Beaching Catamarans

[videorov]

44' Cat, designed and built by Bob Smith, is this boat still being built today? Nice looking.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by JerryF

Both the Endeavour PowerTrawlers and SailCats have a tunnel protecting the propellers. Endeavour is at EndeavourCats Home Page

"Hopefully" I attached a photo of the tunnel.

JerryF

This is true of the current versions of these cats. The older versions with saildrive rather than shaft drives have stub keels and spade rudders. I've not beached my boat yet, but the factory tells me that I can dry her out on a smooth bottom and in smooth conditions, with no waves or side loads. They tell me there is no problem even if the CG is too far aft and she rocks back on her rudders provided there are no waves or side loads. I'll probably try it some day but I imagine it will be rarely and probably for some maintenance reason. Most likely to change the zincs on my saildrives.

[beau]

We beach our trimaran most nights.

I look for a level sandy or muddy spot, no rocks, and anchor the bow out and the stern in and let the tide go out. It makes for a good nights sleep.
We lift the two outboards clear and sit.

We are currently at 1770 on the Qld coast, waiting for the wind to drop.
Happy with the boat,
The Tohatsu outboards are going well, we cruise with one motor at 3,000rpm and average 7 knots an hour for 100 liters a day (6 hours)

I recently bought a 120 amp switch mode power supply which runs off our 1.6kva Kipor when the days are cloudy. It goes well and tops up our AGM batteries.

[foamcore]

1770? Do you ever go inside?

[Laidback]

Important to know the tidal range for the beach in question - making sure that one has the correct time offsets from the datum, besides knowing the type of sand - important to know the slope angle. Check weather report for the day and for the next couple of days. Once the boat is safely on the beach - good thing to kedge out an anchor from the bow and secure a bright coloured float above it.

[boatsmith]

Be aware that sand and mud are abrasive and don't make your bottom paint last longer. I beach my boat a lot. I find it very convenient

[GRIT]

I realize this thread is ancient, but we really like the fact we can beach our boat.

Today we had to reverse the chain, since the chain is rusting badly.

We beached the boat on a rising tide, dumped the chain, reversed it on the swivel, and pulled it all back in. We then picked up our visitors, and went for a sail.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Mr B]

I do it quite frequently as you can see the crap growing on the hulls,
But I have lift up centre boards and rudders,

[chrisr]

we do it often as well

unfortunately around most civilised places these days you need to be careful as there is always someone ready to complain.

fortunately we stay away from such places...

cheers,

[GRIT]

Saved us a haulout when we wanted to install a couple through hulls (watermaker, deckwash) below the waterline. It also makes it very easy to clean the hulls. We lift the daggers and rudders, and just touch bottom in 60cm of water.

It's on of our favourite features of our boat.

Cheers.
Paul.

[django37]

Most standard cats just stand on their keels at the yards where they are built. And no problem when drying out

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Saved us a haulout when we wanted to install a couple through hulls (watermaker, deckwash) below the waterline. It also makes it very easy to clean the hulls. We lift the daggers and rudders, and just touch bottom in 60cm of water.

It's on of our favourite features of our boat.

Cheers.
Paul.

If I remember correctly, GRIT is shaft driven inboards too.... Do you worry about the strut, shaft or prop impacting or taking too much of the load if the boat settles aft?

[John_Trusty]

We're in the market for a cat now, and that is a feature I'd like to have for the reasons outlined above. Cruising area will be western Caribbean and US east-coast, so should have good options for drying on the beach (and getting off afterwards). Not many production cats have those nice folding rudders and skegged props, so concerned about the dangers of tearing off an expensive bit. Obviously, beach slope, nose in, and wave action will impact that. Anyone have suggestions for brands or other considerations?

[GRIT]

Good memory Matt.

We built skegs, slightly deeper than the props, to run the shafts through, and they take any weight that might otherwise be taken by the props.

Though in soft sand or mud, they sink and some force could be put on the props. In that case, we dig holes under them, when they touch.

GRIT touches bottom in 60cm of water, 2 feet. So it's not difficult to know if the props are touching bottom.

Cheers.
Paul.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Saved us a haulout when we wanted to install a couple through hulls (watermaker, deckwash) below the waterline. It also makes it very easy to clean the hulls. We lift the daggers and rudders, and just touch bottom in 60cm of water.

It's on of our favourite features of our boat.

Cheers.
Paul.

I anchored next to a catamaran named GRIT with kick up rudders under the Ft. Pierce north bridge the other night. You?