Chunk of carpet for beaching?

[fishrdan]

Does anyone use a chunk of carpet to protect the keel while beaching their boat? I beach from time to time and don't want to scuff up the keel. I was thinking of hanging a piece of carpet down in front of the boat, before approaching the shore, then let the boat glide up on the chunk of carpet. something like a 4x2' chunk of carpet and a bungee cord.

We shore camp often and a lot of times it's too cold to get out and wade through the water, so bringing the boat right up to shore is needed.

The only draw back I can see is getting sand trapped in the carpet which would sand on the hull, but I don't think it would be worse than the hull grating on rocks/gravel/sand.

 

[tractoman]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

I've seen chinks of carpet in the water that people beach on, never seen anyone hual the carpet though. How about a keel guard? It shouldn't trap sand and goes wherever the keel goes without bungee cords.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

It's an aluminum hull and the keel sticks out past the hull about 1", with sharp corners, so I don't think a keel guard would stick to well. I don't think the keel guards designed for aluminum hulls would work well. I'm going to (eventually) put several layers of gorilla grip, rhino liner, etc. on the keel to serve as a keel guard, but would have to go up pretty high to protect against rocks.

Maybe a chunk of that thick plastic they use to line bathroom showers, would be more abrasion resistant than carpet and not trap sand???

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

One of the reasons I prefer an aluminum boat is so I don't have care about such things

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

Yeah,,, but what about that nice shiny paint

 

[scoutabout]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

One of the reasons I prefer an aluminum boat is so I don't have care about such things

I was going to say - as long as the beach is not pebbles or super coarse or you have some prevailing pounding wave action - I wouldn't worry about it.

We've been beaching boats for decades - both aluminum and fibreglass and have done absolutely no discernable damage to bare hulls.

Relax, grab the chairs and water toys and enjoy yourself.

 

[madurodave]

Re: Chunk of carpet for beaching?

when we beach in Kentucky lake we use a big piece of carpet. there are chucks left in the woods and we all just share them. A lot of little stones and pebbles.