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Old 27-04-2013, 06:25   #1
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Beaching Legs

Hello, I am wondering if someone out there might have advice on beaching legs! I have a 42ft GRP yacht which I wish to keep on a trot mooring in a drying harbour year in year out.. The yacht is a Legend 42 with a wing keel with a draft of 1.5mt, the harbour is a firm sandy bottom. No surge or swell, very sheltered. The beaching legs would come from the Yacht Leg & beaching company, purpose built. Any thought from anyone with experience. Thanks, Bill S
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Old 27-04-2013, 09:38   #2
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Re: Beaching Legs

Welcome to CruisersForum, Bill
Before getting comitted to beaching legs, you must be sure that the bottom of your boat is strong enough to withstand the weight.

I am considering beaching legs from the "Yacht Leg & Cradle Company" The Yacht Leg and Cradle Company. It seems to have an good reputation, the legs are obviously very well made but don't come cheap.

Alain
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Old 27-04-2013, 11:37   #3
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Re: Beaching Legs

Hydra makes a good point - not all boats are designed to have the full weight of the boat bouncing on the keel (even in sheltered the boat will bounce now and again, even if only from a few inches and not a few feet!).

Boat legs discussed a few times already on CF, so it is worth a search.

But my quick comments are that despite having seen 40 foot plus fin keelers use legs, those have always been on an occassional basis (in Boatyard working berths - so little tide) rather than kept on a tidal mooring. 42 foot on a fin keel is I think too large to use legs on a permanent basis, mostly because the occassional mishap will be all the more serious simply from the height and weight involved.

Of course I could be wrong!
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Old 28-04-2013, 03:41   #4
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Re: Beaching Legs

Hello David, yes my worry exactly, full time on beaching legs! I answered Alain back but, perhaps I did it by email and not through the forum; I will need to get the hang of post and reply (my first time). I think I might have to contact Hunter in the USA and ask for there advice. The principal attraction for me is, the particular harbour I wish is just a few miles from my house and, not the closest marina, about 1 hour 20 minutes drive and costing an absolute arm and a leg to keep a boat there.

Okay! Thanks; Bill S
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Old 28-04-2013, 03:55   #5
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Re: Beaching Legs

Although not a guarantee (either way!), nonetheless a pretty good indicator of how possible is whether others are doing the same.

Appreciate the point on the cost difference, me in mud is around £100 a year - Marina would be over £3k! And IMO Mud is better! Of course over here nothing more than 20 mins away.......30 in rush hour!

Over here the joke is that we built all our harbours on dry land! Of course I don't have legs (been there and done that - too much of a PITA, including onboard stowage......but I am lazy!). I've got a triple keeler. At 30 foot and built in 1970 a very different beast to yours!
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Old 28-04-2013, 12:06   #6
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Re: Beaching Legs

Bill,
I didn't receive any message, either PM or email, from you.

Like DOJ, I wouldn't recommend keeping your yacht on beaching legs on a permanent basis, if you don't live aboard: the risk is too big that a minor glitch turns *really* bad. I know 2 people who did it and came to regret it.

Alain
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Old 29-04-2013, 09:16   #7
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Re: Beaching Legs

Hi Bill, years ago I owned a 20 footer from the late 1960's she was massively overbuilt by today's standards. I kept her on a half tide mooring at the top of an estuary. As we camped out on her for weekends I made two steel keels to fit either side of the main shallow keel. They bolted through the hull onto glassed-in steel backing plates... belt and braces. A few years on they were smashed through the bottom of the hull in a low tide storm. I cut her into small peaces and she is one of the few fiberglass boats from this era to die and go to heaven.
I received the following reply this week to an enquiry on a steel project boat. The dicription speaks of amateur welding but I suspect the owner left little to chance, I hope this is useful.


REGARDING 40' STEEL CANOE STERN KETCH RIG PROJECT.

Hi there many thanks for the enquiry, I am going to be cleaning the vessel
out over this weekend so will take some more interior pictures, that will
show that, we have removed everything except the lining boards and floor
boards, the vessel was built 1998 out of top quality steel, the only
corrosion requiring work will be on the gunwale rail, and removal of the
stabilisers, the guy that I bought the boat from put on it, this was done,
so he could leave it on a swing mooring, and not pay for a marina, now this
is All part of the reason, she has got a water damaged interior, this
vessel is big people take 40' as in a narrow boat but she is 40 at the
waterline.

The swing mooring she was on, was morecombe bay Lancaster estuary, which is
one of the fastest tidal movers, and so, standing on the 14" tube crutches,
for want of a better word, she is hit by the may 2010 storms.
The stabilisers obviously made by himself are DIY welding at best, (I am a
Design Engineer) are made of14" round tube, with out riggers, welded to a
1.5 mtr plate, then seam welded to the vessel.

So the owner who was over in Turkey for 6 months, the Vessel is left, when
the storms hit it was apparently 3/4 tide, so she almost of the bottom and
Afloat, and with power and speed of the surges, she is able to swing, but
only every now and then, and as the tide gets higher, she is really
thrashed around, still being only just Afloat catches below, and rips a
stabiliser off.
And by torn off, I mean, the whole Plate, with the leg and the outriggers
attached, but not taring the hull, in fact doing no other damage to the
hull, other than, a slight crease, and just leaving the broken welds from
the plate, as evidence that it was ever there. ( Very good Quality Plates
used on the Hull) bad quality DIY.

So when the tide went out each time, with no stabiliser leg to hold her
upright, she just laid down on her side, and due to a broken window, and
the fact that, the Sea Cocks had not been closed, each tide she took on
very small amounts of water, over the week she started to show a List, so
due to her size , the coast guard, had her towed ashore before she became
to badly damaged.


It continues but that is the relevant part. Best wishes.
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Old 29-04-2013, 10:51   #8
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Re: Beaching Legs

In a very sheltered tidal river in S Brittany (Merrien, I think), I saw a yacht resting on a submerged cradle. IIRC, the cradle base was bigger than the yacht footprint. There were 4 strong posts at the corners and the yacht was prevented from moving and coming down in another place than the cradle. This was a massive and complex structure, nothing in common with beaching legs and probably expensive. I think the boat was about 30 to 35'.

Alain
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Old 29-04-2013, 12:14   #9
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Re: Beaching Legs

A few yacht cradles over here, but in protected harbours - IIRC the max is around the 30 foot mark. But that might be just a cost / size thing.

Also worth bearing in mind are the tides in the intended locale - 5 foot of draft might not get you a lot of time away from the mooring (and therefore sometimes / often(?) need to wait for another tide to get back on! Worth checking, as legs might not be the only reason for no 40 footers with 5 foot of draft being moored there!
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Old 25-07-2013, 13:34   #10
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Re: Beaching Legs

If you are still after information r.e. beaching legs contact Vyv Cox on this forum, he is VERY experienced with use of beaching legs.
Regards,
Rabb.
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