we had a wood hull, I sanded and painted the forward keel every year. Our 33 year old fiberglas hull has seen no maintenance yet.

Don't worry about it.

 

[Watermann]

Put a keel guard on there or do what people on my lake do with their 6 figure boats and gun it onto the rocky sand and open a beer. Odd as it sounds, nobody cares about their keels on my lake on some very expensive boats. Like someone said above, they are vehicles with with to have fun.

That's great advice for the majority of one time posters here at iboats. Although I don't think the OP is the type that leaves his boat uncovered to the elements for months with plug in and comes around asking what to do now that he's destroyed his boat or ground the bottom of his boat off on a rock pile while drinking beer on shore. It seems to me he gives 2 about his boat.

 

[QBhoy]

That's great advice for the majority of one time posters here at iboats. Although I don't think the OP is the type that leaves his boat uncovered to the elements for months with plug in and comes around asking what to do now that he's destroyed his boat or ground the bottom of his boat off on a rock pile while drinking beer on shore. It seems to me he gives 2 about his boat.

100% correct.

 

[H20Rat]

A "Keel Guard" is a waste of time and money. It mostly covers the stem, and not where the damage is done.

We beach mostly every time we are out. The terrain is sand, mud or light pebbles. If its a rock beach we avoid it because it can do a lot of damage.

Lots of variables, including where you put the keel guard! I have it on 2 boats, and due to hull design and the shorelines i'm beaching on, the keel guard is worth its weight in gold. I could see a different hull might rest on the bottom further back, but again, you choose where to put the keel guard.

 

[jkust]

That's great advice for the majority of one time posters here at iboats. Although I don't think the OP is the type that leaves his boat uncovered to the elements for months with plug in and comes around asking what to do now that he's destroyed his boat or ground the bottom of his boat off on a rock pile while drinking beer on shore. It seems to me he gives 2 about his boat.

It's a bit tongue in cheek as I'm the only one who won't beach instead mooring off shore with two anchors. I catch a lot of heck as my boat, as nice as it is, the welfare boat of the crowd.
Point is as time has gone on, I realize there comes a certain point in time in life where the keel is the small stuff in life and don't sweat it. Probably will start joining the crowd on the sand bar next season. I don't think I will gun my boat into the sand bar as the rest of them do. The first time I saw +100k, Cobalts ram onto the sandbar when we first moved in onto the lake, I was dumbfounded...not so much anymore.

 

[Redrig]

Here is my little secret and I will swear by it , it works great where I boat and beach which is either sand with pebbles or occasionally I will do this right on sandstone.

Next time you are at the dump or your buddies house that has motorcycles , look for a thin walled motorcycle tire and snag it ! then throw it in your boat .

then next time you are wanting to beach your boat , go place that tire so that just a sliver is sticking out of the water. pull your boat right up on it and dont stress about the keel . I have done this right on sandstone without a scratch on the keel .

Some old timer told me this trick awhile back and I have been using it ever since. ( I have a keel guard on there too )

of course the downside is peeps look at you wierd when they see a tire in your boat , but whatever . pain in the butt for smaller boat like mine , but I will definately make the room for it

I drilled some holes in mine as well for quicker draining too.

 

[QBhoy]

Here is my little secret and I will swear by it , it works great where I boat and beach which is either sand with pebbles or occasionally I will do this right on sandstone.

Next time you are at the dump or your buddies house that has motorcycles , look for a thin walled motorcycle tire and snag it ! then throw it in your boat .

then next time you are wanting to beach your boat , go place that tire so that just a sliver is sticking out of the water. pull your boat right up on it and dont stress about the keel . I have done this right on sandstone without a scratch on the keel .

Some old timer told me this trick awhile back and I have been using it ever since. ( I have a keel guard on there too )

of course the downside is peeps look at you wierd when they see a tire in your boat , but whatever . pain in the butt for smaller boat like mine , but I will definately make the room for it

I drilled some holes in mine as well for quicker draining too.

Redrig, genius....
This is exactly the king of idea I was after. I am 100% going to give this a try.
Thanks