Dinghy Madness

[wynkoop]

I have lost 2 dinghies from Silver Maiden. In both cases the painters parted in a storm while being towed astern. I am done with dinks disappearing! I am trying to figure out a way to mount the dink right to the stern. At the moment I am thinking some sort of hook and eye arrangement in the transom of Silver Maiden and in the transom of the dink and pulling the dink's bow up so it rides vertical on the stern. There seems to be ready made hardware for a similar thing with rubber boats, but the new dink is a 12 foot rowing and sailing fiberglass dink that weighs in at 175 lbs.....the same as me!

Yes 12 feet is almost half the size of my boat, but it is a free dink, some fiberglass work needed, and it has a sail rig.

After I get it all fixed up I really do not want it to disappear, but I suppose 2 dinks since 1984 is not so bad. At the marina I suspect they will make me pay for a slip for it if I do not have the dink on board.

My fall back plan is to sell it after I fix it and get something small enough to stow on deck. I really do not want to go with plan B.

Thoughts?

 

[Christian Williams]

Well, let's face it, it's really too big a dinghy to tow with a 27' boat. Lotsa drag, etc.

When wind and sea pipe up a towed dinghy is usually best drawn up very close to the transom. The alternative is to let out enough scope so it rides behind your own wave, which is fine in calm but can otherwise lead to the dinghy being blown sideways or discombobulated by rough water. A chief cause of towline breaking is the dinghy getting full of water, as, in my case, from a centerboard trunk. I moved the towing eye lower on the bow to improve the vector of the pull.


click to enlarge
I've lost a dinghy by failing to look behind me for ten miles during a family cruise. I reversed course and hours later found it bobbing. Yes, it was I who tied the knot.

 

[wynkoop]

My two lost dinks were broken tow line. One was an 8 foot wooden dink and the most recent was a CHEAP inflatable. I actually watched it start flying like a kit on the end of the tow line before the tow line parted. I expect from my position and the wind at the time it ended up someplace 20 or so miles away on the NJ coast south of NY Harbor.

Agreed about 12 foot being too big to tow that is another reason I am looking at securing it to the transom some way. I suppose I could just make some davits, but it would stick out 18 inches past my hull on each side. Of course maybe that is not the worst thing.

 

[wynkoop]

BTW I titled this Dinghy Madness because a 12 foot dink for a 27 foot boot is madness!

 

[Teranodon]

I've done a modest amount of blue water sailing. Sometimes there were storms. When things started to kick up, we hauled the dinghy on board, deflated it, folded it, and stored it in the lazarette. Having a large dinghy exposed to a strong wind up on the transom could be a bad idea,

Here's my dinghy tale: I was moored in the Spanish port of Cadaques. It blew very hard all night. In the morning, I discovered a depressing sight: the dinghy had spontaneously flipped over, with the head of the outboard under water. When we turned it right side up, the engine ran just fine. Go figure. We had to return the charter boat to Saint-Cyprien in France. I managed to pick up an extra crew member, a guy from the CIA. The conditions were the worst I have ever encountered (the Med is like that). We were in real danger, I thought. When our sails ripped, I ducked into Puerto de la Selva. As soon as we rounded the steep headland, the wind dropped to zero and we tied up in a brand new EU-funded marina. A couple of hours after fighting for our lives, we were eating a fabulous dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant. It was almost too much to take in.

 

[Loren Beach]

BTW I titled this Dinghy Madness because a 12 foot dink for a 27 foot boot is madness!

If not 'madness' certainly it brings some real challenges. For several years we cruised our prior boat, a Niagara 26, towing a Ranger 11 dinghy. It rowed like a dream and was a delight in most ways... but visiting a marina involved some maneuvering difficulty. We never took it into the ocean; a friend of ours lost a new Minto, towing it up the WA coast. When the dawn came, he found only a frayed end of the tow rope over the transom.

We bought a nice roll-up Zodiac which could store under a lazaretto seat in the cockpit. It was a lot more practical, altho somewhat difficult to row.... but also it was a LOT easier to get into and out of. Everything's compromise, as they way.

 

[wynkoop]

I had a nice rollup, but all the seams on it have let loose. I mean I can stick my fist into the tubes through the seems. I have not yet tried to reglue it.

Marinas are where I picture the most trouble with a dink this size.

 

[Loren Beach]

Our former Zodiac looks to be out of production, I see a (very similar) lightweight version for sale from Defender.

Achilles LT-2, Rollup Floor 7' 3", Gray Hypalon, 2020

Achilles LT-2 Gray 2020, Length: 7' 3", Material: Hypalon - CSM, 37 Lbs, , Achilles LT-2, Rollup Floor 7' 3", Gray Hypalon, 2020 from Defender Industries

www.defender.com

 

[1911tex]

Our former Zodiac looks to be out of production, I see a (very similar) lightweight version for sale from Defender.

Achilles LT-2, Rollup Floor 7' 3", Gray Hypalon, 2020

Achilles LT-2 Gray 2020, Length: 7' 3", Material: Hypalon - CSM, 37 Lbs, , Achilles LT-2, Rollup Floor 7' 3", Gray Hypalon, 2020 from Defender Industries

www.defender.com

Only 37#!....gotta save $$ for this one. Thanks!
Found this video...never had an inflatable.....

 

[Christian Williams]

The cheapest possible solution is West Marine--"pru-3-performance-roll-up-inflatable-boat." Somewhere around $700 or less, on sale.

 

[Martin King]

When I read dinghy madness, this is what I picture...

 

[Christian Williams]

A rising tide (eventually) lifts all boats...


click to enlarge

 

[wynkoop]

The cheapest possible solution is the FREE dinghy I am picking up in the morning. $29 for trailer rental and around $40 for materials to repair the hull. It will then be functional for rowing. Have to replace the shrouds and repair the boom. I expect that will bring my total to something near $125 if I want to be able to sail the dinghy.

 

[Alan Gomes]

One thing you might want to do is keep your eyes peeled for a well-used by still functional HYPALON dinghy on Craig's List. I got the one I'm using now, a 1985 Achilles, for $60. (It was supposed to be only $50, but I only had three 20's and the guy couldn't make change! ) It's not much to look at, but it holds air like a boss. Several years before that, I bought an a mid-1980's Avon Redcrest (the kind with the inflatable vs. wood transom) for $35 or thereabouts, if I recall. It also held air perfectly and I (unfortunately) sold it with the boat I had at the time.

Hypalon dinghies are really durable and if you wait to pounce on the right deal, you can pick up an old but still good one cheap. Here's a picture of the Achilles I'm using now. On my Catalina trips I never have to top it off with air. The fabric floor has a bit of leprosy, but doesn't leak water; some day when it bothers me enough I'll roll on some liquid rubber coating to keep it from flaking. As I said, nothing much to look at, but at least it makes it less attractive to steal it!

 

[wynkoop]

My circa 1985 hypalon dinghy that I purchased new similar to yours, but a different maker has all it's seams open. I did get some glue and I am going to try and glue it back together again, but first I will make the free dink swim.

I am still trying to figure out how to handle it. My current thought is that 18 inches past my beam is not such a big deal and maybe I should make up a nice pair of davits out of some Black Locust (AKA Ironwood). I have some left from the engine bed project and I know where to get more.

So any bright ideas on transom mounting of the big hard dink are still very welcome.

 

[Alan Gomes]

My circa 1985 hypalon dinghy that I purchased new similar to yours, but a different maker has all it's seams open. I did get some glue and I am going to try and glue it back together again, but first I will make the free dink swim.

I am still trying to figure out how to handle it. My current thought is that 18 inches past my beam is not such a big deal and maybe I should make up a nice pair of davits out of some Black Locust (AKA Ironwood). I have some left from the engine bed project and I know where to get more.

So any bright ideas on transom mounting of the big hard dink are still very welcome.

Oh! Sorry to hear that. The only hypalon boats I've owned are Achilles (two of them) and an Avon.

When I bought my E26 in 2012 and needed a dinghy, I decided to buy a new Korean-made Baltik PVC inflatable. Based on my research, many complained that the seams on PVC inflatables in general don't hold up. But the price was right, the Baltik had good reviews, and I figured for the money it was worth the risk. I got about 6 good years out of it and then the seams did indeed start falling apart. It wound up in a dumpster. I note that WestMarine has some attractive PVC models at sometimes heavily discounted prices and perhaps those hold up better; I don't know.

If you did want to experiment with some repairs on your hypalon, some people have had good luck using 5200 as a repair glue. On the one I recently purchased (shown in the picture), all of the seams were fine as far as holding air goes, but where the fabric overlaps the seam there was some lifting in places. I guess it was cosmetic (at that point) but I decided to try out the 5200 trick to glue down these flaps. So I roughed up the Hypalon, cleaned off the area, and then applied the 5200. It seems to work great! At this point I assume you'd have nothing to lose by trying it. I see that you did buy some other glue but you might give the 5200 a try as it is very easy to work with and seems to be incredibly tenacious.

I really dislike the idea of towing the dinghy, except for short distances in settled weather. Since I use the quarter berth on this boat for storage (it's too awkward getting in and out for sleeping), I just keep the dinghy rolled up and situated there.

 

[Christian Williams]

I advocate small rollups because they fit inside the boat. Mine, bagged with oars, weighs less than 50 pounds and can be passed up the companionway by one person.

Hypalon is by far the better material, mostly because of its UV resistance and toughness if dragged on a beach. For an inflatable stored in sun PVC is a bad choice.

But in my neighborhood nobody leaves an inflatable in the sun without a cover, and nobody leaves a rollup inflatable in the water for more than seven days, because that is the point at which barnacles get hard.

Therefore I conclude that, for me, a cheap PVC rollup works best. Never left in sun, always wiped down before rolling, PVC lasts like new and tends to stay cleaner than Hypalon.

Downside of PVC is not good for heavy use (SCUBA, liveaboard, summer-long cruises). And roll-ups don't have a skeg, row poorly and can't plane.

[And, given Alan and Brett's experience cited below, I can only speak for my six-year-old West Marine model]

 

[Alan Gomes]

Just as another data point, I'll add that my PVC boat was always stored inside, never in the sun. The only time it saw daylight was when it was deployed on my Catalina trips. And yet, the seams gave way after 6 years. The fabric itself looked close to new. I tried repairing it several times and no sooner would I fix one spot than another location would fail. At that point I figured it wasn't worth chasing the repairs and tossed it.

I suspect that it didn't like being rolled up and in the bag for lengthy periods between use. That may have put more stress on the seams than had it been left unrolled. I'm not sure about that. And, perhaps a higher quality PVC model would not have suffered from this failure.

All I can say is that my hypalon boats have been similarly stored without incident.

 

[wynkoop]

I may post photos of my inflatable with the seems open at some point. It is back in the quarter berth where it has been for years. I will attempt the repair at some point, but at the moment I am still trying to figure out the handling of the BIG hard dinghy, which is at this moment sitting on a pallet at the boat yard awaiting a wash and attention to the repairs.

 

[toddster]

What do you guys mean by "seams?" PVC dinghies have two kinds of seams: welded and glued. The glued seams on my barn-find zodiac gave way shortly after I put it into service and I re-glued them with 2-part glue. End of story. Welded seams (generally those which hold pressurized air) are fine.