Slick Bottom

Here's a more typical landing with an onshore wind and low surf.

I cry a little every time i see that lol

Edited by MN3 on Jul 07, 2017 - 01:44 PM.

And that video is down in Palm Beach County if I am not mistaken. Look at the difference where the waves break. In Daytona even under calm conditions it's an offshore break. In S FL its a shore break only.

Damon, Do you have an recommendations for protecting my skeg designed cat when beaching?

saltlife77 wrote: Damon, Do you have an recommendations for protecting my skeg designed cat when beaching?

I think all the possibilities have been mentioned, my own choice on this has always been to just use the boats as intended and then periodically do a "bottom job" to restore the gelcoat. Don't wait until it's worn down to bare fiberglass or you have a much bigger job to do.

In the earlier days of beachcat sailing there were some products out there to add strips of metal or plastic to the bottom of a Hobie 16, one of the many products introduced during the peak of beachcat sailing that just seemed like it would cause more problems than it fixes.

Sounds like you are already doing everything you can by getting it onto beach wheels as soon as you can reasonably do it. Your original question was about Slick Bottom like air boats use, I can't see that helping at all since the surface area in contact with the sand is so small, those type chemical products are designed for large flat bottoms to more easily slide over mud and grass. http://www.gatorglide.com/

But I could be wrong, so try it out and report back!

I guess the real answer to your original post is "No, no one has tried Slick Bottom on their beachcat".