The Great Dinghy Question

[Cheechako]

Nothing wrong with a regular boat... a lot cheaper. However, you will find it will beat the sides of your mothership terribly unless very well and durably cushioned. Been there done that. I wish someone made about a 6" D shaped Hypalon "add on" type of collar reasonably priced to use use on "real" boats. If you want to move at planing speeds a RIB is likely to be much more stable than a fibreglass boat of comparable size too...

[keelbolts]

IIRC the Pardeys had such a rig. They believed, perhaps still do, that the collar would improve the tender's stability if case it needed to be used as a life raft. I have no idea what such a rig would cost. I guess I'm usually not in that big a rush. I rush ashore - on the water I'm "off the clock." I like to row.

[CarlF]

I have an eight year old Avon 10 RIB with 15hp 2 cycle Yamaha on davits. This is my first boat with davits and after experiencing them I'd never own a cruising boat without davits. This seems to be a pretty general conclusion.

I'm seriously considering replacing the Avon with a WalkerBay hypalon 10ft console RIB with a 20hp four cycle honda - complete with electric start.

This is being driven by a request from my wife. She finds the current dinghy less and less "charming". Sitting on a tube. Pull start. The twist throttle. The two cyle smoke and noise. It doesn't bother me (actually makes me feel young to bomb around) but I want my wife to feel comfortable taking the dinghy without me. I also don't want to cruise alone

One advantage of the console - and even I will appreciate this - is it provides a great handhold when getting in or out of the dinghy. I'm a long way past "cat like" - every handhold helps.

WalkerBays are lighter than many RIBS because it's plastic not fiberglass - the added weight of the console makes it about the same as a RIB (180lbs without the motor). The four cycle Honda may require more repair (although my experience is that 2 cycles have taken a real drop in reliability in the US since they started putting ethanol into the gas). The 20hp Honda is the same weight and size as the 15hp.

This is not a cheap solution but I use a dinghy a lot more than that cruising spinnaker I bought.

I haven't pulled the trigger. Has anyone else gone this route?


Carl

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by CarlF

I have an eight year old Avon 10 RIB with 15hp 2 cycle Yamaha on davits. This is my first boat with davits and after experiencing them I'd never own a cruising boat without davits. This seems to be a pretty general conclusion.

I'm seriously considering replacing the Avon with a WalkerBay hypalon 10ft console RIB with a 20hp four cycle honda - complete with electric start.

This is being driven by a request from my wife. She finds the current dinghy less and less "charming". Sitting on a tube. Pull start. The twist throttle. The two cyle smoke and noise. It doesn't bother me (actually makes me feel young to bomb around) but I want my wife to feel comfortable taking the dinghy without me. I also don't want to cruise alone

One advantage of the console - and even I will appreciate this - is it provides a great handhold when getting in or out of the dinghy. I'm a long way past "cat like" - every handhold helps.

WalkerBays are lighter than many RIBS because it's plastic not fiberglass - the added weight of the console makes it about the same as a RIB (180lbs without the motor). The four cycle Honda may require more repair (although my experience is that 2 cycles have taken a real drop in reliability in the US since they started putting ethanol into the gas). The 20hp Honda is the same weight and size as the 15hp.

This is not a cheap solution but I use a dinghy a lot more than that cruising spinnaker I bought.

I haven't pulled the trigger. Has anyone else gone this route?


Carl

Well, the other advantage of that Walker Bay console rig, is that you can really cover some distance in it, sitting comfortably behind the wheel and with your passengers sitting comfortably. Think of the exploration you can do in something like that.

Problem (besides cost) is how do you stow it on passage?

[Hiracer]

Originally Posted by clockwork orange

But im curious,when i keep reading of 12-14ft ribs with 25hp motors and perhaps a battery and tank of gas i cant help but wonder what you do with it when you get to an actual beach,its way to heavy to carry up above the high tide line unless you have a full crew with you,dragging it is going to wear out the fiberglass bottom or do you just anchor it when you hit the beach and then swim out to it if the tide is further in when you get back to it? but then if the tide was receding you would still need to get it back to the water.Or do you just cruise places where there are dinghy docks available.

Cruised my sailboat last summer in Desolation Sound, Canada (no docks and healthy tides) with my buddy on a chartered 47' Defever (motorboat) that had large dingy center steering, electric start, 25 hp outboard. Great setup until time to keep it attached to shore without going dry as the tide moved out. He did a lot swearing at that set up. When time came to outfit his own boat he went with something more practical (ligher) for the area.

Depends on where you cruise. If you got docks, fine. If you are remote with tides, not so good.

[CarlF]

Well - here's the plan for the WalkerBay - and it is a plan only....

My davits are pretty high so I only take the Avon off the davits on a major passage. I would do the same with the WalkerBay. All of the console pieces unclip and you are left with a stock WalkerBay RIB. It looks like it would take well under 1/2 an hour to get it taken apart, deflated and stored upside down forward of the mast where I carry the Avon. Same size. And lighter. I'd winch the outboard onto the stern rail. It's only 109 lbs.

Going ashore the Walker Bay console is really not that much heavier than the fiberglass Avon RIB - and much lighter than most consoles. But even the Avon is too heavy for me in big tidal range areas. I cruise Maine a lot. I now carry a portable outhaul for beach landings in the dinghy. 150ft of 1/4" line on a continuous loop through a block shackled to a small danforth. I drop the danforth short of the beach and - after getting ashore - pull the dinghy out of the tidal range with the outhaul. This also makes getting away from the shore easy.

I'm still interested in anyone's feedback on the WalkerBay console before I start writing big checks.

Carl

[Sandero]

I looked at the WB web site and the console is clever but I think it takes up a lot of space and limits capacity. I'd like to see one up close and I don't see the problem with sitting on a pontoon. There is something to be said for a lightweight RIB. Mine is 58KG which doesn't seem heavy to a 10 -2 boat.

[Evan]

Yamaha 40 Enduros - the Choice of Pirates everywhere...

If you go the "big dinghy with 15 HP+" route, consider getting big pneumatic dinghy wheels. They solve the problem of "how do I get this big thing up the beach".

If you mostly Med or Europe cruising a smaller dinghy with a 5 or so seems to be the conventional choice because distances are shorter and anchorages are more sheltered.

Caribbean or Pacific cruisers gravitate towards the bigger dinghy due to more exposed anchorages / further to town or shore. Also more diving in exposed locations

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

10' with 15hp and up use Davis dinghy wheels. Anchoring works too but you need a serious anchor like a small danforth style with some chain and at least 30' line.

cheers,
Nick.

Thanks Nick,so how well do those wheels work? i assume you use the large 16" wheels,is it possible,with the wheels on the transom for one person to haul a large RIB and motor up the beach into the soft sand,i wouldnt want to be restricted to going ashore with others. Also, are length restrictions common at dinghy docks? I noticed a 12ft max length at a dock in Key West.
Steve.

[s/v Jedi]

1 person ?! well, yes, I could do that today but not so sure as the years pass by ;-) The technique for doing this alone is to push it's transom so the bow skids up the beach unsupported. Pulling it alone will only work on a very flat slope.

The big wheels are what everyone has; I never tried small wheels but can understand why they won't work well.

I never saw a length restriction at any dinghy dock... they didn't have that in Key West when we were there... but that's 6 years or so ago...

It was crazy busy though... a good reason not to go there again: the place is like a cattle market but the cows are people who are rounded up and driven from cruise ships into trains to the places where they take what's left of their money and back into trains and cruise ships again and over and over again and when you manage to sail away you see more and more cruise ships waiting at anchor for their turn and then finally way out to sea it stops and you can calm down and you see dolphins and you smile and the next time you meet a cruise ship the tourists at the rail think they are smart and are sorry for you in your little boat and omg am I happy to be out of that rat race....

;-) ;-)
Nick.


ciao!
Nick.

[clockwork orange]

Nick, good to know that length restrictions are not common at dinghy docks, it seems to me that a good sized set of wheels that fold down from the sides at the LCG would make it a lot easier for 1 person to move a large dinghy up the beach with less effort, to me any dragging or pushing with any part of the boat on the sand is a no go with any dinghy large or small,people drag their 8ft fiberglass boats up the beach if they are too heavy which wears away the keel, an aluminum rib is likley better but im not sure.
So im still not clear, a 14ft RIB with 25hp, battery and fuel and especially with a console is going to be 400 to 500lbs, i cant see myself getting it up the beach without help with transom wheels so i can see needing to anchor it and potentially a long swim when i get back to it.
Steve.

[Jim Cate]

Hey Clockwork,
Seems like if you go for the 14'/25 hp option you should then buy a small inflatable dinghy for your dinghy...

FWIW, we have an Alumimium bottom rib purchased in Oz. It is 3.5 metres and claims to only weigh 47 Kg when empty. Brand name is Gemini. The Alloy hull is made in the Gold Coast, and the hypalon bits come from South Africa. The hull is now about 5 years old, has been in full time cruising the entire time and while the powder coating finish is scratched in many places, it is still quite serviceable. It even survived being stolen and then burned, but that's another story.

We normally use a 15 hp Yamaha 2 stroke, and have no wheels. Ann and I can kinda drag it up a modest slope far enough for most purposes, but carry a 7 lb Danforth knock-off with about 25 feet of 3/16" chain and a bunch of small nylon to secure it when required. This setup has worked well for a long time in the Western Pacific cruising circuit, and might well work even better with a good set of wheels.

I would add my vote against a console for a cruising dinghy. The added weight and loss of useable floor space outweighs the possible comfort factor for me. We use our dink for diving trips, exploration and all the other routine tasks, and don't find sitting on the tubes all that uncomfortable... but this is a personal valuation.

Finally, the thought of 500 lbs suspended in a set of davits is pretty scary to me, even for coastal passages. Don't know where your proposed cruising grounds might be, but we've gotten the crap beaten out of us on the East coast of Oz a few times. And the thought of going to sea with that set up is almost suicidal.

Hope that you can come to a satisfactory conclusion, mate, 'cause your dinghy is one of the most used bits of cruising kit.

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Inatiable II lying Gladstone Qld Oz

[Dockhead]

Hmm. Yes, I don't want to make the wrong decision about the dinghy.

I've got electric davits and the mother ship is a center cockpit, so I've got a spacious after deck, too. I've got everything you'd want to store a dinghy heavier and/or bulkier than the usual compromise, but still I worry about manhandling the dink or not being able to deflate or stow it well on passage. Also those stern-to Mediterranean berths might neccessitate some dinghy manipulation.

I'd love the driving position of a console, which would allow me to range much further and which would expand the range of useful purposes of the dink. But the weight and space losses don't sound appealing.

I guess I am gravitating toward a conservative approach -- an 11' to 12' RIB with a 15hp two-stroke and no console. This would be light enough to manhandle when necessary and drag up on beaches. Could be deflated and stored in various positions on deck without being in the way on passage. Maybe if it's big enough -- bigger than the 9' to 10' dinghys I'm used to -- it will be better for covering distances and will partially fulfill the other purposes I'd like to see fulfilled.

I don't know; I'm still indecisive. Hmmm.

[Extemporaneous]

Can't speak extensively yet regarding the results, but after reading and reading and reading and talking I choose a 10' 8" Portabote. It weighs 59 lbs and Sunday I pickup my new 8 hp Yamaha 2 stroke (60lbs) for it.
Before this I had a 8' +- Grumman Dingy which was VERY unstable and completely unacceptable.
I can say that so far I have had a 4 hp 2 stroke on it with good results. I have also had a 6 hp 4 stroke Honda on it which worked okay except it was heavier that the Yamaha 8 hp. The Yamaha 8 hp is 60 lbs which is the limit for the bote.
I can also say that the Potabote is VERY stable and with limited use so far seams to handle waves fairly well.
I keep it under the pilot house settee and so the deck is clean.

I hope my choice turns out okay.

Extemp.

[imagine2frolic]

Did I read center cockpit somewhere. If so get rid of the davits, and get a crane. Place the dink on the stern.You already have the electric run, and you can sell the davits......i2f