Scrubbing Posts - What angle?

[Gubbo]

I'm planning on drying out against scrubbing posts next week to change the prop.

My boat has a long (6 foot at bottom) fin and skeg and the pad is flat concrete.

I was planning on using a weight on the boom to cant the boat a little whilst she takes the ground, thinking that around 5 degrees would be ample heel. I also intend to take a line ashore from the masthead.

Are there any other tips I should know? I don't want to heel her over too much for fear of the keel sliding away from beneath me.... or am I being too cautious here?

 

[alec]

You will find things happening very slowly and therefore you will be in full control.

You won't need to have the boom out. Just an anchor or yourself sitting on the side of the posts should do fine when you are near to grounding. A single line for each job is recommended. As John Goode used to say, it's just like leaning a bike against a wall. All the weight is very low down.

We all feel nervous the first time but I'm sure you will be very satisfied with your day's work.

 

[Pye_End]

First time you will probably heel her over a bit more than necessary. Second time you will probably be more upright.

The important thing is to have a line secured from say the mast so that she cannot fall the wrong way, otherwise just a small heel is fine.

 

[retsina]

No need to lean the boat. Make sure that you are right up to the post and put a weight such as anchor as well as your own weight will be enought. Tie the boat to the post form cleats and put a rope aroung the mast to the post. Done it many times in the past with a deep long keel Bruce Roberts yacht, always worrying but always worked.

 

[Leighb]

Danger is in having too little or no heel, the boat can then fall away from the posts and end up looking very precarious.

There was a yacht on the posts at West Mersea last summer which had got it very wrong, leaning outwards at about 25-30 degrees. Only thing stopping disaster was a line ashore attached to the main halyard.

 

[Lakesailor]

You would be surprised at how little force is needed to maintain or correct heel at or near the vertical.
If you imagine a fin keel boat on it's trailer and one of the supporting arms coming loose and swinging away followed by the boat. All that stops the arm folding down to the ground is a trailer wheel.
Well that's what happened to me once towing a boat I'd just collected on a trailer I'd only just met.
I stopped and got out to find the boat leaning over at about 20° from the vertical.
I used some warps to secure it against falling further and along with the two blokes who I'd collected the boat from we decided to try and push it back vertical.
No problem. One of us could have done it without any effort.

As long as you are not too far over some warps from cleats or winches and foredeck bollards to the piles will stop any movement.

A line from the mast head is a bit belt and braces, but can't hurt.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Only ever did this once, we ran the anchor chain along the side deck, put ropes around the posts but not tight till after the fin keel settled and leveled herself.

After this we secured her to the posts and added a line from the mast base to each pile.

She ended up leaning into the posts about 5 degrees and one was permitted to walt along the outside deck at any time.

As others have indicated it all happens very slowly and you have plenty of time to make any corrections, just don't run a lot of lines to start with or you will be adjusting them all, wait till she has settled then get the extras on.

Haven't had this problem since we got the cat.

Avagoodweekend......

 

[peterb]

[ QUOTE ]
She ended up leaning into the posts about 5 degrees and one was permitted to walt along the outside deck at any time.

As others have indicated it all happens very slowly and you have plenty of time to make any corrections, just don't run a lot of lines to start with or you will be adjusting them all, wait till she has settled then get the extras on.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK on scrubbing posts, because the ground should be level, but you can have problems if you put the boat alongside a wall.

We put our boat (a Najad) alongside the wall at Gorey, Jersey. Did all the recommended things; anchor chain along the deck, main halyard taken ashore, etc. Boat touched down very gently, equally gently straightened up and then insisted on heeling the wrong way. Panic!

We ended up with warps running from strong points (winches and cleats) on the wall side, under the boat to the outboard side, then up to the wall bollards. Don't know whether they did the trick, but at least the boat didn't fall over. Made for a very uncomfortable night, though.

It seemed that the problem was in the big lump of lead that forms the Najad's ballast keel. The bottom of the keel is completely flat, while the sea bottom shelves (very gently) away from the wall. To stop several tons of lead from taking up their natural position takes an awful lot of pull!

 

[absit_omen]

[ QUOTE ]
Haven't had this problem since we got the cat

[/ QUOTE ]

How come? Have you trained it to adjust the lines? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[mikejames]

The fun really happens when the concrete is sloped and the bows point uphill a fair amount - then you have to worry about mooring with spring lines and bow lines to take some of the weight of the boat as it leans backwards, and stop it pivoting round the keel.. Also try to remove the backup halyard before leaving . It is extremely confusing to find yourself motoring back 2 feet, heeling and then returning to the piles as you leave at 0200 in the morning.

 

[cliffordpope]

I watched a big heavy ketch being leaned yesterday. Or rather, leaning outwards. She had lots of ropes winched from the mast heads, and someone wading about in the water hammering in wooden support posts.
The bottom was a sort of loose rubbly hardcore, and it appeared this was shifting slightly under pressure. Plan B was to use a pressure hose and blast a groove along the bed on the outside edge of the long keel to try and induce a controlled slip sideways and outwards.

I didn't see what eventually happened.

 

[sparta]

I will be using the scrubbing posts at SYC next weekend, for the first time, to clean the bottom of my 22ft Sparta There are two posts, 11ft apart. A friend recommended using a heavy plank such as a scaffolding board suspended fore and aft outside the fenders so that when the boat settles the plank is leaning against both posts. Is this a reliable procedure or would it be better to dry out leaning against one of the posts directly.My irrational worry is that the weight of the boat leaning against the plank may break it. My rational mind tells me that if the boat is more or less upright the sideways force will be minimal.