MacGregorSailors.com

I mean to beach the boat Yes my first time with my

I must confess the one thing I've always been envious about rubber dinghys , not anymore
and at this time it's not crammed with tourists yet, all mine!!!!! lol

my selfishness has been punished anyway, when it was time to leave it was low tide and it's been a hard work to get her floating again

Suggestion only.. Beach with no ballast..or If you come in with water ballast in place she'll stop sooner ( deeper by a few inches) and later if your set up to do so? You can pump it out making the boat, close to 1000 lbs lighter.
Kedge set, two anchors in deeper water and use port and starboard winches to kedge/winch her off the sand.

Very nice.

Very nice! We should start up a thread on pictures of beached Mac's.



Q1

How's about 'Macgregor Beach Club'

Not my boat...Glissando belongs to BastonJock...but I took the picture. This is Sea Palling on the East Coast of the UK.



And this is Konig beached (almost) at the Jax Mac Get-Together 2009 in Jacksonville, FL. It was fully beached about 3:00 a.m. in the morning.



Cheers,
Jim

Beaching is great as you don't need to get your feet wet in cold water and no rocking when tide goes out at night.
Easy to roll out of the bunk in the morning if you are sleeping aft.
Have a gimble stove if on a bank.
Dave

Divecoz wrote:Suggestion only.. Beach with no ballast..or If you come in with water ballast in place she'll stop sooner ( deeper by a few inches) and later if your set up to do so? You can pump it out making the boat, close to 1000 lbs lighter.
Kedge set, two anchors in deeper water and use port and starboard winches to kedge/winch her off the sand.

Thanks for the suggestion, so, I could exploit emptying the ballast making the boat lighter in order to free the boat off the sand, , however,I noticed that althought the bottom of the boat was already laying on the sand, still the transom valve was under the sea level, would in this case the water flow out the ballast? Could the pressure of an air pump (I mean one of those used to inflate beach toys) through the air valve under the V berth suffice to blow the water out? I think I'm going to experiment next time

gianpaolo wrote:

Divecoz wrote:Suggestion only.. Beach with no ballast..or If you come in with water ballast in place she'll stop sooner ( deeper by a few inches) and later if your set up to do so? You can pump it out making the boat, close to 1000 lbs lighter.
Kedge set, two anchors in deeper water and use port and starboard winches to kedge/winch her off the sand.

Thanks for the suggestion, so, I could exploit emptying the ballast making the boat lighter in order to free the boat off the sand, , however,I noticed that althought the bottom of the boat was already laying on the sand, still the transom valve was under the sea level, would in this case the water flow out the ballast? Could the pressure of an air pump (I mean one of those used to inflate beach toys) through the air valve under the V berth suffice to blow the water out? I think I'm going to experiment next time

Sure. The water level in the ballast tank will become equalized with the outside sea when you open the valve and the vent. A 12v DC inflator will certainly have enough pressure to mostly blow it out, just close the valve right before you turn it off.

Blowing out your tank can be done with a small 12 volt dingy pump or a foot pump.
I always have beached with full ballast in. (that way I can empty ballast and raise water line 4-5 inches to float off if landing on a full moon, or a off shore wind sucking the water from the bay).
I often beach my boat (25% of time ) in protected waters for overnight camping.
Dave

gianpaolo wrote:

Divecoz wrote:Suggestion only.. Beach with no ballast..or If you come in with water ballast in place she'll stop sooner ( deeper by a few inches) and later if your set up to do so? You can pump it out making the boat, close to 1000 lbs lighter.
Kedge set, two anchors in deeper water and use port and starboard winches to kedge/winch her off the sand.

Thanks for the suggestion, so, I could exploit emptying the ballast making the boat lighter in order to free the boat off the sand, , however,I noticed that althought the bottom of the boat was already laying on the sand, still the transom valve was under the sea level, would in this case the water flow out the ballast? Could the pressure of an air pump (I mean one of those used to inflate beach toys) through the air valve under the V berth suffice to blow the water out? I think I'm going to experiment next time

Excellent stuff it's what the macs do better than most.
It's a bit harder when you have small tide changes or longer durations but as a basic rule by going in on a half ebb tide you should be able to calculate when you can get lift off and if beaching in a group try not to get highest up the bank as that will mean you are last off and left behind like a couple in this photo although we had to wait to clear the reef on the way out anyway.


Party time

Beaching at Cape Lookout, NC