Beaching legs for my motor sailer.

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ctroutz

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I've a 26' Colvic Watson long keel, resident near Southampton and one of our favourite 'jollies' is down to Studland Bay for a couple of nights. I've been weighing up the 'pros and cons' of drying out legs for a while and would appreciate some advice as to their practicality, suppliers, or even how to make them! ( I have made usable ones in the past out of wood for a little fishing boat but this would have to be a more sophisticated effort.)
It seems that a decent grade aluminium is favourite with perhaps some sort of height adjustment accessible at the top. Ropes connected to the feet would restrict fore and aft movement. I could fabricate all this but the mounting/attachment bracket is a different animal and in order to get this I might be forced to purchase the complete package. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would very much appreciate it.
 
There is a page on Legs on my website at http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Legs.aspx. Unfortunately the link to Jonnymooresailing that showed DIY construction of legs is broken. As you say, construction of the legs themselves is quite simple, it is the neat socket that attaches them to the boat that is rather more difficult. Yacht Legs Co will sell them separately but the cost is high, £130 when I last looked. I would imagine that a small engineering shop would make them for considerably less than that.
 
My first legs ( boat ones anyway!) had been made from steel scaffolding and were just sized for the boat (no adjustment) . They were blooming heavy to store and set up but had the advantage that they were strong enough to just put bolts through the leg, backing plate and hull.
My second set ( which again came with the boat) had been purchased at great expense were alloy and had a very wide ( but mainly useless) range of adjustment.
If I was making a set ( and I wouldn't dream of buying them) I think I would just build in a little adjustment ( via peg holes?) and possibly have the top section in steel and the legs in alloy.
 
I made a set 30 years ago and bought the hull fittings from the Yacht Leg Co. I have since bought the full thing for my present boat
Having a good look at their legs would be very useful to you. I used lengths of yacht mast section for my efforts but this needs a degree of fussy engineering to work and is a fixed length job.
 
These are my DIY legs made from steel rect tube and galvanized.

WEB0909_zps24e5e3f6.jpg
 
My legs, (32ft, fourteen tons. Not the legs, the boat) are timber, 5x5 douglas fir, shaped with a curved cheek to fit round the tumblehome. The main thing is the attachment and in my case I have a 1" stainless bolt with a big wing nut inside that can be kicked tight, about 2ft down from the bulwarks. Not practical for you I guess, unless you can have a bolt hole half way down towards the waterline, and it would need two people to mount the leg, one inside to fit the nut. But then, if you were to fix the backing pad inside with a captive nut welded to a stainless backing plate screwed on to it you could fit the leg single handed. When not in use you would have a bung of some sort (short bolt with rubber washer). With the leg bolted securely to the hull this way it is very stable. We only use one bolt in case the boat ranges about before landing, and the legs are 2" short so the keel hopefully lands first then she settles one way.
 
vyv_cox said:
There is a page on Legs on my website at http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Legs.aspx. Unfortunately the link to Jonnymooresailing that showed DIY construction of legs is broken. As you say, construction of the legs themselves is quite simple, it is the neat socket that attaches them to the boat that is rather more difficult. Yacht Legs Co will sell them separately but the cost is high, £130 when I last looked. I would imagine that a small engineering shop would make them for considerably less than that.
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Thanks everybuddy. Like being a teenager again, 'getting to grips with the tops of legs required complicated procedures'! I'll certainly contact Yachtlegs to get some prices/benchmarks. My little C/W is like 'Tardis' inside; all the 'gear' loads of accom. etc, but little spare room to stow unwieldy stuff like legs so I'll have to scale down as much as I dare on size. I'm thinking that I'll only dry out on ground I know, so 'fixed' legs would be OK as long as I could somehow work out the optimum height? I'm also wondering if the Yachtlegs mountings will also pivot to enable me to swing the legs up and carry them 'outboard' if necessary?
 
ctroutz said:
....... I'm also wondering if the Yachtlegs mountings will also pivot to enable me to swing the legs up and carry them 'outboard' if necessary?
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Yes, I have motored along with legs secured aft, pivoted on the mounts. No problem provided you have the mounts near the max beam of the boat, which you will.

The length of your legs will be comfortably under 6ft so, provided you can figure out a way of splitting them, the stowage required will not be huge. You will also have to figure out how to make stand off brackets and feet.
 
ctroutz said:
Hi Fisherman, Thanks, (I'd already posted other reply). How big are your 'feet?' Is 2" enough (no pun intended). It doesn't sound enough on mud?
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Ah, now there's a question. You want the feet to sink same as the keel. If you have big feet and the keel sinks in soft mud you may end up with a lot of weight on the legs. If you have small feet you may lean over and drive the leg into soft mud, and I saw a 36ft boat held down and sunk that way. I'm on hard mud, my feet are 5x5" one side, and because the other got worn away as it's used all the time (outside leg fitted when against the quay) I made a bigger foot from hardwood, about 9x9". Most local boats have about 5 or 6in square, but they are built for hard mud or sand. I was moored outside a smaller boat, and fitted the outside leg, weighted the boat that way. Wrong, I was very tired, should have fitted both legs. At low tide the keel sank just enough to tip the boat in, she fell on the smaller boat. Cost me £1000 excess.
 
doug748 said:
Yes, I have motored along with legs secured aft, pivoted on the mounts. No problem provided you have the mounts near the max beam of the boat, which you will.
Click to expand...

I hoped to do that but the standoff brackets got in the way. It must depend on the shape of your hull.
 
Adjustable length can be very useful. Last year I beached on Itchenor hard. I approached perpendicular to the shore, but the ebb tide swung the boat's stern round until we were at about 45 degrees. No problem! I have Yachtlegs, so longer leg on the outside, shorter one on the inside.

Neil
 
fisherman said:
Ah, now there's a question. You want the feet to sink same as the keel. If you have big feet and the keel sinks in soft mud you may end up with a lot of weight on the legs. If you have small feet you may lean over and drive the leg into soft mud, and I saw a 36ft boat held down and sunk that way. I'm on hard mud, my feet are 5x5" one side, and because the other got worn away as it's used all the time (outside leg fitted when against the quay) I made a bigger foot from hardwood, about 9x9". Most local boats have about 5 or 6in square, but they are built for hard mud or sand. I was moored outside a smaller boat, and fitted the outside leg, weighted the boat that way. Wrong, I was very tired, should have fitted both legs. At low tide the keel sank just enough to tip the boat in, she fell on the smaller boat. Cost me £1000 excess.
Click to expand...

I've seen posts about the sinking. Seems to re-inforce the point about only using legs if you know the ground. Cheers, Graham.
 
neil_s said:
Adjustable length can be very useful. Last year I beached on Itchenor hard. I approached perpendicular to the shore, but the ebb tide swung the boat's stern round until we were at about 45 degrees. No problem! I have Yachtlegs, so longer leg on the outside, shorter one on the inside.

Neil
Click to expand...

Thanks Neil, Are your legs adjustable from the boat,ie at the top? If so, Where did you get them? Graham.
 
I would also be very careful where you drill holes if you fit them. as internally due to the deep bulwark sides you may not be able to get at the nuts, also they will require a substantial backing pad to mount too.

Mike
 
Thanks all, Up to date prices from Yachtlegs are about £1200 for 'fixed length' and another £1000 for 'wind-ups'....cough splutter! The hull fitting bracket is about £230 inc. locking 'u' bolts and delivery... My mate's comment was that it would almost be cheaper to fit bilge keels!
I think I'll ponder the hardwood option before I decide. Thanks again.
 
Hi again Mike,
I can't remember what I pestered you about a year or so back? but thanks for your current advice. I 'sort of' joked about my mates comment about Bilge keels/Plates but dangerously I've been thinking....... What are your thoughts on this? For where I normally come to rest they would be ideal. Have you any experience of the cost and practicability?..I occasionally bump into a guy who works at the old Elephant Boatyard in Bursledon so that's a start. You may be a purist and think it's sacrilege to mess about with a perfectly good hull but whatever I'd appreciate your advice. Thanks,Graham.
 
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