Do you ever portage your dinghy?

[Jammer]

I like canoes and have paddled them some; it is of course common, with canoes, to portage around rapids, dams, inoperable locks, between lakes, etc.

This cruiser's blog mentions portaging a dinghy around an inoperative lock while exploring a river. First time I've heard of anyone doing that.

Is this practice at all common?

What modifications to a dinghy make sense for ease of portaging?

[sailor_ed]

If "portage" means dragging my dinghy over a hundred feet of rocks and seaweed when I seem to have forgotten that we have a 10ft tide in Maine then yes I do it all the time.! :-)

[Paul L]

Dinghy wheels are good for areas with big tides or where you need to make a quite dash to avoid surf. If we really get stuck we move the dinghy and motor separately.

[2big2small]

I portaged only once, somewhere in Brazil, to get over the sandbar into the lagoon and river. No modifications needed, we had a featherlight dinghy with 3 people to carry it and are not keen on taking the outboard along if it’s under two miles.

[Mike OReilly]

My first dingy was my canoe, but this was on my O’day 22, and it didn’t last long.

Our current dingy is a porabote. It is damn near indestructible, and does get dragged over rough beaches when needed. It’s pretty light so can be carried by two people, but it's awkward, so no traditional portaging.

So, we do drag or carry it short distances, up over sand bars or beaches into rivers, or to manage tide lines. But I wound’t really call that portaging.

[JPA Cate]

We don't actually portage, either, but we have a fender dedicated to be a roller for the dinghy to help it get over long flats, up gravel and stone beaches, an so on. A primitive solution, perhaps, but it works well, and the fender really is less in the way than big wheels on the stern, imo, plus it can be used as a fender. Ymmv.

Ann

[Dockhead]

Dinghy wheels! Worth their weight in gold when you need them.

[toddster8]

Sounds like a job for a kayak.
Well, technically, the storage bags for my inflatable SUPs are backpacks, but I wouldn't want to hump them very long distances. From the parking lot to the beach, sure.

Then there's this sort of pushmepullyou arrangement, which has always sort of appealed to me:


But is probably more complicated than it looks. Yes, I could carry my folding bike in the kayak. Then pull the kayak to the store. But I doubt I could fit both the bike and the groceries in for the trip back...

Probably didn't read the original post carefully enough. :0

[hellosailor]

Jammer, the Vikings used to "portage" their longboats up the Volga River and other waterways into the heart of what is now Russia.

Common?

If you have a 45' sailboat trucked from Texas to Maine, isn't that just a portage?

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

If you have a 45' sailboat trucked from Texas to Maine, isn't that just a portage?

Hmm.

A year or two ago, the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock closed to navigation, purportedly to stop the spread of Asian Carp. The Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock was previously the uppermost navigable lock on the Mississippi River, and the closure moves the head of navigation from the Coon Rapids Dam to the Upper St. Anthony Falls Dam.

There are public water accesses on the reach between these two locations, as well as further downstream. I plan to explore this portion of the river. Maybe my trailering will be a "portage."

[onavegador]

It depends if you are on your own or if you have crew to help. Locks in rivers are not behind flat beaches but more often the shores beneath the lock are very steep if you arrive form the down of the river. So you have to haul out your sometimes relatively far from the lock. If you install dinghy wheels look for some what have a good diameter. To tow a dinghy over land with small plastic wheel what are also heavy in weight, is a chore. My experience.
I think an inflatable with air bottom, and a small motor to be ported separately, may be the thing. Look for one what is not heavy even it is of PVC fabric.
Or if you like to paddle take a kayac.
Enjoy the rivers.
James

[Kiwi.]

I have a dream: