Do you need Hamby's or keel guard if you have talons or pro poles??
Do you need Hamby's or keel guard if you have talons or pro poles??
Always great to have some sort of keel guard IMO, poles or no poles.
They serve different purposes.
I'd have a keel guard even if I didn't have sticks!
if you beach your boat into a shorline to weigh in etc you will put your poles down to hold you but your keel will still be in shallow enough water to be rubbing on the bottom. its best to have a keel Guard on any boat poles or no poles as I stated above. cheap insurance for your keel.
Two scenarios I can think of where a keelguard is a must have even if you have shallow water anchors...
1. If you deploy your shallow water anchors on a bank with a small gradual slope and don't have the keel touching bottom there is a small chance the nose of the boat may still be surrounded by water, thus getting your feet wet when you exit the boat because you did not pull up all the way onto the bank.
2. You must have the keel on the bank if there is a strong crosswind. It does not matter which brand you have. You deploy them in a strong enough crosswind and the nose will move some putting the anchors in a bind. The anchors will hold but the nose will move. Put the nose on the bank and drop anchors and your held rock solid in place.