How do you beach a boat?

[Dave 205]

I know this ranks right in there with newbie questions. My kids have been wanting to beach at one of our favorite lakes. There are a couple of beaches where I've seen other boats about my size (21') that have done this.

It is a mud bottom lake, and the beaches have sand. One beach is probably about 16' deep until very close to the beach. My fear would be some rock below water holding a steep bank. The other beach is probably pretty gradual, 7' or so away from shore, going to zero.

The obvious concerns are hitting the prop or sucking stuff up the intake. Do you pull the trim up and just cut power and coast in? Push back with oars?

 

[Tonka Boater]

I'm not a fan of beaching for the reasons that you mentioned but I did it occasionally with my old Sundeck. I would approach with enough speed to grab hold when i hit the beach. As I was coasting in I would shift to neutral and trim up as needed. When I was done for the day I would push it out enough to loosen it then hop in from the swim platform and power out.

I prefer to back into the beach and anchor from the bow so the water is about 3' at the stern. Deep enough so I don't need to raise the drive and shallow enough to stand in the water. I use a stern anchor in addition to the bow anchor to hold my position if everyone else is beached or otherwise stationary.

 

[Kreole Kid]

I prefer to back into the beach and anchor from the bow so the water is about 3' at the stern. Deep enough so I don't need to raise the drive and shallow enough to stand in the water. I use a stern anchor in addition to the bow anchor to hold my position if everyone else is beached or otherwise stationary.

That's exactly what we do here on Lake Pontchatrain.

 

[Lazy Daze]

There's more than one way to skin the cat, but here's something else that should give you an idea. Wait till you see the detailed picture/drawing... :lol:

http://petersmarine.blogspot.com/search?q=beaching

 

[dicor]

Personally not a big fan of beaching a boat but if I was I would get one of these. There are quite a few companies that make them and I have e no personal knowledge on which one is the best.
http://www.hambys.com/index.html

 

[Dave 205]

Thanks for the suggestions and ideas. A lot of things I hadn't considered, and some documentation with the kids for not doing it! My examples at the beach have been mostly hull straight into the sand.

 

[MonacoMike]

I do as Scott said but with a smaller boat I can go to 4 feet then jump in with the stern anchor in hand and pull back the boat manually to where I want it with no sand in the systems. With Scott's biking legs he may be able to do that as well with his 340.

MM

 

[keokie]

I back in as well.

Drop the anchor out far enough to get good scope. Back toward the beach. Kill the motors and raise the drives when close enough to drift. Anchor to shore at a depth that is both safe for the boat and acceptable for passengers.

Nice "Better Off Dead" reference, Scott.

 

[Ka1oxd]

With my current boat, I put the bow out, drop the anchor far enough to get a good line set, back up until just about 4 feet of water then kill the engines. Jump off the swim platform with a rope tied to the stern and then tied to shore. With the 19 foot cuddy I had, the was even easier. I used to setup the anchor on the bow, place it around the front cleat, through the rope guide, and the rope went all down the hull to the rear. I would drive towards the beach, holding the rope, let the anchor drop at the right distance with the boat just idling in on an angle toward the beach. When I got about 25 from shore, I would hold the rope steady, kill the engine and raise the outdrive. As the boat pivot around I would secure the rope to the stern cleat. Then just walk off the stern with another rope tied to the other stern cleat and tie to shore. This made it nice since it was tidal waters on the river. If I had to adjust the boat, it was all done from the stern.

 

[spfortjohn]

We beach ours every weekend. Use a sandspike to tie off on the beach. The most important thing is to make sure the water is deep enough so you will not suck up sand. In protected water I nose in. If it has a lot of boat traffic I back in and use two anchors.