imagineero wrote:

Here's a question from a resourceful person (read idiot)

Are there any alternatives to slipping a boat when you're miles from
anywhere and need to get the hull out of the water for repairs, or just
because you're too cheap to pay for it when you want to paint your
hull?


Sure. Do it the way Captain Cook did.


The boat in question is a thunderbird 26, plywood with 5' draft. Can
you just motor it up as high as you can onto a beach and prop it up
with something then wait for the tide to go out?

Yes.

... Will the keel sink
into mud/sand and get stuck there, unable to re-float?


Probably not. You could lessen the risk by making sure it
was resting on something with slightly better support.


if everything goes wrong and the whole lot falls over, will it flood
when the cabin when the tide comes back in and never float again?


Probably not. OTOH it could easily fall and damage the hull.


This is what happense when you've had a boring day at work and start
imagining things ;-)


Imagine making a cradle that you could lash in place under
the hull with the boat afloat, then sail to a place where
the bottom is relatively level and the tide range is enough
to let you work on the bottom. At high tide, put the cradle
overside & in place, pull up to the beach, secure the boat
in place... it would be good foresight to have a couple of
extra anchors...

Another option is to careen it afloat. Put a block on the
main halyard, hoist it up (with a heavy rope thru first),
then heave the boat down so it's laying on it's side. There
you go, work on the exposed side of the bottom to your
heart's content! No rushing to finish before the tide
catches you. Then do the other side.

BTW how did a Thunderbird get to Australia? You mean one of
these, right?
http://www.thunderbirdsailing.org/photos.htm

Fresh Breezes- Doug King