Advice please: grounding centaur on slipway

V

vidapura

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Jun 2009
Messages
69
Visit site
Folks,
A bit of advice please.
My surveyor wants me to dry my centaur out on a slipway so he can complete the hull inspection.
I'm really worried about this, haven't done it before and feel that grounding onto hard concrete is probably a bad idea.

Anybody done this?

I've see posts from people drying out on soft ground and thats probably ok.

But will the keels not get battered at the bottom of the tide while its settling?

Thanks
Vida
 
It depends if the slipway is in a tidal area or a sheltered spot. On a calm day you could drive the boat gently on to the slip so that it just touches and then there won't be much drying out to do. Tough old boats used to drying out twice daily on hard sand or mud in all conditions.
 
It should be absolutely fine, if the location is free from significant swell. For peace of mind, work out in advance where you want the boat to end up, and consider the placement of rings etc for tying on to.
 
The keels are cast iron so not going to suffer any damage other than to the shellfish a weed growing on the bottoms.

As above gently run onto the slipway as the tide is falling. Be sure to do it early enough so that it does dry completely but not so early that you will get neaped if the tides are taking off after springs
 
Vidapura,

let her touch the slip gently then apply a little power so she's firmly on; this will reduce the time she's teetering just afloat when even ripples cause unpleasant slamming - whch shouldn't bother the boat but you might not like it !

As VicS says have a good look at tide tables and make sure if the next tide height is lower that you go aground well after HW to avoid being neaped.

If there are significant waves at the slip and you are bothered you would be quite entitled to tell the surveyor to pick another day.
 
We dry out a couple of times every year and it's one of the reasons we bought a bilge keel. Assuming the slip is well protected she will just settle down nicely. There may be a few creaks as the hull settles, just ignore them. Think about how you are going to get ashore when it has dried out. Wellies might be useful if the slip is muddy and if you towed a dinghy in then make sure it doesn't end up under the boat or there will be trouble when she floats off later.

You may as well check the anodes and clean the prop whilst you are dried out so some spares on board would be useful, if they are not needed keep until next year.

Pete
 
It would be well worth having a proper ladder along too, I've just remembered trying to board my chums' Centaur when she was dried out, a bit of a struggle with my bad back even though the boat has a good folding stainless transom ladder.
 
More likely to damage the slip than the boat if she bounces! As Seajet says, if she does bump you will be having kittens, but actually the boat can take a lot more of that than you can!

Nevertheless only do it if the water is calm, You dont want to have to pay to have the slipway resurfaced! Battering concrete with a hammer weighing several tons could dig quite a hole!
 
Thanks folks,
Mission accomplished.
Got her sat down and stood up again without problems.
Survey went fine too!

Long bloomin day though.. only in the door now...heh..

Vida.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top