Beach Launching

Discussion in 'Powerboats' started by Namaste, Apr 8, 2013.

  1. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Location: Minnesota

    Namaste Junior Member

    Anyone used a BeachLauncher? I found this online. I want a way to launch my boat quick from my beach and keep it out of the water while I'm at work during the week.
     
  2. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    Location: Eustis, FL

    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Welcome to the forum.

    If you are referring to the motorized trailer looking things with several sets of wheels, then sure you can use it, though I'll bet someone looking to steal your boat would enjoy having a motorized assist to get it to their flat bed.

    [​IMG]

    This is a 1.5 ton model and looks like it could be easily used to cover moderately rough launching conditions. I don't know the price of one of these things, but I can't imagine them being especially inexpensive.
     
  3. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

  4. johneck
    Joined: Nov 2011
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    johneck Senior Member

    $40K for the 2 ton model! Expensive little gadget. Probably only makes sense if you buy this instead of a dock.
     
  5. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    40K to launch a 15k BassTracker? Namaste, what make, model and year are you looking to launch with this?
     
  6. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Location: Minnesota

    Namaste Junior Member

    That's the machine! You are right 40k is really expensive! (3 times what my boat is worth!) 2005 speedster 200. 20' long, weights 3,000 lbs (2,770 in the book without any fuel anchor or anything else) and draws one foot.

    It would be slick to be able to go from my deck to the water in minutes and keep my boat at my house. I can't leave it anchored here because it would be washed up on my beech when I can't get away from work.
     
  7. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    That "device" doesn't look worth 40K, I'd consider making one up from a used trailer or two. Maybe chain drive off a 5 HP lawn mower engine.
     
  8. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Namaste Junior Member

    It's not worth 40k to me :( It's too expensive but it's slick. They have ones with more wheels to get over softer sand or more weight. It's remote control too. The website says it can be used two ways. On calm days it can launch your boat and leave it in the water for when you come back. At 40k, I wouldn't leave it in the water I don't think. Also I'm not sure how legal it is to drive across the beach and it would raise flags to leave a vehicle in the water or on the beach. The other way is to use the remote control from your boat and send it 600' back up the beach and that would park it in my yard where people wouldn't complain. Then when I get back I'd use the remote, it starts, drives into the water, and with the remote it pulls my boat out without even getting into the water in the cold spring. 10k would be a better price for me.
     
  9. PAR
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    PAR Yacht Designer/Builder

    Even at 10K, that's a lot of dock rental rime.
     
  10. michael pierzga
    Joined: Dec 2008
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    michael pierzga Senior Member

    Looks like some serious overkill


    Might be better to purchase a used Travellift , then work as a part time boat launch sharecropper


    http://[​IMG]
     
  11. johneck
    Joined: Nov 2011
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    Location: New England

    johneck Senior Member

    Having hydraulic drive for the wheels sounds like an environmental mishap in the making. Make sure you keep a cash reserve for the fines from the EPA, especially if you leave it in the water.
     
  12. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Namaste Junior Member

    10K would break even after 8 years and I would spend that. I'd get more use out of my boat if I could jump in and go whenever the impulse hit. My house is 30 seconds from the water and 25 minutes from the marina launch ramp.
     
  13. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Location: Minnesota

    Namaste Junior Member

    It's not that long since a small marina could be had by a couple 40k partners... money doesn't buy what it once did.
     
  14. Namaste
    Joined: Apr 2013
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    Location: Minnesota

    Namaste Junior Member

    Because of hydraulic drive wheels specifically?

    Marina trailers use hydraullic arms to fit the shape of the boats and lift the whole trailer up.

    www.thebeachlauncher.com says "Vegetable-based hydraulic oil. Won’t contaminate the environment as petroleum products can. Although it’s a large vehicle, Beachlauncher exerts less pressure than a 175-pound person walking on a sandy beach, and even less on a lake bottom. Wheels that "tread lightly." The Beachlauncher’s wide, low-pressure, all-terrain wheels are designed for a slip-and-grip driving motion for minimal stress and wear on the shore, lakebed and vehicle components. "
     

  15. Steve W
    Joined: Jul 2004
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    Steve W Senior Member

    When I was a kid in the early 60s I had an International Cadet sailing dinghy and my dad had a heavy old 12ft clinker dinghy with a british seagull outboard, my dad built a a kid powered trailer that straddled either boat with short lengths of chain with hooks that picked the boat up by lifting the front tee handle up which lowered 2 of the hooks which hooked to the chainplates, you then pulled down which lifted the boat by simple leverage, you then hooked up the front hook to the tow eye, the boat was then hanging, balanced under the contraption and we could easily launch and retrieve either boat from the beach and haul it home which was just a few hundred level yards from the beach, then set the boat down on the ground and pick up the other boat. Instead of a hitch to a car there was a tee cross bar at about shoulder level which made it easy for 2 kids to move it, the thing was brilliant and was fabricated out of trussed ems tube and old british motorcycle front forks and wheels. I have never seen anything like it before or in the ensuing 50 years.

    Steve
     
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