Dinghy Disappointment :(/Dinghy Joy :)

[Dockhead]

I finally sold me old dinghy last week, and was much relieved.

Now I'm stuck in Cowes trying to finish a number of things which stubbornly prefer to remain unsolved, and one problem appeared in that my new batteries and a number of other packages with parts and supplies, were delivered to the marina where I keep my dinghy, across from my mooring. These folks (vastly less friendly than the crew at Cowes) were grumbling about all the clutter in their office, and also I needed some of those things, so I decided to go across in the new dinghy.

It's about 8 miles including crossing the Solent, then going up to the top of the Hamble River. The weather was reasonable -- cold, but only F4 from the NE. I've done this many times in the old dinghy and in stronger weather than this, so I didn't expect it would be difficult.

Well, what a difference between a light 3.1 meter tiller steered dinghy, and a heavy 3.4 meter wheel steered one. Amazing difference. On the old dinghy, I would just squirt across in weather like this -- fast cruise on a plane at 20 knots. On this one -- oh boy -- I almost broke a tooth in the first cable. Seriously. I ended up not planing on the way over. And that greatly complicates the process, because of two things -- traffic, and tide. At 20 knots you don't worry too much about the tide, but at 5 -- in a 3 or 4 knot current -- it's kind of a big deal. And then traffic. And it's hard to even see around to judge what's coming.

Coming back with the wind behind, and with 100kg of batteries plus other cargo, was easier, but to get past a giant container ship I ran at WOT for the last couple of miles, barely getting up on a plane at 10 or 11 knots at best.

When I arrived there was oil spewed around under the engine cover -- which I discovered when oil poured onto my sea boats ( ) when I tilted it up. Water is pumping fine, but it looked like the engine may have overheated. The oil in the crankcase was obviously aerated. Damn.

Welcome to my first small four stroke. I miss the two strokes already


Everything is a tradeoff, and I wouldn't go back to something like my old dinghy, because I can't store such a RIB on deck, and I've had it with long rough ocean passages with a dinghy in davits.

Choice of dinghy is a particularly tough tradeoff.

[Cheechako]

Yep. You gotta have a good "taxi". Cruising isn't always just putting a kilometer to shore in flat water. I've been glad I had enough horsepower to plane quickly and a rigid dingy too many times to count. Thunder squall coming with a boat full of food and supplies, excursions for the day 10-15 miles away where the mothership cant go, etc etc.
"is a 2.3 hp dingy motor enough?" not for me it's not.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yep. You gotta have a good "taxi". Cruising isn't always just putting a kilometer to shore in flat water. I've been glad I had enough horsepower to plane quickly and a rigid dingy too many times to count. Thunder squall coming with a boat full of food and supplies, excursions for the day 10-15 miles away where the mothership cant go, etc etc.
"is a 2.3 hp dingy motor enough?" not for me it's not.

Where in the world do you put a rigid dinghy on that boat?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Where in the world do you put a rigid dinghy on that boat?

I meant RIB.
The one in my avatar? it had custom removeable davits, not on in that picture.
on my HC38: Foredeck 9ft RIB
On my 42 Cat: Davits
On my Passport 47: Foredeck

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I finally sold me old dinghy last week, and was much relieved.

Now I'm stuck in Cowes trying to finish a number of things which stubbornly prefer to remain unsolved, and one problem appeared in that my new batteries and a number of other packages with parts and supplies, were delivered to the marina where I keep my dinghy, across from my mooring. These folks (vastly less friendly than the crew at Cowes) were grumbling about all the clutter in their office, and also I needed some of those things, so I decided to go across in the new dinghy.

It's about 8 miles including crossing the Solent, then going up to the top of the Hamble River. The weather was reasonable -- cold, but only F4 from the NE. I've done this many times in the old dinghy and in stronger weather than this, so I didn't expect it would be difficult.

Well, what a difference between a light 3.1 meter tiller steered dinghy, and a heavy 3.4 meter wheel steered one. Amazing difference. On the old dinghy, I would just squirt across in weather like this -- fast cruise on a plane at 20 knots. On this one -- oh boy -- I almost broke a tooth in the first cable. Seriously. I ended up not planing on the way over. And that greatly complicates the process, because of two things -- traffic, and tide. At 20 knots you don't worry too much about the tide, but at 5 -- in a 3 or 4 knot current -- it's kind of a big deal. And then traffic. And it's hard to even see around to judge what's coming.

Coming back with the wind behind, and with 100kg of batteries plus other cargo, was easier, but to get past a giant container ship I ran at WOT for the last couple of miles, barely getting up on a plane at 10 or 11 knots at best.

When I arrived there was oil spewed around under the engine cover -- which I discovered when oil poured onto my sea boats ( ) when I tilted it up. Water is pumping fine, but it looked like the engine may have overheated. The oil in the crankcase was obviously aerated. Damn.

Welcome to my first small four stroke. I miss the two strokes already


Everything is a tradeoff, and I wouldn't go back to something like my old dinghy, because I can't store such a RIB on deck, and I've had it with long rough ocean passages with a dinghy in davits.

Choice of dinghy is a particularly tough tradeoff.

I say the two hardest parts of cruising are dinghy management and anchoring.

[CSY Man]

I was disappointed with my previous dink as well, but for other reasons:
Poor build quality and lousy customer service:
Mercury 310 Imflatable floor, hypalon, 10 year warranty.

The design was great, sturdy, fast and stored easy up-side down on my CSY 33 between the inner foresail and the mast, perfect size for the boat.
Then I went from a 4 hp 2-stroke Evinrude (2-cylinder) to a new 2009 Yamaha 4-stroke single.
What a huge difference that was: One should think 4 hp is just that across the board..? Not.

The old 2-stroke maxed out at 7 knots with a 220 lbs Norwegian Stallion onboard plus basic safety gear.

The new 4 stroke pushed me at 11 knots, measured numerous times in flat water and the Stallion leaning forward with a tiller extension.

A hell of a good combo dink/motor, just too bad that Mercury did not do a quality job in China making the dinghy and too bad Customer Service tried to stall and screw around with the (on-paper) excellent warranty: The transom came loose, CS tried to tell me the transom was not part of the boat and was not covered by the warrant..WTF, say again?..?
Got it all sorted out eventually but I had to talk loud on the phone numerous times to make them see my point, not good for my blood pressure.

Sorry about the thread creep, but I use every opportunity I can to sh!t on Mercury Boats, perhaps that will help others in the future by forcing them to improve.
Again, great design and great dink/motor combo.

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

The old 2-stroke maxed out at 7 knots with a 220 lbs Norwegian Stallion onboard plus basic safety gear.

How fast would it go with just you on board ?

[JPA Cate]

Jeez, Dockhead, I hope you didn't toast your brand new (underpowered) motor!

Our RIB is 3.5 m. We store it upside down on the foredeck, disinflated, between the inner Solent stay and the mast. We are able to use the pole, when we want to. The o/b is a 15 hp Yamaha two stroke. This set up can plane 4 people.

Ann

[malbert73]

DH, what's your new dinghy setup?


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[CSY Man]

Originally Posted by Jd1

How fast would it go with just you on board ?

Aye Mate.
Me is it, the Norwegian Stallion, but good try.

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Aye Mate.
Me is it, the Norwegian Stallion, but good try.

ROFL ... couldn't resist

[Paul L]

Dockhead
Are the tube diameters the same between your old dink and the new one?

[Pete7]

Dockhead, have you tried a outboard extension which would allow you to sit on the seat? might balance the Avon better with one person in it for longer trips.


http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/...FUI_GwodEzULIA

I have a short shaft 8hp Mariner 2 stoke if that would help. Only snag is I have never actually run it. Bought it for my dinghy project but am too busy with the house at the moment.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Jeez, Dockhead, I hope you didn't toast your brand new (underpowered) motor! . . .

I think it's ok. It starts and runs; no sign of seizing. Today I'll dig into it and see if I can see where the oil came from. Could be simply from overfilling (maybe it should be checked with the dipstick screwed in, instead of just stuck in), or maybe an oil hose came loose.

Nice to have another possible major repair item on the list, after only the first usage of the device!

Not!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Dockhead
Are the tube diameters the same between your old dink and the new one?

No! That's the whole problem.

The old dinghy was the Rover 340 with much more substantial hull and integral transom, and large tubes.

The new dinghy is the 310 Lite, with rather smaller tubes. I was amazed to have water coming right in over the bow yesterday in the slight chop in the Solent in a F4.


Bleh! But it's all one big massive tradeoff, and right now I am absolutely fixed on having gotten that huge mass off the stern -- sick of it, and sick of the constant problems I had with the old davits.

The upside of the new dinghy is that with the motor off (which I can do single handed), I can pull it up -- single handed! -- onto the pontoon and deflate it.

That's why it's "Lite".

It's what I need now, so I'm just going to have to live with the rest.