[PCW] Beaching a Large Cat?

[Dan or Judy Kernell]

We have beached our Endeavour 44 Trawler Cat on occasion to clean the bottom
of barnacles and change the zincs on shafts and rudders. Did this is in calm
water. I wouldn't recommend beaching any boat on the beach if there were
swells or waves coming in from behind.  We put out a stern anchor just prior
to beaching.  After beaching we buried an anchor on the beach.  This practice
stopped us from swinging around while beached. It kept the stern stable and in
deeper water for maintenance.
CAUTION!!!  Be very, very carelfull and avoid getting underneath the boat
while your beached. Your First Mate or Admiral should be standing by when
cleaning your boat in shallow water. You could get yourself trapped underneath
and get crushed or drowned.
 
Taking the dinghy onto the beach is not a bad idea!  For recreational purposes
this is what we do. Our dinghy launching procedure is very simplistic.
 
Have a great day at sea or anchorage.  Enjoy the day.
 
Dan Kernell
Fanta Sea / Endeavour 44 TC

--- On Wed, 1/21/09, Robert Deering <deering at ak.net> wrote:

From: Robert Deering <deering at ak.net>
Subject: Re: [PCW] Beaching a Large Cat?
To: "PCW List" <power-catamaran at lists.samurai.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 10:48 PM

I occasionally beached my 28 ft cat, and here in Alaska we don't have the
silky white sand you see in the sales brochures.  My boat was aluminum, but
in either case you're more worried about scraping off your antifouling
paint
than damaging the hull.

Bottom line - very possible provided you exercise reasonable caution.  You
don't want waves grinding the boat on the beach, etc.  And my cat had
outboards which I could raise - with the PDQ's shafts you'd have to
find a
pretty steep beach that prevented your props and rudders from damage.

But in reality, beaching a big boat is a pain.  You constantly worry about
getting stuck due to tides or waves or wind.  You're appropriately nervous
about other damage occurring and will be constantly fussing with it, but
none of the rest of the beach party will share your concerns and will find
you annoying.  Boarding the boat from the bow isn't practical w/o a ladder,
and you won't want to bring it in stern/prop-first.  Hauling the cooler of
beer and umbrella and lawn chairs to the beach means you have to hump them
around to the bow on the narrow side decks.  You won't find it nearly as
relaxing as it looks in the brochures...

Of course, there are places where people just wade to the beach I guess, so
'close' is good enough.  We don't do that up here in our 45 degree
water.

Better to just get a very capable tender with a convenient launching system.
Then anchor your big boat in front of the beach and enjoy the view of it
floating in the water where it was meant to be.

Bob Deering
Juneau, Alaska


On 1/21/09 3:17 PM, "Pelchat Family" <pelchat at charter.net>
wrote:

> Bill's reply to me the other day took me (reasonably enough) to the
PDQ
> website and while there I saw a picturesque scene of a 34-footer beached
on
> a lovely warm beach.  After momentary thought of wishing I was there (OK .
.
> . OK, it was many moments), I wondered about damage to the gelcoat to the
> bows that doing such a thing might cause.    My father routinely beached
his
> 25 and 28 foot Bertrams with no apparent problems, but I wondered if doing
> the same thing with a 34 or a 41 power cat would be a good idea.
>
>
>
> Assuming that we don't play LST (Landing Ship Tank) driver when we do
it and
> that we faithfully avoid rocks and coral, is there a practical upper limit
> on the size of a boat when it comes to beaching?
>
>
> John
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "bill" <wcz4399 at yahoo.com>
> To: "Power Catamaran List"
<power-catamaran at lists.samurai.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:46 AM
> Subject: Re: [PCW] PDQ's in Miami?
>
>
>> Looks like just the 34 will be on display
>>
>> http://www.pdqyachts.com/power/
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> Any word on the PDQ power cats being at next month's Miami
International
>> Boatshow?
>> _______________________________________________
>> Power-Catamaran Mailing List
> _______________________________________________
> Power-Catamaran Mailing List
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