drying out a fin keeler

[matelot]

about to buy one for the first time and lots of harbours round here dry.

so what the procedure / best advice for drying out against the harbour wall? do you have to be there every time the boat goes down?

 

[ChrisE]

Well we dry out quite often, we have a fin and skeg arrangement but all of the weight lies on the keel.

Just pole up to the wall where you want to dry, it helps to know that others have dried there before, because some harbours have junk on the bottom.

Moor up as usual, making sure that your breast ropes are tightish and put a line from the mast to the shore, some places have a ring just for this purpose, at Lymington, for instance there is ring that we attach our main halyard to. You certainly want to be there the first time she goes down to make sure that you have done you sums right with the tension on the mast pulling the boat towards the quay, you really don't want to be leaning away from the wall. It isn't always catestrophic as I've observed others doing such but it wouldn't take too much for the whole thing to topple over. There was a post here not so long ago showing such a happening.

Then relax, we've gone up and down on several tides, we stay for the first fall tightening up the ropes if necessary but then not so worried thereafter. I've not tried this in say the Channel Islands where I'd guess you need to more attentive but in the 2m ranges we play in it has suited us to date.

Best of luck, if you have a try.

 

[fisherman]

Different for me I know, but I always hang a weight on one mooring warp to keep tight to the wall: if you ground away from the wall and fall in it can be disastrous. I often see yachts with a weight, ie fuel can, bucket of water/sand/stones, hung on a halyard made off to a point inland, keeping the tension through the rise and fall. (I can't do that, I have 100 lt drums of water on deck instead.)

 

[ChrisE]

I like the idea of a wieght to keep the tension on the halyard, I'll have a play with that.

 

[Poignard]

Here's a photo I took of a fin keeler dried out in St Peter Port, Guernsey, last summer.
[image]

[/image]

Note the perfect facilities - wooden blocks for the keel to rest on, hefty bollards, ladder, tide gauge and pub just across the road.

 

[johnalison]

I can't get hold of a photo I took of a bilge-keeler on the same grid a few years ago. His outer keel was about an inch from the edge of the grid - an inch from disaster!

 

[rwoofer]

I hate these type of grids. Makes drying out a whole lot more dangerous. I certainly couldn't risk drying out on them myself.

 

[Piddy]

SWMBO liked it here - nice and close to M&S!

It was nice and clean and without the grids to fall off.

Cheers

 

[ebbtide]

A snap-block onto shroud or main halliard then the short line ashore reduces the amount of string and the attention required.
Until the masthead sheave shatters under the unreasonable load caused by excessive weight, namely all berths occupied on the outboard side.
At which point the TV cameras arrive.
I can larf now . . just.

 

[Piddy]

It would have been better if there was an eye alongside the mast (or even somewhere near) but the only place to take a mast line to was level with the bow and stern cleats and close to the edge of the quayside, so having the strop to the mast at quayside height made more sense to me. The position was set as much by the ladders as anything else - The HM was confident of the hard standing and I'd seen it a number of times before.

It was the first time I had dried her out so it was very much a belt and braces technique. As it happens everything was fine - no movement at all and SWMBO was happy to spend a few hours shopping in St. Peter Port.

I had been hoping for a weedy prop or heavy fouling as the engine had stopped reaching maximum revs that holiday - eventually I discovered a blocked exhaust manifold.

 

[graham]

I try to get the boat almost bolt upright.If leaning in too much when the weight comes on the fenders flatten causing you to lean too much.If your spreaders are long ones this can be a problem.

i know people do let their boats dry out unattended by using various clever dodges such as weights on the side decks and on the lines to take up the slack personally I couldnt relax not being there.

 

[gavin_lacey]

Be aware - not all fin keelers are happy drying out like the ones pictured. Some nose dive and even more will fall backwards onto their spade rudders. A lot depends on the length of the keel. Modern high aspect fin keels are far from ideal for drying out. Older fins - only slightly shorter than long keels are much better.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Lay your chain along the side deck.