Keel Guard - pros or cons?

Pro – protects your keel

Con – looks worse then a older male wearing over-the-calf black socks with shorts. :smt018

However you can draw peoples attention away from looking at your keel guard by boating with your fenders deployed. :thumbsup:

I heard Keel guards were invented by the same guy that invented that plastic wrap my grandpa keeps on his car seats and lamp shades. :lol:
 
Keel Guards

I have one on my Avon Seasport 400DL. It is great when I load the boat on to the trailer and pretty mush invisible when the boat is in the water. The only downside is that the guard has yellowed slightly after two seasons...
 
They are great for jet ski's... Keel guards only protect a 4" wide strip down the center. A 260 weighs in at what 3 1/2 tons. When you beach it do you think it won't go any further in the sand than the 2" on either side of the guard... IMHO, a waste of money on a boat that heavy.
 
CRAP! I was thinking of doing the SAME thing on the SAME boat. :(
 
wouldn't be with out one the way we boat.
this must be a regional thing. most all the lake boats here use them and beaching is common.

well worth the cost. also help protect your keel when coming in to drop off or pick up passengers on a concrete ramp.


here is the 230 beached on a solid sand stone rock ledge.


the keel shield on the 230


 
You wont catch me beaching on a "solid sandstone rock ledge" Why don't you put the stern to the beach like most?
 
thats the way pretty much every one here and on mead beach. very common. in fact a bow out boat would be odd. a good number of boats have folding ladders that deploy over the bow just for this type of beaching and most all use keel shields. boats of all sizes up to mega$$ house boats

you must have missed the first post that stated this seems to be a regional thing.


wouldn't really want drives and props banging off the ledge in the surf. better to tie off bow solid.
 
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I don't know, G.O., we anchor bow out. We raise the drives and can board in in water not much past the knees w/o the drives touching bottom. We usually can find protected water, but if conditions require, we simply move into deeper water.
 
i have tied up a few times like in your pix. even with the drive full up, can't and don't want to rest drive on shelving or bury it in sand. then there's the problem of tying or anchoring bow, so the stern doesn't get backed in to shore and rub. if you could set an anchor off the bow, that would be good but most times the shelf disappears to deep water -100+ ft-.


any way tho OP wondered about keel shields. in my experience they can be a valuable tool if installed properly. both our boats have a lot of dead rise so they do a lot of good

have tried to convoy my experience to him, to consider. have learned by watching others on flaming gorge, mead, powell and the many lakes i grew up with in wyo.

not trying to talk any one into something there not comfortable with.

feel free to beach, or not, depending on your particular conditions, skill set, and comfort level.

happy holidays and best wishes to all
the garryowen
 
Fair enough, G.O. But don't give up on anchoring bow out. We have found beaches with proper footings for the bow anchors to be plentiful. A lot of scope, and firmly setting the anchor are good insurance. We have also found it to be highly desirable to be bow out when storms and waves kick up. You simply adjust the lines to be in deeper water. The boat rides much better than it does beating against the beach.
 
keokie said:
Fair enough, G.O. But don't give up on anchoring bow out. We have found beaches with proper footings for the bow anchors to be plentiful. A lot of scope, and firmly setting the anchor are good insurance. We have also found it to be highly desirable to be bow out when storms and waves kick up. You simply adjust the lines to be in deeper water. The boat rides much better than it does beating against the beach.
Click to expand...

WILL KEEP IN MIND. it never storms and the wind never blows at powell though:lol::smt043:smt100
 
I know it is always as calm as a duck pond, right?! (if only...)

The storms are definitely to be watched no matter how you tie. I always use plenty of scope when dropping the bow anchor on the way to the beach, and then am certain to make sure I have the stern securely fastened to the beach. For the beach we have used big anchors, and fence post lake stakes. But my favorite is to tie to a boulder or big tree, as that is the easiest. Over more than 2 decades we have ridden out countless storms tied this way.

I love Lake Powell boating, but the storms can be stressful. As you know, they can be amazingly violent!

Would love to meet up with you up there sometime.
 
was just down to junction for christmas. saw a good friend that still slips in bull frog.

he' trying to talk us into slipping at bull frog again.

not interested in doing that again but would like to take the 230 back down for some camping trips.
as next summer comes along will keep you in mind and might be able to plan a trip down to page form bull frog. or meet some where along the way.
doesn't hurt to plan any way.

if the weather up here stays crapy and cold i'm already thinking about dropping down to echo bay on mead, with the 230, and spending a couple of months.
will shout out in a pm if get to moving around down south in the near future

cheers and happy new year
 
Loved our keel guard on our former Crownline 250CR. Had a telescoping beach ladder as well, and bow washdown for sandy feet. Nothing like them!!!

Here in Minnesota the Mississippi River crowd goes 'bow-in'. Leave the props, outdrives back in the deeper water.
 
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