Norman_E
Well-known member
After seeing Clyde Wanderer's thread and the way that yachts were shored up with just a few props and no cross bracing its hardly surprising that one blew over, and very bad luck to Clyde Wanderer that his boat was the innocent victim.
I am however a bit puzzled by all the criticism levelled at shoring because where I keep my boat at least half the boats on the hard each winter are shored. I have had mine shored every year that it has been on the hard except the last time, when I rented a cradle so that there were less parts of the hull that could not be scraped or anti-fouled. My experience was that in the cradle the boat vibrated and shook in a strong wind, and the comparatively narrow base of the cradle inspired little confidence. I asked for some shores to to be added to control the vibration.
The yard has no policy of requiring masts to be taken down, and stores about 600 boats on the hard. The only mishap I have heard about was when a large steel framed shed blew down in a storm and damaged about five boats, but no boat on shores or cradles has fallen.
I am not happy about using a cradle that puts a 45 foot boat onto something about 10 feet long, and the yard seem to agree as they always add bow and stern props, and sometimes lateral props as well.
As this picture of my boat shows the yard cross brace the shores, and if you look at the boat on the left you will see that they have added some extra props to a boat that is on a cradle.
I am however a bit puzzled by all the criticism levelled at shoring because where I keep my boat at least half the boats on the hard each winter are shored. I have had mine shored every year that it has been on the hard except the last time, when I rented a cradle so that there were less parts of the hull that could not be scraped or anti-fouled. My experience was that in the cradle the boat vibrated and shook in a strong wind, and the comparatively narrow base of the cradle inspired little confidence. I asked for some shores to to be added to control the vibration.
The yard has no policy of requiring masts to be taken down, and stores about 600 boats on the hard. The only mishap I have heard about was when a large steel framed shed blew down in a storm and damaged about five boats, but no boat on shores or cradles has fallen.
I am not happy about using a cradle that puts a 45 foot boat onto something about 10 feet long, and the yard seem to agree as they always add bow and stern props, and sometimes lateral props as well.
As this picture of my boat shows the yard cross brace the shores, and if you look at the boat on the left you will see that they have added some extra props to a boat that is on a cradle.