Grounding a Princess v52

[Princess52]

Today my wife and I sat chatting on the boat at Mothercombe Beach in Bigbury bay at the bottom of the tide in 2.3 m of water. On this particular beach the tidal range leaves you close to the shore when you start off 1/4 off. Anyway I was asked by my wife that if someone miscalculated and the boat grounded (and the tide left it on the beach) would it just be a question of waiting for the tide to refloat? Could it refloat or would it be at such an angle that water would enter the boat before it floated? Would the weight of the boat break/bend the shafts/brackets.

I drive past the princess factory regularly and I see them sitting in the mud but I am told it is soft mud. I was not sure so I thought I would ask a friend.

Thanks

 

[PCUK]

I wouldn't want a boat that would break if laid on a beach. Everything should be designed to be fine in this situation. Hopefully Princesses aren't that badly built.

 

[Dill et Bound]

The V52 is not the sort of boat that would take the ground without sustaining some damage to the shafts props and rudders.
I would suggest that the scenario is not put to the test.

 

[Medskipper]

In thirty five years of boating I have never grounded a boat or indeed wanted to! The risk is too high that you damage the shafts rudders or props, mud drawn into the engine intakes blocking them and to top it all, soft mud or not you could just settle onto a sharp object or rock hiding in all that mud and have it pushed up through the hull!
Leave all that to the yachties!
Dont do it!

 

[MapisM]

I can only think of one situation where I would intentionally beach a V52 (or any planing mobo for that matter):
if that would be the only way to stop her from sinking completely.

 

[prv]

In thirty five years of boating I have never grounded a boat or indeed wanted to!

Depends entirely on the boat. Obviously those of you with big shiny props suspended below the hull as the lowest point probably shouldn't, but other designs would be fine. I was looking at an ad for a Seaward the other day which came with a very posh set of adjustable legs for deliberate drying out.

We used to have a yacht with a shallow and very traditional hull shape with no separate keel - not totally dissimilar from some displacement motorboats. I used to beach her on sand or mud quite often, no trouble at all. We now have a more modern yacht with a big fin keel - sails much better but I do miss the flexibility - no more parking on the beach at Bembridge, for example, and we've just taken her down to the West Country but many of the pretty little harbours are no good to us; they'd have suited the old boat perfectly.

Pete

 

[Princess52]

I have no intention of beaching/grounding but the question was what if someone made a mistake and they ended on the beach with the tide gone out.

 

[Elessar]

Today my wife and I sat chatting on the boat at Mothercombe Beach in Bigbury bay at the bottom of the tide in 2.3 m of water. On this particular beach the tidal range leaves you close to the shore when you start off 1/4 off. Anyway I was asked by my wife that if someone miscalculated and the boat grounded (and the tide left it on the beach) would it just be a question of waiting for the tide to refloat? Could it refloat or would it be at such an angle that water would enter the boat before it floated? Would the weight of the boat break/bend the shafts/brackets.

I drive past the princess factory regularly and I see them sitting in the mud but I am told it is soft mud. I was not sure so I thought I would ask a friend.

Thanks

Not something to do deliberately in a planing shaft drive boat except in soft mud. Even then, cutlass bearings and seals suffer if done regularly.
If accidental, you may get away with it, you may not. I'd if hard ground you will probably bend a prop out of balance.

 

[ronsurf]

As a yachtie, I've ground a few times.... Locations with soft mud are usually very calm with minimal wave action. This means they settle with very little drama.

Mothecombe beach is not one of those locations. It's exposed to wave action and is hard sand with the occasional rock. Before grounding, the boat would be exposed to some pretty violent thumping onto the hard sand for about 20 minutes as the tide drops, and 20 minutes as the tide rises. Take it from me, it's a very traumatic 20 minutes. To avoid it on a powerboat I'd drive it onto the sand but even that would be reserved for emergencies, not for a pleasant Sunday afternoon!

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I used to keep my shaftdrive Turbo 36 in a tidal mooring at the top of the River Itchen and that settled into the mud on every tide without any problems. In fact I thought it was beneficial because the hull never seemed to get as fouled as boats which are full time immersed in sea water.

With regard to the OP's question, if your P52 settles onto anything other than soft mud ie hard sand, gravel or rock, there is a very strong likelihood that the props, rudders and shafts will be badly damaged. The sterngear is the generally lowest point on a planing boat and it is not designed to support the weight of the boat. Whether you sink or not when the tide comes back in depends on whether a shaft or rudder is ripped out of the boat during the grounding. The point is that you should avoid grounding your boat at all costs unless you are very sure that, like my mooring, the seabed is very soft

I have grounded my boat twice in my boating career. The first time was in Poole Harbour (with a Princess actually) where I just briefly touched the hard sand bottom with a prop at v slow speed but that was enough to mangle it. The second time was in Chichester harbour where I touched bottom but this time without damage because the boat I had at the time (a Broom) had a small keel which gave a measure of protection to the props

 

[KevB]

Ahhh. The beauty of outdrives.

 

[Elessar]

I used to keep my shaftdrive Turbo 36 in a tidal mooring at the top of the River Itchen and that settled into the mud on every tide without any problems. In fact I thought it was beneficial because the hull never seemed to get as fouled as boats which are full time immersed in sea water.

With regard to the OP's question, if your P52 settles onto anything other than soft mud ie hard sand, gravel or rock, there is a very strong likelihood that the props, rudders and shafts will be badly damaged. The sterngear is the generally lowest point on a planing boat and it is not designed to support the weight of the boat. Whether you sink or not when the tide comes back in depends on whether a shaft or rudder is ripped out of the boat during the grounding. The point is that you should avoid grounding your boat at all costs unless you are very sure that, like my mooring, the seabed is very soft

I have grounded my boat twice in my boating career. The first time was in Poole Harbour (with a Princess actually) where I just briefly touched the hard sand bottom with a prop at v slow speed but that was enough to mangle it. The second time was in Chichester harbour where I touched bottom but this time without damage because the boat I had at the time (a Broom) had a small keel which gave a measure of protection to the props

only twice? You're not trying hard enough

I don't think there is any way settling a shaft drive boat gently would do serious damage like you suggest it might. Maybe a prop repair, but that's all.

 

[Elessar]

Ahhh. The beauty of outdrives.

agreed. I miss drying out deliberately.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I don't think there is any way settling a shaft drive boat gently would do serious damage like you suggest it might. Maybe a prop repair, but that's all.

I suppose it depends whether you're moving forward at the time that you ground the boat. If you are, I guess there's a chance the p brackets and shafts are damaged and maybe even the shafts are pulled out

 

[MapisM]

I don't think there is any way settling a shaft drive boat gently would do serious damage like you suggest it might. Maybe a prop repair, but that's all.

Well, even assuming that the bottom is soft, and that you allow the boat to settle gently while anchored, you might still have a change of current direction pushing the boat sideways, after the rudders/shafts/props begin to be stuck in the bottom.
And in such situation, I don't think it would take a huge lateral force to bend a shaft or the bracket.