Dinghy Dock Rules? (Or Wild West?)

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

I've never used Active Captain before. I see it's a Garmin service. Do you have to have Garmin equipment and then subscribe to it? Or it's a web site you can get a membership to?

And you can just search for marinas around the world and then read info on what their dinghy fees are as well as WHERE you can dock them?

See here:
https://activecaptain.garmin.com/

-Chris

[sailorboy1]

Dinghy docks are just like society. There are those that follow the "rules" and those that take advantage of them by: leaving outboards up, side tying bow/stern, leaving dinghy in the load/unload section, use the handicap dock (yes some places have a handicap dinghy dock), lock dinghy to cleat with 5 wraps of chain so no one else can use the cleat, block the potable water faucet, etc.

Then there are the waterway towns that just have no place to land a dinghy and the merchants lose out on the money you planned to spend. Those towns mystify me and there are a lot of them.

[Vasco]

Motor down, long painter.

[mikedefieslife]

In Europe you get extremes. In Greece for example there plenty of public quays and other places to dock your dinghy for free. In Italy some places want €20 per hour. Bear in mind you aren't supposed to beach it (if it's motored) in Italy either, though people do.

Few marinas really have a dedicated dinghy dock. In Italy you can sometimes get away with it, in Spain most private (which is the majority of them) places want to charge you.

The Med isn't really designed for taking your dinghy ashore. It's a bit like trying to get water.

[Suijin]

It’s all over the place. Annapolis has @ 15 public dinghy docks all over the city. Go to Cape May and nothing, not even marinas.

If I’m headed to a harbor that does not have a dinghy dock anywhere I’ll often buy fuel and as I pay ask if I can tie up my dink later at some out of the way spot. 9 out of 10 times they will say yes no problem.

Other times I will just pull in, chat some attendant up for awhile and then ask. That sometimes works too.

[Nicholson58]

We have cruised the Great Lakes, east coast, Caribbean. The east coast is the least boater friendly of the three. Marinas far apart, harbors shallow with difficult currents and approaches. Dinghy access poor or non existent. Brown water with hidden shoals, large tides. Anchoring difficult, discouraged and sometimes prohibited for local political reasons. The Cheasapeake was a rare exception.

[akprb]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Dinghy dock ediquitte: keep the motor down ( in the water ) so you don’t damage other boats.

That’s a good one and also a long painter.

[Shrew]

I'd like to clarify the Long Painter sentiment. Having a long painter is necessary at crowded dinghy docks because sometimes you're in the 2nd row and need that much painter to reach the bullrail/cleat. However, from an etiquette perspective, just because the dock isn't crowded, doesn't mean you should leave 6 inches of painter. It might crowded later.

Tying to a dinghy dock with 6 inches of painter is like parking sideways across the parking spaces in a parking lot.

[Locquatious]

On crowded dinghy docks, we pull the painter through the cleat and throw half-hitches a few times on our painter. This gives more room for others to tie to the cleat and reduces times when an unthinking/rude boater unties others, letting them drift, in order to tie-up or un-tie their dinghy.
Leaving the painter long allows others to access the dock.

[SVAspen]

So to answer your question: Yes, it is basically like the Wild West out there for dinghies

[akprb]

Originally Posted by Shrew

I'd like to clarify the Long Painter sentiment. Having a long painter is necessary at crowded dinghy docks because sometimes you're in the 2nd row and need that much painter to reach the bullrail/cleat. However, from an etiquette perspective, just because the dock isn't crowded, doesn't mean you should leave 6 inches of painter. It might crowded later.

Tying to a dinghy dock with 6 inches of painter is like parking sideways across the parking spaces in a parking lot.

I was just trolling to see how many scratched their heads at the word “painter.” :-)

[Nicholson58]

Some places work better with a stern anchor to keep you off other boats and prevent drifting under the dock

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Some places work better with a stern anchor to keep you off other boats and prevent drifting under the dock

You see that in the Bahamas a lot (from the Bahamians, that is, not so much the cruisers).

[wannacat]

We use a stern anchor at most docks in the Bahamas and wish others would also!
Makes for much more room and less tangles, rubbing, scratches etc. I think too many just don't get it or care unfortunately.

[philiosophy]

I suppose paying might be common in some places. From Seattle to Mexico to central Panama to Ecuador to Marquesas and Tahiti to Tonga,Western Samoa, Fiji, Vanautu,New Zealand the onlt place I have had to pay fees for the Dingy dock was at La Playita Panama City. It was advisable there and you also had free access to good potable water.
Always use a long painter off the bow. No stern line. Keep your motor tilted down. The only place in my travels you would have needed a chain foryour dingy’s security is Mazatlon Mexico and Whangarei New Zealand.