Safe to beach a boat???

[jkust]

No help to the OP, but I'm not one for beaching my boat. Doesn't make sense to me, taking my expensive toy and scratching up the bottom, when a guy can anchor just off shore in a couple feet of water. My '08 Searay had no marks on the hull after 8 years of boating.
I guess each to your own, but when I see a $100k+ wake board boat sitting on a trailer with the hull all scratched up, it makes me cringe.

Like I alluded to, people on the lake get to the point where money becomes far less meaningful and a 150k wakeboat is just another toy to be sold in a few years for a new one.

I have a neighbor with a 2017 Glastron GTS, whatever the 24 foot version is...it's about the bottom of the barrel in that class of boat as it is extreme entry level except for the engine and B3 drive, it's his first boat and he is one of the few with no wealth but ended up with a lake place anyway for some unusual reasons. I know it is a stretch for him to pay his ten years of payments on it but It kills me when he comes back hammered from a day of drinking on the lake and can't make his way into the boat lift so just hits the throttle up onto his beach.

 

[fishrdan]

Check the keel guard manufacturer website, to see if they recommend using them with aluminum boats. Aluminum boat keels could have sharp angles that keel guards may not conform to properly, causing them to self-detach. I know this is the case with my Crestliner, many sharp angles on the keel, and I can't use keel guard.

I have beached it and there is some beach rash on the keel, and I want to paint a "keel guard strip" onto my boat with some rhino liner type coating, several coats to build up a thick layer.

 

[Scott Danforth]

No help to the OP, but I'm not one for beaching my boat. Doesn't make sense to me, taking my expensive toy and scratching up the bottom, when a guy can anchor just off shore in a couple feet of water. My '08 Searay had no marks on the hull after 8 years of boating.
I guess each to your own, but when I see a $100k+ wake board boat sitting on a trailer with the hull all scratched up, it makes me cringe.

many times you cant anchor and are forced to beach

the beach where I would frequent (Beer Can Beach on north end of Longboat Key), the bow is on shore, and the stern in 14' of water moving at about 15 mph. no way to anchor as by the time you tossed your anchor in the water, it was 50' away and your boat moved 300' before you could grab the line. only way to visit the beach was to crab in and beach it. you have to know the tide tables, or you may get stuck for 12 hours.

Check the keel guard manufacturer website, to see if they recommend using them with aluminum boats. Aluminum boat keels could have sharp angles that keel guards may not conform to properly, causing them to self-detach. I know this is the case with my Crestliner, many sharp angles on the keel, and I can't use keel guard.

I have beached it and there is some beach rash on the keel, and I want to paint a "keel guard strip" onto my boat with some rhino liner type coating, several coats to build up a thick layer.

many brands are specific to aluminum boats for example https://www.gator-guards.com/tips-install-keelshield-aluminum-boats/

however those brands of boats with the riveted keel would benefit from a thick layer of Rhino Liner or Line-X (not the DIY stuff)

 

[Cortes100]

Scott / jkust.............hah, point taken, obviously some places a guy must beach. Around here we don't have to worry about currents and big bodies of water.

 

[USA_boater]

Well I think for now I'm going to go with trying to NOT beach unless I get into a situation where I must. The cost of keel guards seems excessive if I am 90% sure I won't use them. Maybe in a few years I'll decide to beach the aluminum boat but I don't think I will on the Four Winns if I can anchor instead. Of course this is for the lakes I go to; I suppose if I ever try a truly sandy beach lake then I'd consider it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Cost of a keel guard is cheaper than a tank of fuel and a cooler full of beer

 

[fishrdan]

many brands are specific to aluminum boats for example https://www.gator-guards.com/tips-install-keelshield-aluminum-boats/

Thanks Scott! Those are new. When I looked years ago (8?), all of them said not for aluminum boats. Looks much better than what I was planning on doing.

 

[USA_boater]

I'm still trying to think of when I'd beach either of my boats...the only thing I can think of is if I came off the water, fishing alone and a storm blew in and I didn't want to tie it up to dock while I got the truck. In that case I'd probably beach the aluminum boat; the larger boat I'd not be out alone to begin with. In the sample pictures for that keel guard, they show an aluminum boat beached in rocks! My salesman also sold the idea that the aluminum boats are more forgiving for tree stumps and such back in the shallows fishing. Am I being to elitist to not want to risk scratching my diamond coated (or whatever they call it)Tracker aluminum hull?

 

[jkust]

Well I think for now I'm going to go with trying to NOT beach unless I get into a situation where I must. The cost of keel guards seems excessive if I am 90% sure I won't use them. Maybe in a few years I'll decide to beach the aluminum boat but I don't think I will on the Four Winns if I can anchor instead. Of course this is for the lakes I go to; I suppose if I ever try a truly sandy beach lake then I'd consider it.

What I will suggest then if you moor the boat out a few feet with the bow out is to pick up a second anchor for the stern so it isn't swinging all over the place and you end up having to constantly wrangle the boat on a windy day so it doesn't swing into the boat next to you.

 

[USA_boater]

Yeah I have a claw for the bow and a mushroom for the stern...wasn't sure 2 claws was a good approach?

In other news, I took my new Tracker out this past weekend bass fishing and hit a submerged stump while idling through a stumpy cove in search of the fish. I was all worried about it that the "diamond coating" or whatever they call it would be scratched or even worse there would be a dent. Not a scratch! Put it on the trailer and could not find the impact point. I thought maybe it was the lower unit but it too has no evidence of any impact...I am very pleased...not sure it makes me want to beach it but I do feel better about the durability of the Tracker hull now.