Refloating a Bilge keel boat after grounding

There are some places where you just mustn't ground, or at least get stranded. In my area, the Deben and Ore entrances are notorious for wrecking yachts, which may ground in quiet conditions, only for it to blow up before refloating, when the cockpit may fill with shingle leaving the boat submerged.

It is a case of swings and roundabouts. A bilge-keeler will remain more or less upright, but this won't prevent damage from pounding if conditions are bad and the bottom hard. At least with a fin you have a chance of getting off if you are quick about it, by backing off, putting the boat about, backing the jib or whatever, wheareas with bilge keels you are more or less stuck when you touch.
 
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If bilge keelers are forced on their side by tidal flow on grounding the bucket effect can stop them righting easily as tide rises. A local club member gave vivid description of it. It would have all self restored with more water but unfortunately his anchor had self launched and tied him unknowingly to the spot until that oddity was noted.

A few Centaurs were believed to had damage from hard mud berths forcing keels apart. Not a worry in the Bristol Channel where as the saying goes it is too thick to pour but too thin to plough.

More worrying is grounding on hard surface in a swell and that can split the keels from boat or snap keel bolts. I have seen worried boat owners in Ilfracombe after a storm checking their dried out craft for ominous signs. To state the bleeding obvious, grounding on rocks in bad weather can wreck bilge keelers as much as fin.
 
The answer to your question is that it depends. If you are snagged side on across a bar the sea state could have a very different character to an hour or 2 later when you could have wind over tide and breakers. It wouldn't take much for waves to roll pretty much anything over with a stuck keel, regardless of type.
 
C08 said:
There is another grounding/drying out scenario that can give real problems. If you dry out facing the outgoing tide then there is no problem until the tide turns. If there is a fierce rise of tide the boat is facing stern to the oncoming flow and before the boat has enough water to float may be heeled at an acute angle away from the oncoming flow. If you were unlucky enough to also be on a slope then it is possible that the boat could heel over onto its side in just a foot or two of water. I have had a couple of worrying incidents like this both on the Mersey upstream from Liverpool.
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probably like me trying to get up to Fiddlers Ferry!
 
Chris R said:
Cheers for that
I know that bilge keelers regularly and happily ground when they are at the top of a creek but I’m trying to discover how they behave when there is a significant tidal swell as there is in the Chichester entrance
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Chichester Entrance ????? If you are grounding there - somethings very wrong !! You would need to be so close to shore on the eastern side ... or skirting the bank that extends out on the western side.
Either way .. there should not be a big problem except when she refloats - you better be prepared for the swing of the boat as that tidal current catches her.
 
What you really need is a new crew member! I ran aground when entering the Hamble River (!). Well, actually, I told my crew to steer between the posts and call me if there were any problems, then went to pack away the mainsail. It's rather like putting a duvet cover on, it fights back and often ends up with you folded into it - blind to what is going on around you. First thing I knew was the bump as we hit the beach. We were lucky in hitting perpendicular to the slope of the beach , but the tide fell away so quickly that everything we tried was too late. We rowed out the kedge ready to haul off and sat on the angle of the coachroof eating sandwiches and swaffing a can of beer. Not a lot of scope for four hours of I spy in the dark...

The point is that despite my explaining that it was entirely my fault as I hadn't adequately checked that he had indeed understood what he was being asked to do, he still to this day tells everyone it was his fault - brilliant!

I'm more worried as to why you were travelling sideways.

Rob.
 
Accidents/miscalculation happen but changing your boat wont stop that. Next time it might be rougher and would smash any sort of keel, healing over would be the least of your worries on the bank off chichester in a blow. Learn from it and practice your navigation would be much cheaper and safer than changing boats!
 
We have a bilge keel Westerly Fulmar in Chichester Harbour and have once run aground close to just inside East head. Fortunately it was a breezy day and we were heading up wind well healed at the time. As we let the main sail out and returned to an even keel, so to speak, our draft reduced and we came off and tacked back into the channel. Had this been a single keel we would have been caught for a scrub!
But be wary in a bilge keel if you ground on a falling tide you are likely to be held until the tide returns because heeling has the effect of Increasing draft usually unless very extreme!
Beaching on the other hand can be a wonderful way to explore interesting area's of the coast and we have often used this aspect, in places like the channel Islands. Settling on to or rising off hard sand in any waves is disconcerting and we often beach rear to the beach with the main anchor out front so that we can haul and motor off if there is going to be a prolonged period of bouncing on the bottom.
The rudder depth is about 6" less than the keels so it often remains off the bottom, however if it's soft it will sink in but in my view the vast majority of the load is taken by the keels unless you have an unfortunate settling on a rock for example. For this reason we usually scout any area at higher tide before making the decision to beach! Google maps can be useful in this regard.
 
LadyInBed said:
If it's a lightweight boat, then some jumping up and down on the transom end sometimes helps.
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With the traditional drag of the keel on our previous boat, the sternpost was the deepest part. When I got stuck (which I did fairly regularly) I’d run out to the end of the bowsprit which would lift the stern quite a bit and often get me free. I once did it with the engine at max chat in reverse and a four-year-old on his own in the cockpit, while his dad was on the bowsprit next to me ;)

That’s for getting off the putty in sheltered water, though, where the worst case is settling down to have dinner somewhere you didn’t plan to. Grounding on a hard bottom in a swell is bad news whatever type of keel you have.

Pete
 
johnalison said:
There are some places where you just mustn't ground, or at least get stranded. In my area, the Deben and Ore entrances are notorious for wrecking yachts, which may ground in quiet conditions, only for it to blow up before refloating, when the cockpit may fill with shingle leaving the boat submerged.

It is a case of swings and roundabouts. A bilge-keeler will remain more or less upright, but this won't prevent damage from pounding if conditions are bad and the bottom hard. At least with a fin you have a chance of getting off if you are quick about it, by backing off, putting the boat about, backing the jib or whatever, wheareas with bilge keels you are more or less stuck when you touch.
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Based on experience it depends.

If you are anchored in a mooring then basically you just go up and down with the ride

Otherwise if you are anywhere where there is a strong tide, breaking waves or an onshore wind RIG A KEDGE at some distance to seaward from the stern. That should keep your stern to the tide, not nice but practical.
Because on the cock up you got into it is too late to deploy the anchor from the bow.
Otherwise the boat broaches and you get pushed up the beach each time the waves lift the boat. That means that you float but cannot actually manoeuvre the boat.
Keel damage may result otherwise.

If it is a total cock up then get a hedge out as soon as possible to avoid being pushed up the beach. Also to keep the boat from broaching.

Learned this when sailing my new boat home and decided, under advice from a more experienced member of the crew, to take refuge in a small harbour.
It was a rising tide, but we were early. Missed the channel and ran out of water

Had a couple of torrid hours.
New to me boat, no obvious KEDGE or chain. Eventually found an anchor, a bit if chain and a long line. Chucked over the stern and hoped.

It was raining, blowing, we were tired and the experience drained us.
Eventually we stopped being pushed up the beach and had enough water to float. Found the channel and sneaked into the harbour.
prv said:
With the traditional drag of the keel on our previous boat, the sternpost was the deepest part. When I got stuck (which I did fairly regularly) I’d run out to the end of the bowsprit which would lift the stern quite a bit and often get me free. I once did it with the engine at max chat in reverse and a four-year-old on his own in the cockpit, while his dad was on the bowsprit next to me ;)

That’s for getting off the putty in sheltered water, though, where the worst case is settling down to have dinner somewhere you didn’t plan to. Grounding on a hard bottom in a swell is bad news whatever type of keel you have.

Pete
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Keep KEDGE and chain on the stern and 30m of line handy.

Trust me you will need it one day to avoid being pushed up the beach to your doom.
 
Gwylan said:
Based on experience it depends.

If you are anchored in a mooring then basically you just go up and down with the ride

Otherwise if you are anywhere where there is a strong tide, breaking waves or an onshore wind RIG A KEDGE at some distance to seaward from the stern. That should keep your stern to the tide, not nice but practical.
Because on the cock up you got into it is too late to deploy the anchor from the bow.
Otherwise the boat broaches and you get pushed up the beach each time the waves lift the boat. That means that you float but cannot actually manoeuvre the boat.
Keel damage may result otherwise.

If it is a total cock up then get a hedge out as soon as possible to avoid being pushed up the beach. Also to keep the boat from broaching.

Learned this when sailing my new boat home and decided, under advice from a more experienced member of the crew, to take refuge in a small harbour.
It was a rising tide, but we were early. Missed the channel and ran out of water

Had a couple of torrid hours.
New to me boat, no obvious KEDGE or chain. Eventually found an anchor, a bit if chain and a long line. Chucked over the stern and hoped.

It was raining, blowing, we were tired and the experience drained us.
Eventually we stopped being pushed up the beach and had enough water to float. Found the channel and sneaked into the harbour.

Keep KEDGE and chain on the stern and 30m of line handy.

Trust me you will need it one day to avoid being pushed up the beach to your doom.
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I can only concur, but setting a kedge in a rolling sea with a boat heaving above your head and smashing down on sand can be terrfying. We came into Ilfracombe harbour early not realising it was much less sheltered in the outer part of outer harbour and then discovered that not only could we not get as far as pickup buoys but that it really pounds there if any north in wind.

If deliberately beaching if any onshore breeze it is best to go in astern and drop bows anchor before you touch. getting off astern is harder and your main achor iss better to hold you seaward than your kedge
 
Bilge keelers are very popular on the East coast as it's so shallow, everywhere! Plus it makes for cheap mooring. They take the ground well but will bump & grind if a tidal swell on a hard bottom. They are designed to take the ground though so it doesn't cuase them harm unless the swell is bad. Mine takes the ground twice a day on a mud mooring and too be honest you don't even know it's happening until you realize the boat isnt moving anymore.
 
oldmanofthehills said:
If deliberately beaching if any onshore breeze it is best to go in astern and drop bows anchor before you touch. getting off astern is harder and your main achor iss better to hold you seaward than your kedge
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I'd be concerned about the risk of damage to the rudder on my boat if I went in astern. On the rare occasions I know I'm going to beach and will need a kedge, I drop it on the way in, ideally on a falling tide, then motor in until the fronts of the keels ground, then keep slow ahead until the boat settles.
 
My only experience of this has been deliberately parking a bilge keeler on a slipway. The solution to the pounding as the tide is still going out but there is a bit of a swell is get a couple more blokes on board from the slipway to weight it down more.

Anf for floating off, walk out (with waders) and dig in the anchor. As soon as the boat lifts pull her out to deeper water, pounding completely eliminated.
 
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