Boat on hard - what are the risks?

[johnalison]

We never had problems over many years with wooden props, though a friend's boat moved a little in one of the "hurricanes" in the late '80s. I am happier now that we sit in a cradle, though.

The prop at the bow shouldn't really be doing much, since all reasonable cruising boats will sit on the keel, as when drying out on a wall. It doesn't do any harm to have one, in case several people decide to stand on the foredeck.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Concerning sails, my boat is in a steel cradle (a requirement of the marina), and there is a blanket prohibition on sails being left on the spars while ashore.

 

[Seajet]

AntarcticPilot,

that strikes me as sensible and seamanlike, I hate the idea of leaving sails on anyway re damp, a little UV, salt air etc let alone windage and vibration etc to risk the whole boat ashore.

A novice chum with a shiny new-to-him boat lost a good genoa within weeks of putting her afloat, I have a nasty suspicion he ' tidied up ' the turns I'd put on a winch and cleat !

 

[xyachtdave]

A novice chum with a shiny new-to-him boat lost a good genoa within weeks of putting her afloat, I have a nasty suspicion he ' tidied up ' the turns I'd put on a winch and cleat !

I think you're responsible for about 50% of the loss here Seajet!

 

[Seajet]

I don't think so, funnily enough; I'd also put a tie around the rolled sail !

 

[xyachtdave]

I don't think so, funnily enough; I'd also put a tie around the rolled sail !

OK!
I'll agree it's unlikely the sale tie fell off, the sheets unwrapped themselves from the winches and the cleat....

As a 25 % owner of J 80, I've paid my share of new sail to replace a kite that got wrecked (I wasn't involved in that incident..) and haven't actually even seen the new one before the boat was put up for sale!

 

[Seajet]

when we used to race dinghies, a berk crew I knew, when on his father's GP14 luckily, managed to somehow reverse the self-stowing spin pole elastic and turn it into a bow and arrow; firing it straight through the brand new spinnaker of the club hot-shot's Fireball.

Naughty words were exchanged, I just wish I'd been there.

 

[bitbaltic]

There's no risk in putting up any of the sails on the hard on a windless day, but if you did you would soon have people shouting at you, because to raise them when there's even a chance they might fill, you'd have to be NUTS. You only need think about how a boat resists heeling force under sail- by the weight of the keel, the buoyancy of the immersed hull on the leeward side, and the weight of water lifted by the keel on the windward side. On the hard you only have one of the three resisting forces available, and even in the water the three together don't add up to keeping the boat upright when the sails fill (for the very good reason that the boat would not sail at all if they did). Total no-no. My boat's on the hard right now so please tell me you're not in Penarth marina ;p

Cheers

 

[GrahamM376]

Concerning sails, my boat is in a steel cradle (a requirement of the marina), and there is a blanket prohibition on sails being left on the spars while ashore.

Our yard provides cradles and we also have heavy duty straps as well so some props can be dropped back when antifouling or cleaning topsides. No rules about hoisting sails, mast work or anything else.