How Does One Beach An M?

[Theo]

Rick,

First off, if you are here in SoCal, Don't Beach your boat!! The constant surf we get will pound you into a pulp. So will any ocean tides. If, however you are on a lake, simply head in until your bow touches the shore. Then you will need two anchors or those funny shore screws, attach them to your stern (aft) at about a 45 degree angle and pull tight. You will get some marks, but the idea is to head in and minimize the amount of hull in contact with the shore. Then, by spreading your anchors you stabilize the boat and minimize any movement.

Good Luck,

Theo

[Andy26M]

I've never beached my M, primarily because it seems like the bow would be so high up that you wouldn't get on and off the boat that way anyway.

So, since I am going to use the stern to get on and off the boat, I use the stern-to method listed above - drop the anchor, get the boat swinging right, raise the engine, hop off with a stern line in hand, carry that line ashore and tie it off. With the M, ballast empty, you can adjust the rode and stern line to where the stern is in like 6 inches of water. At a lot of beaches, that is close enough for the Admiral and other honored guests to step off onto dry ground, with the back of the boat just gently resting down on the sand when a person is standing in the transom.

- Andy

[Chinook]

I've come in to shore both bow first and stern first, but prefer bow first, which keeps the motor over relatively deeper water. I set a stern anchor and ease in until the bow is just touching. I have a rope boarding ladder which I attach to the bow pulpit railing. This makes climbing off practical. a bow line tied to a tree, or an anchor set in the beach sand, holds the boat fine in relatively smooth conditions. An elastic mooring snubber is kind of fun to rig up, allowing the boat to be drawn back away from shore while the crew is on the beach.

[pokerrick1]

This obviously was NOT a bad question (even though I now realize there were previous threads), because the answers are SO varied. Don't worry guys, I am not beaching in the ocean in So Cal (by the way ssichler, I saw that powerboat tied up to the Sheriff's dock in MDR last month). I was thinking Lake Perris or maybe some spots in Mexico. I kind of like kmclemore's way of anchoring "really close".

I also like the idea of getting the stern closest to the beach for ingress and egress reasons - - - BUT I don't want to take a chance on getting sand in the engine. If I could be sure I'd be able to push the boat far enough back out I would probably go for the stern ashore method - - - but if I wasn't sure I'd go like kmclemore does it.

Anyway - - - thanks for the thoughts guys

Rick

[vkmaynard]

We just backed up, lifted the motor and coasted to shore. Set one anchor on shore and one off shore to adjust the boat postion to the tide . I was great just stepping on and off the boat for the big Pirates 2006 sail at Cape Lookout this fall.

Victor

[vkmaynard]

The other Mac in the above picture is "XX", Billy Glover's boat. He was the beaching teacher. He also showed us how when you don't figure the tide right and don't move your boat for the night you get stuck. Thanks for the lesson Billy!

Victor

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Good way to minimize boat motion at night though!

[mtc]

There's an island between the gulf and the IWC which is perfect for beaching. We come in bow first for a couple of reasons. The stern is filled with the Merc 60 leaving little room to get by not to mention the danger of someone falling on the motor. Then, with the stern aft, there's no privacy in the cabin or cockpit where me and my lovely bride hang while the girls are on the beach.

There's been some damage to the hull, but only scratches as the gulf sand is like powder. Probably some shells, but I have her to ride and play on, not to sit around polishing. If it was a rocky beach, probably wouldn't do that, but a few shells here and there don't worry me.

Challange is getting on and off the bow. Trying to rig a ladder. My next simple solution will be to get one of those simple little plastic steps to put on the beach for a couple of bucks. Right now I slide my left leg up on the deck, grab hold of the pulpit, pull my self up and under, then sit up.

Getting pretty good at it, but the deck gets all sandy so you can imagine that after a couple of times it's like sandpaper.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

That's the other reason I like to always anchor stern-to on beaches....the sand. I pull my washdown hose out of the head cabinet and hit the kids feet as they enter the cockpit, otherwise all that sand gets in the cabin. After they are all down below with clean feet, then I do a quick washdown of the cockpit. Of course, I couldn't do this if I was trying to conserve water on a longer trip.

[kmclemore]

That's the other reason I like to always anchor stern-to on beaches....the sand. I pull my washdown hose out of the head cabinet and hit the kids feet as they enter the cockpit, otherwise all that sand gets in the cabin.

For de-sanding the kids (and us) we just use a little talcum powder - it works GREAT! A couple of puffs of talc on the sandy area, rub it in with your hand and the sand will just fall right off. Works every time, and also leaves you feeling cool and dry. We also take it to the beach with us, same reason.

[opie]

Wanted to go to this older thread and post a couple of pictures of fun on a Mac. Lots of small boats on the weekend here at Masonboro Island (pic floating was taken last Saturday.) Yesterday we were mostly alone and had a nice 6 hour lunch, shell collection trip and nap with the Admiral. Nice. Boaters came over to take pictures and a few dingies beached and walked around admiring us bringing our kitchen, seats in the shade, food and beverages onto the beach. Loveit. And 10 to 15 kts yesterday meant for some great sailing in the AM.
Opie.

http://www.geocities.com/mac.1948/beaching.htm

[Bawgy]

Hey Opie . Please go to www.ncsail.org and see if you can help out a fellow mac'r. He was looking for some help in sailing the Wilmington area. Go to the forum and scroll down till you see "Looking for sailor in wilmington area. Thanks

[Mikebe]

One technique is to simply anchor in shallow water and wait for the tide to go out.

http://www.a1sailboats.com/images/trips ... _0333w.jpg

[James V]

Mikebe - Here is Cap't Jim's full write up on what happened -
http://www.a1sailboats.com/bahama_2007.htm

I think that this is the proper way that he wants to beach his M -


He has lots good adventures on his site -
http://www.a1sailboats.com/adventur.htm