Tying a boat down

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to leave my boat on the beach for a week of sailing. One afternoon a big storm looked like it was going to pass over us. I was thinking that if the winds were high enough the boat might take a beating even without the sails. I got lucky and the heavy winds passed us by but I want to think about this for the next time.

So how do you guys tie down your boats?

I took a piece of scrap 2x2 wood that was around and wrapped a spare line around it. Then I buried it under the sand a couple of feet, directly under the dolphin striker. I ran the line through the jib cleats and tightened them up. I felt like it might help because I couldn't get the line out with out digging the board up.

I take 2 five gallon pails and 2 80 pound bags of concrete and 2 approx 8 foot lengths of galv chain. Mix one bag each in a 5 gallon pail (only a little at a time, if you put it all in at once you will not be able to mix) while the mix is still wet tie a knot at one end of the chain and force the chain to the bottom of the pail. Let set up and bury so the top of the pail is approx 2 feet below the top of the ground. Place one under the main beam and one under the rear beam. Do not chain or tie to the dolphin striker go around the beams for better support and less stress on the dolphin striker in strong winds. Total cost approx $25, is your boat worth it?

Yeah Kent, burying a piece of wood will to the trick perfectly (we've had the F18 tied like that in 40+ knot storms) and it's a little easier that moving around a couple of chunks of cement. You might want to go a little bigger that 2 x 2 though.

I travel with 2 4 foot sections of 2x6. I bury them outside the boat and tie the trapeze handles down to them with some spare line.

Go with something sturdier for a season long "mooring" otherwise the lumber works pretty good.

Ground screws from a farm supply place...not the little doggie screws.

Old car tyres, one buried beneath the center of the main beam, the other under the center of the rear beam. Some rope to secure the tyres to the beams, works like a charm in soft beach sand.

Kent
You are right that most any cat will take a beating with a summer thunderstorm and should be tied down when left with the mast up. My boat was tied down next to an i20 and the i20 got thrown 50ft by a thunderstorm. Both boats suffered broken masts.

I use wood buried a couple feet to tie my boat down on beach.

If the boat is on gravel or on grass I have two 1 1/2 thick tent poles, the ones that the tent rental places use. They have old ones that they will sell you cheap. You can pound the tent poles into a parking lot or a gravel lot if you had to.

Any screw will be hard to get into rocky soil. Tent poles are way easier to pound into the ground.

Bill

ground screw. Northern Tool about $5 to $9 each. I carry two different sizes...small for dirt, big for sand.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll be better prepared next time.

Its a job to better a car tyre like DM said

Ditto. I also have dog screw anchors (buy at the pet store for $7 ea) for hard packed grass/dirt

My local Southern States carries ground screws also. Everytime I pick up one the same guy asks "What size is your horse" and I have to tell him it is for my beach catamaran. Which always gets the response "Where da ya go fish'n".

Don't forget to tie down your trailer when the boat is tied to it! Still can get blown over.

Hi Guys,

Chris and Jake are correct .... the ground anchors on the left of Jakes pic are the one's you want. They come in different sizes from 1'lg/3"disc up to 42"lg/4"disc. You can also find them at most Arborist Supply Stores ( I think the Farm Supply Stores maybe slightly cheaper???).

To spin them in I use a 2"dia pipe maybe 5-6'lg (old galvanized fence post) w/ either a large screwdriver or crowbar/breaker bar that fits inside the pipe and through the "eye" in the ground anchor .... next walk in circles

Now while I applaud the "buried tire concept" I do not suggest that here in the USA ... because ... by law you are burying/dumping a "Toxic Material/Waste" on a beach .... tires must be "disposed of properly" by federal and state laws. (using a registered/licensed facility I believe)

In a pinch I've placed my boat between some trees (small pines) and tied the traps lines down to the tree trunks. The first time I did it the other members of my YC looked at me funny .... after some of the other small sailboats were thrown around in the field, for the next storm there were other boats beside mine tied down among the pine trees on the high ground at the YC.

Harry
H18mag/P19MX/Laser

I use the ground screws but i also put my cat bows on my trailer and secure it to my trailer in 3 ways:
1. i use the winch and run it under the rear trailer beam (where the tag is) and up to my dolphin striker
2. i use a tie down line that is on my trailer and attach it to my port stay and do the same on starboard
3. i use a tree auger (screw) behind the rear beam and tie the cat port/startboard beam area to the auger.

so my boat is secured very well on all 4 sides.

Of course if the cat next to you doesn't tie down,... it can fall on you...


about the trailer blowing away.. my steel trailer weighs 3 or 400 lbs.. i lower the 5th wheels and it would take a tidal wave to move it..

That being said we recently had a guy leave his h16 on the trailer... and it was pushed in the gulf overnight... not by wind or water.... I had recently asked him to use a ground screw at the least... which he balked at.... (thats his trailer mast cradle sticking up by the starboard bow)

I hadn't had any tie downs for on the beach until recently but I have been worried about it. The first big storm I was camping in I lucked out and we had pulled the boat the day before due to some technical difficulties and had not put it back in the water when the storm hit so it was sitting on the trailer.

The next one wasn't so bad and we had no tie downs it didn't seem to move at all but made me nervous. the last one I had bought some cheap dog style screws that seemed to hold really well but I wasn't sure if they would. They held pretty solid in 40mph gusts. too bad the stupid jet skis down the beach were not tied up as they bang against my hull for a while til another sailor in our group noticed and moved em.

I put a screw under the dolphin striker and under the rear beam tied to the tang that the traveler line ties off at. I like the bigger screws in the picture better I may have to look into those but I want to keep what I have to carry around with the boat to a minimum.