Hey guys, looking for some input.

Sailing over to a camping beach in a week or two and will be camping (most-likely on shore) overnight. Anchor the N20 overnight or drag it up on to the beach?

Beach it. Strap three 2" or larger PVC tubes under the trampoline (or across the hulls), use these to slide the boat up the beach.

Beach it. Our Fleet on Lake Erie keeps them on anchors during the day when we come in for refreshments or sail to the next beach bar. If a strong wind comes up, your boat could take a beating in the surf.

You'll sleep better if it's on the beach.

I guess my question more is (and this may very well be a dumb question) if I left the boat in the water over night, is there a chance the boat will absorb water through the gel coat? I'm not overly worried about the anchorage, it's pretty protected.

Alternatively, if I dragged the boat up on to the beach, I could some how rig a tent on the boat instead of bringing a real tent. Although that might be more hassle than it's worth.

A Nacra 20 might not be the best camping platform, but whatever.

You won't have a problem with the gel coat.

We have always used ABS pipoe to help slide the boat up onto the beach, when we use the boat for cruising and beach camping.

Sleeping on the tramp is comfy, protected from dew or rain with a simple blue tarp rigged as a boom tent. That also puts your sleeping and sitting area up off the dirt or sand.

The side of the boat's hull is also a handy place to sit.

Make sure your boom tent lets the blue tarp extend past the tramp and drape over the sides of the hulls and over the front and rear beams.

If you don't you may find that rain will hit the tramp and drip off the underside of the tramp and its lowest point which is right where you are sleeping.

That also allows the water to "wick" upwards and soak your sleeping bag and gear from underneath.

We tried sleeping on a second blue tarp, but that caught a bit of rain and directed some of the water, again to the lowest point created by our body wieght on the tramp.

Beach cats are great for crusing and beach camping, if you approach it as a minimalist, when deciding what to take and what to leave at home.

we camp often - some sail beach wheels out - some just leave it on anchor overnight (for days on end)

really not an problem - just drain it when on land

the issues is when a front comes through at 4am and other cats (on anchor) flip in shallows, dislodging your anchor. then when you wake up ... and you cat is gone ... that's when you really start to worry.

We have a serious problem with barnacles down here, just a few days and the hull is like shark skin.

I usually bring tow small boat fenders (rubber bumpers)to set either the bows or sterns on depending on which way the boat is facing to level it up. Hook your main halyard to your boom and raise it to where you want and snug it up a little with the main sheet then throw a blue tarp over it and bungie it down at all four corners to the cross beams. Makes a great tent. You may want a tarp under you as well since it gets a bit breezy under the trampoline.

That's a pretty good idea. If I beach it and rig a tarp to it, then I can leave the tent at home.

works great in ideal conditions, not so great when it's raining, buggy or windy. I would bring a tent incase

Agreed. Wind can blow the rain in. I use an 8X10 tarp and hook put the 8' part, fore to aft and the 10' part side to side. You can set the boom height to take up most of the slack and bungee the corners to the cross beam ends. I did this ALOT on my H21SE and even camped on the boat with it on a mooring out at Catalina Island in Avalon Harbor. I did put a tarp under the sleeping bags since once in a while a wave would hit from underneath the tramp. I liked the Hollofill type synthetic filled sleeping bags since they still keep you warm if the bag gets a little wet from rain or splashes. If it's cool out, you will feel a breeze under the tramp if you don't use a tarp under you. I've used my spinnaker in a pinch under us to keep warm. Long story short, I had to beach my N20 in the middle of the night on an over night race and we used the mainsail over the boom and wrapped up in the spinnaker and our drysuits to keep warm. Thank God I had a cute female crew with me
It's a lot of fun to camp this way. Power bars and apples make great compact meals. Never pack bananas...unless you like baby food.

we camp with the entire spectrum of camper - guys on windriders rolled up in a small tarp like a burrito overnight, to 3 room 11 person tents, generators and of course ... satellite football

Really, who would go camping with out DTV?

and gran turismo

man, that reminds me of a certain oyster bar in Clermont, a squalled out regatta, Playstation and Grand Theft Auto. Good times watching JC's character try to car-jack an old lady only to get the beat-down put on him...

Your lawn mower.

I would NEVER use my lawnmower to clear paths and tent sites on an island

but i bet my old landlord's could use a new blade