Do Cat Owners Actually Beach Their Cats ?

[Old Soul Wayne]

I'm wondering if any owners actually beach their catamarans?
I did a search and it never came up. Of course the only right condition would be a sandy beach. Many advertisers use this to "sell" thier boats to the dreamers. Is it structurally sound to do this? Or cost preventittive due to loss of bottom paint? Just been wondering for a while.

Cheers,
Wayne

[Factor]

Yes but as you say only after checking where its going to land first, and the weather etc.

[Jeannius]

Originally Posted by Old Soul Wayne

I'm wondering if any owners actually beach their catamarans?
I did a search and it never came up. Of course the only right condition would be a sandy beach. Many advertisers use this to "sell" thier boats to the dreamers. Is it structurally sound to do this? Or cost preventittive due to loss of bottom paint? Just been wondering for a while.

Cheers,
Wayne

Yes but only to clean the bottom or do other maintenance such as change saildrive oil seal. Obviously can only do that in areas where there is sufficient tidal range.

Otherwise... Never. Much to easy to wipe off anti foul.

[44'cruisingcat]

Absolutely. Stayed in one place where we dried out twice a day, for 5 weeks. Also, on occassions to give the hulls a scrub, or to service the legs on the motors.

Just about the first place we took the boat was Coongul creek, where we dried out every low tide. Friends commented that after working all those years to get the boat in the water, first thing we did was put it back on the beach!

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Old Soul Wayne

I'm wondering if any owners actually beach their catamarans?
I did a search and it never came up. Of course the only right condition would be a sandy beach. Many advertisers use this to "sell" thier boats to the dreamers. Is it structurally sound to do this? Or cost preventittive due to loss of bottom paint? Just been wondering for a while.

Cheers,
Wayne

Most production built cats are not designed to be beached. The guys that just said yes have boats that where built to be able to handle the weight on their mini-keels and rudders. I would suspect that if I beached mine there would be a 50/50 chance of the keel snapping or pushing through the trunk.

[Lowcountry]

Well, this fella here beached his Lagoon 42 at Turtle Bay during last year's Baja Ha Ha, much to the entertainment of the 200+ people ashore at the time. Pretty sure he didn't do it intentionally

[Sand crab]

Some are made to be beached and others are not. If you Google image beach catamaran then you will see a fair amount. Here's a PDQ 42 from that search.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Most production built cats are not designed to be beached. The guys that just said yes have boats that where built to be able to handle the weight on their mini-keels and rudders. I would suspect that if I beached mine there would be a 50/50 chance of the keel snapping or pushing through the trunk.

It puzzles me why a builder wouldn't make his boats beach able.

[David_Old_Jersey]

As already said, not every boat is designed to be beached - doing so does put extra stresses and strains on a boat, above simply being hauled and sitting on a dock......and nothing wrong with that, it's all choices.

But even if the boat is structurally sound enough, loss of bottom paint is only a minor concern, loss of fibreglass (whether keels or hull) is the main problem from extended time bumping on the bottom (sand / mud acts as a grinding paste). The "cure" being sacrificial keels / fibreglass.....ideally before the problem occurs.

Obviously the fibreglass won't wear through after only 1 beaching (not unless beached somewhere interesting!), it's simply a cumulative thing. If the Antifouling is wearing off it means the fibreglass is being also being abraded....just more slowly than paint.

[Mr B]

Here's a family that painted theirs at low tide with anti foul paint.

[clockwork orange]

There are lots of boats, cats, tris and shoal draft monos that dry out on every tide year in year out on their moorings, i would not want anything to do with any cat that is not structularly sound enough to handle this, the only real issue should be the afforementioned abrading of the fiberglass. You will see a lot more of the net and tube type cats being beached on a regular basis.
Steve.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by smj

It puzzles me why a builder wouldn't make his boats beach able.

It costs - in cash and weight and likely also impacts on the overall design / performance (as does every choice). Not to say that boats can't be beachable and perfectally fine in every other dept, just that it isn't a no-brainer.

I would not say that being able to beach a boat is "better" - if you are in a locale where that is not an option or simply not desirable why would you want that capability, especially if it costs elsewhere?

[SailFastTri]

I have a tri that could be beached, but I wouldn't do it except for maintenance because it would rub off the bottom paint. Obviously one should check carefully for rocks and debris that could cause damage from high point loading, too.

[Old Soul Wayne]

Thanks for the input. I'm thinking that you hear about so many people's anchor getting fouled that it might be so much safer to beach yourself often.
Now, I can get and idea of the pros and cons.
Just putting it out there- would a cat that can be beached be a blue water boat?

[Ram]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Most production built cats are not designed to be beached. The guys that just said yes have boats that where built to be able to handle the weight on their mini-keels and rudders. I would suspect that if I beached mine there would be a 50/50 chance of the keel snapping or pushing through the trunk.

I always assumed the opposite – that most cats were built to be able to be beached- I’ve done it to mine a few times ,seems fine- my Cat was one of the last hand laid FG built by FP- so perhaps its stronger, I cut a hole to put a transducer in mine while it was out of the water on low tide and the plug on the bottom of the hull i cut out is close to ½ in thick-no flex that I could see at all- when i have it hauled it sits fine on the keel alone-