Tidal Grid Usage...How To?

[bluewater]

Well, spring is at hand and the cold, cold waters of Alaska and last spring's 3 weeks on the hard do not warrant a full haul-out, but I would like to inspect the hull. Luckily I am in a place with 17ft of tidal change and all I have to do to put the boat on the grid is sign-up for a slot.

Thing is that I have no experience with tidal grids. The boat seems like it will have no problem sitting on the grid, the ties are 10ft on center and 12" wide, the foot print of Bluewater's keel is 13 feet long and 20+ inches wide at the middle and 12+ inches at the entry. So I am not worried about her fitting. The keel has a bit of an angle - see the picture - but the grid is not totally level, it has a bit of slope. So obviously I put her on facing up hill and know that she will be a bit bow down. That is fine.

So I am looking for advice on getting onto, being stable and then getting off the grid. What lines, where, when. Any advice or ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Michael

[senormechanico]

As long as you get the keel supported over 2 ties, you're golden.

I assume grid has a wall or pilings with which to tie.
Just motor in, tie up, and wait for the water to drop as you occasionally adjust lines to keep the boat upright and against the wall.
It should settle in place and you can get to work.

Reverse the procedure on the way up.

It's pretty basic.
Don't worry about it and if you get time, take pictures and post them.


Steve B.

[GordMay]

Would it be convenient to drop by the "grid" a week or two prior to your date, and watch (and discuss) how others do it?
If not, perhaps you could ask the administrator (who takes reservations) for the name & phone numbers of experienced local users.

[billr]

Several years ago there was a fellow in Sitka with a 50' Beneteau (S/V Bob) who wrote a magazine article about his adventures on a grid. As I remember, his advice was to make sure that the days following your grid experience all had a lot higher tides than the day you go on the grid. He also made the mistake of going in rudder first because he wanted to do some work on the keel, and wanted it out of the water first. However, when the water came back in, it picked up the bow first an tilted the boat with back end of the keel hung up on the grid. He had a long spade rudder which got caught on the edge of one of the grid timbers, and sustained some damage.

[delmarrey]

Remembering the the AK shores from a couple decades ago it seems the keel will actually sink down into the grid a bit and the boat may just level itself. A lot of the shoreline areas are known for being a slow quick sand and people have drowned after getting stuck in the quagmire.

And when the tide comes back in you may need to be on board to rock'r back and forth to help loosen it up so it doesn't pop up like a freed cork. If she's a heavy boat a little motor action may work too.

Just keep'r a fenders distance away from the dock until the keel is in hard then pull out the fender and pull'r towards the dock.

[clockwork orange]

I havnt used a grid in 30yrs and the one i used was at the end of the beach where we lived. Where the sand gave way to rock a group of boatowners had drilled holes and set two lengths of railroad track in with concrete,(try doing that today)i would just lean my little fin keel boat against the posts as the tide was going out,sink my dinghy so i would have water to use when the tide had receded and go to work,ah how i loved that simpler time.there were no sleepers to sit the keel on as it was on a nice flat rock ledge.
Steve.

[bluewater]

I wanted to take a moment and say thanks to everyone for their advice and encouragement. We went on the grid this past fall and it went great. Thanks again!

[idpnd]

Nice pics & nice boat btw

[RickRoberts]

There were a good blog post about it and a youtube video that help us quite a bit building our confidence bringing the boat on the tidal grid

https://www.wandersailing.com/blog/2019/9/4/tidal-grid

[Pete7]

Welcome to CF

Did you mean to reply to a 11 year old thread, or was your post more about advertising your own blog?

Pete

[fritzdfk]

You want the boat to lean into the pilings a little. My boat is smaller but I put buckets of water, toolbox etc on the piling side to give the boat a little list as she settled.