Beaching a Zodiac Pro 7

[bluenoser]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I just purchased a used Pro 7, and live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I was hoping to camp with the family on some of the near shore islands in the area. Has anyone with a pro 7 tried beaching using inflatable boat rollers? or transom wheels.

I will be beaching on secluded beaches that are sheltered. According to the manuals the boat weights 350lbs and the motor about 250lbs, so a total of about 600lbs.

I found inflatable rollers on amazon that are rated for 2000lbs, and i have also found transom wheels that are rated for 600lbs.

What do you guys think? Am i better off just anchoring? I would love to beach it if I could, I just now I would sleep better, as long as I know I could get the boat up and down the beach

Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks for any advice.

Max

[Red Fox]

I think transom wheels will be difficult to push as they will dig in and i doubt they will be strong enough not to bend. They may well support 600lbs vertically but will bend when force is applied laterally. Had a pro 7 and a proper road trailer and when that dug in on shingle or soft sand, there was no way of pushing it. Had to re-attach the car and use that. I doubt if inflatable rollers would work either unless there are at least four of you the size of rugby forwards. 600+lbs on sand/shingle is not easy to shift when it is the shape of a boat.

[bluenoser]

Thanks Redfox, sounds like that dream is dead Oh well, I guess anchoring isn't so bad.

Just curious if there is anyone else out there that has done this?

Thanks

[office888]

It can be done, but you will not be happy with the results.

I would recommend anchoring.

[spartacus]

Anchor every time. What you haven't included is the weight of fuel, camping kit, etc. the Zodiac Pro although relatively light is still a heavyweight compared to a SIB. You risk damaging the hull if you get it wrong.

Get a small inflatable tender, or put the boat on a back anchor so you can keep it away from the shore.

[andyjcox1]

The only way I would do this is to plan for a high water in the evening on a sandy beach. Take the boat up close to the high water mark. Anchor and let the tide go out. You then have approx 12 hours for it to go out and come back in again while you have a sleep.

Or rollers could work if you had a winch to attach to a tree to get it higher up the beach as long as there was an anchor point to take it back the other way.

[macattack101]

Try an anchor buddy which will keep the boat offshore but you can pull it in with a bow line. They are on eBay.