To beach or not to beach

[eks]

I use to beach my boats before the Tige, now I bought a bungee rope and I do not come close to sure. My boat looks as new as the day I bought.

The old boats I had I had to redo the bottom every year or not worry how it looked.

My is that we should not beach our boats.

[Bibbs]

There are some docks at our lake so I wont beach the Tige either.

Another newbie question though,what is the best way to ancor your boat when the water is 10 feet or less.There are some festivities (sp) at the lake and people are watching from there boats but I am not sure how they are ancored.Thanks for any advise.

[tessa]

One of the lakes we use has a community sand bar where on a weekend you will find a couple of hundred boats out there. Most of them are anchored but their anchor rodes take up a lot of space and they neglect to anchor the rear which cause some people to constantly reposition their boats.

What we rigged up where a pair of 10 ft long auger poles one for the bow and the second for the aft. They are strong enough to auger into sand and hold a 23 ft boat in position with out a lot of anchor rope in the water.

We would auger in the poles and use a 8 ft docking rope to tie off at the bow lifting hooh and the same for an aft hook. Once moored we did not have to fuss again. This method is not reccomended for unattended anchoring.

I have never beached my boats and never will beach the Tige unless their is an emergency that calls for it. You have too much invested in your boat whether it be a Four Winns a Tige or any other brand to mar up the keel.

[mtnsmith]

We beach all the time, but our sand is fairly fine and not super abrasive. As far as anchoring goes we use two danforth style anchors. A fairly stout one on the bow, I think it is about 20 pounds, that I usually set with the assistance of the motor in reverse to really get it in good, then I chuck a fairly light one (5 pounds) as far off the stern as possible to hold the boat no matter which way the current or wind want to force the boat. Now alot of time I am in shallow enough water (3-5ft) that I just set the anchors by getting in the water myself. I have thought about a keel guard or similar product but do not like how they look.

[eks]

we use a bungee on the front of the boat and a regular on the back, once we and to get out of the water we pull the boat close using the shore anchor.

Then we let go and the bungee pull the boat back deeper.

[dogbert]

There's just too much stuff sticking out from under your boat to beach it.

[Lunchbox]

Just make sure you watch out for rocks...



Don't let this happen to you:





LBX

[chpthril]

There are some docks at our lake so I wont beach the Tige either.

Another newbie question though,what is the best way to ancor your boat when the water is 10 feet or less.There are some festivities (sp) at the lake and people are watching from there boats but I am not sure how they are ancored.Thanks for any advise.

Our home lake has a nice sandy mud bottom, so beaching is not a real big deal for me if I know the beach/bottom.

Bibbs,
We have 2 sandbars on our lake that we hit often. I like to back in til the water hits about 20ft (or 50ft from where I want to stop) and drop/set anchor and then kill the boat when the water is about 3-4 ft. If it's crowded or windy, I use a sand spike off the transom. Not really a sand spike, but a SS screw in dog anchore.

[time2kyl]

Just make sure you watch out for rocks...


Don't let this happen to you:




LBX

That's gotta suck for someone. Hopefully they get a new boat with lots of Wetsounds!!

[Lunchbox]

That's gotta suck for someone. Hopefully they get a new boat with lots of Wetsounds!!

You know it Kyle!

[scoot18]

"Yeah we beach." Of corse thats where we live. All of the shore line in the intercoastal wtrwy has a soft sandy shore. We have a few regular places that we know well and are familiar of any underwater hazards. If we go to other lakes or locations I will always get out of the boat and scope out a location, if its good we will, if not, guess not, we anchor.

We did have a 207' cruise ship hit something in the water and the skipper ran that ship aground. It happened right in the very spot that we play. So sometimes even the main channels arent clear, check out the news video clip:

http://wavy.com/Global/story.asp?s=7329836

Here is another news video clip and written update about what was found that caused the incident:

http://wavy.com/Global/story.asp?s=7338363

[sparky216]

I'd beach it if there was sand, but everwhere we boat is in resevoirs so it's all rock and such. This also presents problems anchoring, we usually use the wave runner to take the anchor out and drop or use the wave runner to scope out the shore before bringing in the boat. I like to anchor the boat with the aft of the boat facing the beach, stereo sounds better and easier access to boat. This usually requires us to tie off the aft to a tree or a rock, but as we have discussed in previous threads, I have yet to master the whole anchoring thing for the bow. I can never seem to get it "stuck", I am always monitoring the boat b/c it always seems to drift, even if I dive down and set the anchor. PIA, I always see ppl in their boats with set anchors and am always jealous ..

[mtnsmith]

Sparky, what kind of anchor are you using? I have not used one myself but have heard that the box anchors are the way to go with a rocky bottom. They will work with sand and mud as well so it sounds like a great product. I also like that they fold down to not take up much room.

http://www.slideanchor.com/

[zad0030]

This is not the right way or place to beach.

[sparky216]

Sparky, what kind of anchor are you using? I have not used one myself but have heard that the box anchors are the way to go with a rocky bottom. They will work with sand and mud as well so it sounds like a great product. I also like that they fold down to not take up much room.

http://www.slideanchor.com/

I'm using just a regular ol' anchor, and yes I too have heard that the box anchor is a good product. I have yet to see anyone use it and am skeptical on how well it will anchor in the wind in a rocky environment, which is the primary environment that I boat in. I probably need to buy it and check it out for myself.