to beach...or not to beach...that is my question

[Ron Burgundy]

I have always anchored in the shallows near my sandbar, but I see a lot of people...especially 'toons that beach their rig. Am I being overly cautions?

[GregF]

I slam mine right up on the beach but watch the tide. I find the best way to anchor is to stick the anchor in the wet sand above the water line and tie it off on stern on the side that the current is coming from.
If you are going to be there a while and not watching the tide, anchor out in the shallow water.

[lakerunner696]

We only anchor, because of the mess from gravel and mud tracked onto boat. We even had a rug and pan of water to wash feet of but still got on floor. Another reason is since I don't beach I haven't had to rebuild or replace a prop.

[1roadking]

I beech my boat at my camp for the whole season. That is my permanent docking position.

[pond tuuunes]

Do you guys that beach your toons notice any wear on the bottoms of the toons? I bought my toon used, and had to have the bottom of the center toon welded,just in the very front, due to wear, from what looks like gravel n sand. JT

[GregF]

I guess a lot depends on your "beach". Ron and I will be going into sugar sand.

[Ron Burgundy]

We do have very fine grain soft sand which is probably why I see so many people doing it. Seems that it would still be a little abrasive on the bottom paint.

[yellowk9]

I suspect you'll get different answers from those of us in fresh water. If you have bottom paint it's probably not a good idea to beach be it sand or gravel.

[Woody]

We are usually in the TN River, and always beach on the sandy banks.

[jimrs]

If your boat has a painted bottom then I would not beach it. What is on sandpaper? and what is it used for? That's all I had to ask myself.

[martys]

Since I have bottom paint on the toons, I don't beach. With the shallow draft of my Premier, I'm very close to the beach anyway.

[Ron Burgundy]

The only reason that I would consider beachin' is because my sandbar tends to get pretty crowded in the summer...especially on the weekend. Last time I went to the sandbar it was windy, and by the time I got my anchors set I had drifted pretty far. I would hate to be in that situation with a crowded beach, and risk bumping into some rich guys boat.

[jafo9]

i always beach. sure there is some abrasion to the underside of the forward toons. i just figure that's part of it. when its warm, i ask everyone, kids especially to swim to the rear ladder for entry. this gets most of the sand/mud off. usually when i beach i power up a bit to lock us in place. the ability to beach like this is one reason why we will probably never have a fiberglass hull vessel as our main boat. of course the expansive space, fridge and potty help too.

[walter]

We beach it every time, all sand, I nudge her up on the beach a little. First duty is to screw the dog anchor in the sand and tie off to the center toon, we've been out for 10-12 hours and the toon doesn't move (no tide but many wave and wind action). 2nd duty is to fill a tub with water and set it off the front deck and make sure the kids know to use it before getting on the boat.

[GregF]

When we go to a crowded beach (not very often) the trick I use is to drop the big hook 60' or so off shore while we are coming in and drag it until it hooks up having a turn on a stern cleat feeding line slow and being ready to feed out some line fast when it hooks. Once you have the stern line hooked run it up to the beach and bury your beach hook in the sand. Then you can adjust the rodes to park the boat where you want it.

Fortunately unless we are in the middle of season (spring break) the beach we go to is pretty much deserted and the sand bars where we drop off Mr Ed always are.

We just land "Higgins boat" style like D Day most of the time, coming in hot, stuffing it in the sand and bailing out. Usually this is just a quick run for Ed and we get back in the boat and go.
I drag the lunch hook and stick it if we are getting off for more than a minute or two.