Protection for beaching.

[Mick Young]

Whilst putting out the garbage tonight,(I know somebody had to do it) I walked past the bow of our trailer sailer and saw the unpainted patch up that I had to do after we beached the bow on our four days on the lakes. The small waves bounced us a bit during the night and scuffed the fibre glass up a bit so I patched it rubbed it back and have yet to paint it.
It started me thinking, which is a rare ocurrance, if I had possibly put the boat a bit further up on the beach this wouldnt have happened but I might have struggled to get it off by myself. What if I had rigged up an old off cut of carpet to put under the bow to protect it when it did bounce that small bit?
Does anybody have any ideas that they use when they do this sort of thing?

keep it black side down

Mick

[foxglove]

I've done the same thing with my trailer sailer and I just don't worry about scratches and dings. Someday, when I'm done hitting rocks and piers, I'll redo the topsides.

You could, however, lay a stern anchor as you approach the beach and cleat it off just before hitting the sand. Then take a second anchor ashore (or drive a stake in the sand) and secure the boat from bow and stern.

Before you retire for the night, pay off the beach anchor and draw in the stern anchor moving the boat into deeper water.

[sailingdog]

You could always use the stuff that 3M makes. It's called keelguard or something like that, and is pretty much designed specifically for boats that are being used for beaching...

[yotphix]

http://www.keelguard.com/
Not 3M but I think that this is what you mean yeah?
foxglove's suggestion might also save you from having to call the towboat if the wind comes up from the wrong direction. When I ran a towboat I pulled a boat off the beach that had run it up in a calm and woken up fully beached. Was a piece of work to get it off and cost the poor guy $800.

[Sailormon6]

I also recommend foxglove's idea. "Back in the day," antifouling paints were pretty tough, but modern ablatives are likely to rub off if you ground the keel or beach the boat. It's best to hold it off a bit with an anchor, and wade in a couple of feet. Regardless of whether you beach it all the way or hold it off a couple of feet, you're probably going to get your feet wet either way.

[bmunse]

I think that any bottom paint will come off when you rub it against the beach. I used Micron csc and it came off. Of course ablative will falll off as soon as it dries out.
I boat on the Mississippi and have a swing keel boat because of the islands and varying shallow depths. Beaching overnight is a real trick because of tow boat/large cruiser wake and sometimes because of rapidly rising or falling water levels. ( not unlike severe tides but surprising if you don't know the forcast). We have another problem here that has cured me from beaching overnight and that's mosquitoes.
Foxglove gave the correct information with the stern anchor advice.