Author Topic: How do you manage your dinghy?  (Read 3284 times)

Valor

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How do you manage your dinghy?
« on: January 22, 2021, 01:23:26 PM »
I'm in the market to get a new dinghy for 2021 season. I'm curious to know how you all travel with your dinghy. Davits? On the foredeck? deflated and stored? towed?

My main question is how big of a dinghy can fit forward of the mast on the deck inflated? On the deck meaning, not poking out from under the lifelines or laying on top of the lifelines. Physically on the deck where it can be safely lashed down.

For those of you that carry it on the foredeck. Do you use your spinnaker halyard off of the beak to hoist it? Do you lift the dinghy by the bow/bow first or from a bridal and lift the hole thing horizontally? Is visibility an issue? How do you handle the outboard? Can the boat and outboard (200 lbs) be lifted as one unit off of the spinnaker beak to the deck?

For those of you with davits, which one's do you have and do you like them? Are they easily removable or do you just leave them up? Part 2 to that question would be how high off of the water does the dinghy need to be lifted to prevent it from touching the water on a heel. How is visibility aft affected?

I'm looking at either an 8'6" or 9'6" aluminum hulled RIB. The main reason is because the transom is a welded structural part of the hull and not just a plank of wood glued on to the tubes. My last dinghy was the latter and I had to glue the transom supports a few times and I really don't want to deal with it again.

Michael M

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Last Resort

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Re: How do you manage your dinghy?
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2021, 04:28:56 PM »
it really depends on your sailing plans I think.  If doing canals and lock, obviously Davits or on deck. Inland lake sailing, I prefer towing my 10' RIB myself, usually with the motor on the boat except for short destinations. The ONLY real con to towing is the noise of it behind you, which really isn't that bad, but when sailing can be noticed (you can always add longer rode...I use around 50'). I sail and anchor nightly for over 2 months straight in the summers and towing is just a simple clip and push away. I couldn't imagine pulling it up on deck daily, and davits are easier, but that's a lot more weight on the back of the boat, and my 31-2 is already stern heavy by about 2-3 inches. Now of course if you're  Ocean sailing, well I'll leave those suggestions to someone who's aware of those pros and cons :)
« Last Edit: January 23, 2021, 03:59:38 PM by Last Resort »

Dolce_Vita

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Re: How do you manage your dinghy?
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2021, 02:14:40 PM »
First, the parameters:
We have a 9'6" ft inflatable dinghy. (Achillies LSI-290E)  It does not have a rigid bottom or rigid floor panels.  We went with the high-pressure air floor as a compromise.  Its similar in rigidity to an inflatable stand-up paddle board.  We do not have davits, although we would like to get them.

Now, the action;
When traveling on the ICW, we generally keep it deflated, rolled up, and tied down on deck on the port side of the seahood, as were pulling into a dock every other day for fuel and pumpout.

When we want it "at the ready", we keep it inflated and tied down on deck.  There are two places it fits.  Each have their drawbacks.

Position 1 is under the boom, with the stern tubes straddling the mast.  This allows enough space (barely) to get by on the side decks, but does interfere slightly with the companionway hatch operation.  It also makes operations at the mast a little clumsy.

Position 2 is on the foredeck.  This frees up the sidedeck access, but completely obstructs access to the anchor locker.  In order to anchor, we have to loosen the tiedowns and hoist its bow partly with the spin halyard.  This is not ideal, but it works. 

We have a small Forespar "Motor Mate" hoist that we use to move the outboard between the dinghy and the rail mount on the stern pulpit.  Its a pretty easy operation.  For the dinghy itself, we use the spin halyard on the bridle to hoist and lower it bow-up. Again, fairly easy as it weighs only 80  lbs.

In the Bahamas, we towed it everywhere, as it is your "car" for getting around once you're anchored, only hoisting it on deck the rare times we take a slip.  We NEVER tow it with the outboard attached!  One bad wave is all it takes to flip it.  When towing, or for that matter any time its tied to the boat, we always use TWO lines to secure it. We've heard many radio calls for a lost dinghy that went "walkabout".  Even got to go and rescue one.  And we did have one bridle fail while under tow.  Without the second safety line, who knows how long it would have been before we noticed! 

While at anchor, we keep the dinghy in the water, with motor attached, and everything secured with cables and locks. This is where davits would be nice, both for security and to reduce the buildup of growth on the bottom.
@(^.^)@  Ed
1977 P-323 #42 "Dolce Vita"
with rebuilt Atomic-4

Valor

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Re: How do you manage your dinghy?
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2021, 07:46:05 AM »
Thank you for the replies!.

@Ed, in regards to the size, the 9'6" is completely on the boat when you put it on the foredeck, correct? If your dinghy was 1 ft smaller i.e. 8'6", do you think laying it behind the mast would still interfere with companion hatch access? When laying it behind the mast, are you using a block and tackle off of the boom to raise the dinghy to the deck? and the last question is how bad does having it on deck obstruct your visibility? Again, thanks very much.
Michael M

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Yanmar 3GM30F

Dolce_Vita

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Re: How do you manage your dinghy?
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2021, 11:41:11 AM »
Replies in-line:

@Ed, in regards to the size, the 9'6" is completely on the boat when you put it on the foredeck, correct?

Yes.

If your dinghy was 1 ft smaller i.e. 8'6", do you think laying it behind the mast would still interfere with companion hatch access?

I don't think so.  Keep in mind, however, that our air-floor dinghy does not have quite the draft of a RIB.  I think that a RIB in this position would interfere with the boom.

When laying it behind the mast, are you using a block and tackle off of the boom to raise the dinghy to the deck?

No, we use the main halyard and the mast-mounted winch.  Again, remember we're only 80 lbs., so the small winch on the mast is adequate. A RIB is much heavier.

how bad does having it on deck obstruct your visibility?

Under the boom, it definitely blocked some of the visibility, but we don't have a dodger so our view forward is pretty unrestricted to start with.
On the foredeck, I don't recall it being a serious issue.  Again, a RIB will stick up a little higher.  I more recall that tacking the jib was harder, especially in light air, often requiring someone to help it across.

And oh yes, on the foredeck, it blocked the use of the hatch in the V-berth.
@(^.^)@  Ed
1977 P-323 #42 "Dolce Vita"
with rebuilt Atomic-4

selene

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Re: How do you manage your dinghy?
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2021, 12:24:55 PM »
FWIW, I have moistly the same setup as Ed, same compromises. On the plus side, I love the dinghy. Relatively light, with an inflatable keel which allows good tracking and occasional planing. I was initially skeptical about air -floor, but a huge weight saving, nice and firm - love it.

As mine is used only as a tender, I have a tiny 2hp motor; you don't go fast, but it is (1) cheap, (2) reliable (to put it in reverse, rotate the outboard 180 degrees), and (3) light. I singlehand a lot, so that works for me. With the Admiral on board, we won't win any speed races.

Normally I keep it rolled up, or in the bow; aft of the mast gets in the way. As the dinghy is light, I use the spinnaker halyard connected to the bow towing bridle to raise/lower.