"TC" wrote in message
...

What damage does this do to the boats hull? Doesn't the sand
eventually sand away the protective gel coat?

It will certainly scuff up the bottom. It is unlikely that the scuffing
will cause any serious structural damage, just cosmetic so if you like the
bottom side of your boat to look nice then I would not recommend doing this.

As others have suggested you can apply "keel guards", which will also mark
up the gel coat except you won't know about it until you eventually want to
remove the keel guard. The keel guard can really help out if you attempt to
beach on something a little harder than soft sand, such as gravel or hard
rock.

There are several significant hazards in beaching that you should be aware
of. First, if you boat in tidal areas you have to constantly readjust the
boat so that you don't end up high and dry or have the boat float away.

A beached boat is very vulnerable to waves/wakes. At a minimum, a wake
coming in can cause the boat to pound against the beach, which can cause
serious structural damage. Being beached means you are in very shallow
water which means a significant size wave will be breaking. Having the bow
supported on the beach also means that the boat can't tip with the wave
which makes it even more likely that a wave/wake can crash over the transom.
Keep in mind that if the boat was beached and you take a wave over the stern
the boat will REALLY be beached!

I would certainly never beach an inboard. Just not risk the damage to the
shaft, strut, prop and rudder.

I would recommend pulling up on the beach to unload the gear and then
anchoring the boat out a few yards.

Rod McInnis


Is there anything you
can do like good wax?