1994 350 Aft Cabin

[dfirkins]

Hello Everyone, purchased a 350 Aft but can't drive it home until spring. It's in a slip 5 hrs away by car, so can only guess what the height of the bow will be when beached? Looking at beach ladders that are bow mounted. But need info if someone has installed one. To me it looks like I will need between a 8 to 10 step unit?? We spend alot of time beached. Thanks Dennis

[km1125]

How steep is the beach where you're beaching at? I'd bet that boat drafts over three feet (maybe just over three) so the aft end would still have to be in deeper water.

My guess is you'd have at least 4' above the water at the bow, but considering the bow would still be a foot below the water (at least), you'd probably need a 6' ladder or so to make it.

[g36]

It's probably just me but I would never intentionally beach my aft cabin carver. Anchor and maybe throw a tail hook to the shore sure, but not beach it.

[tomschauer]

Where we are we regularly anchor in very shallow water with a sandy bottom.
If you are moving from a boat with an outboard or outdrives that you could lift out of the water while beaching the boat, you will want to consider changing your approach. You do not want your props and struts to be hitting bottom. They are really expensive to repair or replace. Much more so than an outdrive prop.
Consider anchoring out in at least 4' of water and use a dink or kayak to hit the beach.

Have fun!

[bud37]

I agree with the above.....beaching a 20000 # + boat is not a good idea, unless it is sinking... .......anchor out, drop a stern anchor as well to keep the boat still, then you can get off the platform.......tip here , consider a dinghy , it will come in handy to drop stern anchors close to or on shore then you can adjust the boat accordingly.

Good luck with your new boat.

[km1125]

One thing I always worried about when getting in shallow water...

Well, two things. One area we'd go into was virtually all sand, but there was the occasional rock. Dinging a prop on one of those wouldn't have been fun. I actually did ding one in an area close to that, but didn't plan on getting that shallow. I was in about 6' of water and dropped the hook, as the boat pivoted around in the wind, the aft end went a little shallower and there must have been a rock sticking up, because my prop hit something. Had to pull that and get it fixed.

The other area is almost ALL sand, but the occasional rock. So I'll anchor a bit farther out, then walk the boat into shallower water so we can walk back and forth to the boat and just climb up the swim platform. I still keep a foot or two under the props though, because I'd be concerned about waves or wake rocking the boat and "pounding" the gear into the sand. Don't know how much it would take to do damage, but don't want to risk that.

[LLL]

We (and dozens of other cruisers) beach all the time. We are on the river an have a few nice sand bars with good dropoffs.
We installed bow steps on our 32 ft Montego. I plan on repairing the first set of holes my hubby drilled this year .
To be honest, I've seen people use telescope ladders without any issues. That may be a better option. That being said, I love our steps
At any rate, we beached and measures from where we wanted to mount steps to sand and went from there. You'll have to beach again too install.