INVESTIGATOR 563

Just returned from Wales and forgotten how massive their tidal changes are over there.
Pity the poor Welsh sailors having to drag an extra keel (or two) with them wherever they go.
Photos of spectacular Conway harbour and castle in background plus one of Beaumaris jetty on isle of Anglesey (land of my fathers)

Some more

Thanks for these images. Here in Victoria there are parts of the coast where I think a bilge-keeler could work too.

If you like a read about being at sea, check out Ming Ming and the art of single-handed sailing. That was a much modified bilge-keeler trailer sailer. Great writing,

I have had the odd thought about yacht-legs but I have never done anything about it.

http://corribee.org/technical/legs/

Good one Peter - Looked up your reference and read about Roger Taylors' astounding feats of seamanship in "Mingning" up around Iceland in the North sea in a small junk rigged boat not much bigger than an Investigator. http://www.thesimplesailor.com/voyages.html
Interesting your link to a hull support - seems like a lot of ironmongery to carry around though on the off chance of being marooned on a low tide. I like the plank with tie ropes idea. A rope tied at each end of a plank then before grounding running the plank under the hull and securing each rope either side to the middle stanchions. Breaking open a bottle of whisky and then waiting for the next tide. However if you're already gounded then this obviously won't work - just open the whisky and get used to sleeping at 45 degree angle till the next tide.
Cheers

Glad you like the link, Emrys, and thanks for the correction of the name. I have read a couple of Roger's books via my Kindle and I did enjoy them very much. Extraordinary stuff and adventures, much better appreciated from my couch, for mine.

You are right about the ironmongery that goes along with yacht-legs - I guess if you want to sail a boat with a keel in an area with large tides then you'll do what it takes. I was looking into this very situation myself, and found the link - which is a well executed solution IMHO.

Have you, or anyone else reading this, tried the plank under the boat technique? I would be interested because I have been caught out by a falling tide. It didn't leave me on the dry, Pip stayed upright but dug herself into a hole to float in. It was difficult to get her out of the following morning. Since then I completed the coastal navigation course and have a much better appreciation of the usefulness of tide tables.

I wasnt correcting you Peter my fat fingers got it wrong . Your "Mingming" was right.
Little bright one in Chinese so the web says.
I would also like to know if anyone has tried the plank and two ropes trick when going aground.

I haven't done the rope and plank under the hull when drying on a tide, but I have seen it used to stabilise a boat on stands, and it works. The same plank could be used as a fender board when alongside pilings. I have run aground on a sandbank, and whilst it is uncomfortable, there were no problems.

Just trolling through some old posts iI had forgotten. I sometimes carry a folding shovel on the boat , mainly to stabilise our beach shelter if we go ashore . there are lots of little "extra" beaches springing up at the channel since the Swansea dredge started operating. I may have mentioned back a while that I meant to experiment digging a narrow slot in the beach to "park" the keel into when ashore. I think if you went long enough , which does not really require moving a lot of sand it would probably hold the boat up in a dryout, particularly on a beach with a steep approach, as we have.

Looking at that pic of Palimida I wonder if scooping a slot in the sand under the keel during the drying out would work on a sand flat to make the heeling angle more user friendly. Anybody ever tried something similar.

Interesting to see the pic of Palmyra careened, Investigators don't heel over too far on a falling tide . The the keel plank idea sounds good for the first experiment..

Looking at the photo of Palmyra, if a grounded Investigator was somehow heeled towards the beach-side and then a prop/strut firmly placed under the seaward gunwale, then the heeling angle would be a bit more liveable..

Looking at the photo of Palmyra, if a grounded Investigator was somehow heeled towards the beach-side and then a prop/strut firmly placed under the seaward gunwale, then the heeling angle would be a bit more liveable..[/quote]

Dont forget the force on a prop increases significantly as she heels further. Also you would need some kind of pad on the mud to support a prop. IMHO you keep vertical (balanced), or you let her heel on her bottom.