driving up the beach in a dinghy

[tcm]

I haven't done this myself, but recently, we got a lift from a beach bar boat, and since it was v wavy, he aimed at the beach, and accelerated. "Look's like he'g going up the beach!" said my nervous mate. "aargh" i replied. A second before hittng the beach he cut the engine and we went up the beach quite smoothly, about 10 yards.

Now, i have a jet-rib tender. Although not a practice i plan all the time (!) wd it be ok to bosh that up the beach too? I am mainly worried about the turbine geting spoiled by sand in it.

Oh, and seeing as how this is a lightly mad posting, can i recommend http://www.priva-plate.com/

 

[ccscott49]

I do the same with my dinghy, it's the only way sometimes! I've seen these jetboat thingys, throwing up lots of sand when close to the beach and they seem to be ok, same as a prop would be, as long as its not buried, but of course the jet boat was designeed with this kind of thing in mind.

 

[KevB]

I do the same with my Jet Ski, (AAARRRGHHHHHHH) but only on sandy beaches. When you've dragged it back into the water just pull and push the back up and down, the movement of the water should clear any sand.

Politically incorrect and proud of it.

 

[david_e]

Re: recommendations

Is that a dodgy trick or wot? Anyway with the speed you drive you won't have time to turn it on before you go thru the trap. Thought I saw a device on TV that uses GPS to alert drivers to the location speed cameras, looked rather neat.

 

[Guest]

Driving up a sandy beach is fine but it only takes 1 little pebble to get sucked up through the grate and its new impellor (sp?) time at about 200 quid a throw.

 

[tcm]

Re: geodesy

..is the name of the gps-based thingy. You can buy if u like. Quite a laugh- but it shows ALL of themn rather than just the ones that are working. So you need a detector too.

 

[jfm]

Anyone remeber the jetboats on Barrier Reef? Yes, have done this for years in various boats incl 20 foot Boston Whaler. IMHO procedure is:

if calm, approach the beach quite fast (12 knots ish) and cut the engine (and in if outboard, trim it up), then glide up the sand.

if breakers, go slower but same trick and surf in on the last few waves, but still need momentum of boat to get that last bit of distance to the dry sand

In both cases, you cut the engine just before landing, and go up the sand on momentum only, no problems then to mechanicals.

In most boats you do not want to go too far up, cos heavy to relaunch. Also if hit too fast, it will not bust the boat but the braking effect is massive (better than 1g I think, because of angle of beach) and passengers will splat about and puncture lungs etc.

Best of all is the waterski walk. You hit the beach at about 15 mph and the ski(s) stop dead, but you have secretly loosened the bindings, and as the skis stop abruptly you just carry on and run up the sand.

Must avoid hitting people on the beach of course, unless they're holding a lolipop in which case you can run over their foot cos it's their fault

 

[Guest]

Can be safely done, but not great for the underneath of the boat if you do it a lot. Need also to remember not to wang it too far up the beach coz they're quite heavy and hard to drag 50ft back into the water. And brace yourself for rapid decceleration...bit embarassing ripping your 'nads off on the handlebars and performing a double-somersault-to-face-plant on the beach.

Also, cut the power early because a jet pump will suck crud off the bottom and into the pump in two feet of water. As KevB points out, once back into the water you need to bounce the back end up and down half a dozen times to wash the sand out the pump housing before restarting the engine.