Anyone actually beach their boat?

[meteorman]

This isn't really a serious post - I'm certainly never going to do it - but I keep seeing pictures in marketing material of people hanging out on a beach next to a new wake boat that has the bow pulled up to the sand. I've done this with a skiff with an outboard, but it seems nuts on an inboard wake boat with all the fins, prop and other underwater gear that would presumably be sitting on the bottom as a result. Does anyone actually do this or is it just some Madison Avenue guy's idea of what lake life must be like?

[crystal waters]

This isn't really a serious post - I'm certainly never going to do it - but I keep seeing pictures in marketing material of people hanging out on a beach next to a new wake boat that has the bow pulled up to the sand. I've done this with a skiff with an outboard, but it seems nuts on an inboard wake boat with all the fins, prop and other underwater gear that would presumably be sitting on the bottom as a result. Does anyone actually do this or is it just some Madison Avenue guy's idea of what lake life must be like?

23 years of owning inboards and never yet have I beached my boat.
Rather anchor just offshore and walk or swim in to the beach.

[Jetlink]

Yeah, I have intentionally beached my boat a handful of times. I've grown up going to the lake and boating on it since I can remember. It is a pure sand bottom lake with rather steep drop offs for most of the lake and is really shallow drop off on the shore we vacation on. I am on a buoy in front of the cottage but when we go to the outlet that is the only place I beach it. It is a steep drop off so only the bow is resting on the sand and nothing else. To give you an idea of how steep the grade is, step in ankle deep, take three normal strides and I am over my head. Sorry for the long response but to cap it off, my running gear has never seen the bottom since I have owned the boat.

[BigSurfer]

We beach ours everyday. The beach we go to has a steep drop off so the only the bow is in the sand.


2015 Supra SE

[tg0824SSVGG]

Periodically, I will beach mine - not what I do by choice.

However - when I first got it, knowing that I do have to do this from time to time, I had a "keel shield" put on it, which
helps TREMENDOUSLY when doing this.

http://www.amazon.com/KeelShield-KS-...ds=keel+shield

[Salty87]

Beached plenty of times and would do it again provided the sand is soft and depth is right.

[Jeffkurtz]

All the time...no issues

[Kma4444]

Nope, never.

[michael hunter]

I beach the pontoon all the time. Never any of the fiberglass boats.

[SquamInboards]

We beach ours all the time, but I will say that I've seen boats wear through the gel to expose fiberglass mat, from what looked like little more than constant beaching. My boat shows some wear on the bow keel, so I put on a keel guard years ago (similar to the product posted above).

If you have to (or just want to) do it a lot, I'd highly recommend a keel guard product of some kind. You can get them in lots of colors, so you can nearly match your hull color.

Last thought: I installed my keel guard so that it was underwater at rest. If you think about how low the D-ring is on some boats, this will make sense. However, it delaminated from itself from, I think, constant pressure from water underway at lower speeds. The adhesive stuck to the boat itself fine, but the rest of the rubber peeled apart from the adhesive layer. Of course, the company will replace the item for free, but I have to install it again, and more importantly, somehow I have to remove the old adhesive. For now, I'm essentially using the adhesive layer as my protection.