Moving Getaway onto beach w/ 1 person???

I have a Hobie Getway (almost 17 ft., 390 lbs., 7'8" beam). I'm going to be storing the boat on the grass on a Minnesota lake. I'll be pulling the boat up a gradual incline sand beach that is about 6 inches deep.

What ideas do you have for storing it on land for only one person to move it? I'm a big guy (6'4", 240 lbs.).

Would the beach wheels work well for only 1 person? Which model do you recommend? How do they attach to the trailor? Anyone selling wheels used for a Getaway?

Thanks, Doug

it wont be easy going uphill, but not impossible.

If you could get wheels, and then find a place to put a winch that could help you, that'd be ideal.

Doug:

Try these with the winch. http://dgaleana2.proboards56.com/in...action=display&thread=1143785090
Or do like I did. Tie a rope to dolphin striker and around waist and just back up. It worked on my 340 lbs Hobie 17. But winch would work better as you could hold the controller in one hand and steady the hulls with other hand.

Doug

That much?!?! Where's the Future Of Sailing guy?

I have to move a Hydra 16 (170 odd kilos up a sandy beach by myself.
I have thin pneumatic tyres and it is hard work.
I understand and believe that the fat tyres are best if you just pay the price. I work one side when the sand gets deep and then the other.
It is worth the effort.
Don't go for the wide yello wheel for sand,, You need to be able to let a bit of air out so the tyre flatten to their widest.
I use the yellow wheels also on another boat and they are only okay.
I have developped a very effective way of using those wheel sets by the way if they cause you trouble.

However.. I found four rubber fenders very easy with my old '59 20 foot Attaunga Attached. Put one under each hull and push and when they almost run out put the other two under..soft sand is easy then.

NICE BOAT!!! 59!!!! Man you sure made it look new.

Doug

I bought it off a doctor who home built it on his verander in '59 and I gave it the BIG birthday and had a great few years on it and then sold it back to his daughters as they realised it was a family hierloom. The girls used to sail it by themselves. Can you imagine having that boat to play on in the mid 60s!
Another photo of her down from the house waiting to go.

The large smooth tires work best, they must have the cradles. The boat needs to be be perfectly balanced before you start to move it. To much weight on the bow and you are lifting and pulling, to much weight on the stern and you have to pull down and pull forward. I can put the wheels under and move my nacra 6.0 by myself in South Florida sand and I am 62 years old. When you return to the beach and the wind is blowing onshore, I will leave my jib on to help move the boat.

Depending on the steepness of the beach, you might be able to use the following approach.

After seven years of moving my Mystere 6.0 up and down the beaches on Southern Califnornia's Channel Islands, I have come up with a very simple method that can sometimes be done with one person. I'll explain, then I'll explain the system that Bill Mattson and myself use for more difficult situations.

With the bows facing downhill, place a pair of fenders like these under the sterns. Wrap your arms around a bow and lift the boat. Most of the weight transfers back to the fender rollers and you just might be able to shove her uphill.

Here's how Bill and I do it on remote islands where nobody is around to help:
We use what we call Q-tip rollers that are a pair of fenders connected together by bungie tension and spaced apart by a section of ABS pipe. We carry two or three sets. With those under the boat, we plant an eight pound anchor in the beach and pile boulders on top of it. From that anchor we rig a 4:1 block and tackle to a bridle rope tied to the boat's cross beam. One guy pulls on the block and tackle, one guy pushes or pulls the boat and rotates the rollers as they pass under the boat.

You could replace the anchor with either an existing tree, or a steel survey stake that you sledge hammer into the ground. Or you could burry a 4"x4" post.

Bill demonstrates moving his Hobie 18 by himself.

GARY

These are the exact fenders I used to move my big boat. They are very surprising.