Constantly Towing Tender

[rw58ph]

Depends on the dinky/boat you are towing. The heavier and more stable the dink is better/easier to tow. I would not tow a light weight flat bottom dink, but a heavier deep V with a low center of gravity. We have tow our 19 ft run about and plan to tow it when we head north to Alaska/Canada. The run about has a very deep V, heavy and a low center of gravity with a 30 gallon bully tank. 43 years ago I bought it for fishing the Puget Sound as it was deep V, semi try hull/wide, and very stable. Being the boat is also set up for trolling/fishing, and water sport for towing she is capable of towing the Eagle. Since the Eagle is a heavy full displacement we hardly feel it and because of the deep V tows in a straight line. I use the anchor bridle to tow which keeps the run about center behind the Eagle. I would not tow off shore.

We do carry a 12 ft rowing/sailing dink on the roof but I would never two it as its to light and flat bottom. If I did tow it, I would added a heavy keel to it to increase the stability.

[IdoraKeeper]

Have to tow. No room on deck and no onboard stowage for gasoline. It does slow the boat about half a knot. If it was on deck it would block vis from inside conning station. Towed it in awful conditions never flipped yet.....would rather not tow but oh well, no davits.

[Cheechako]

I t hink you need to state in what type of waters. I dont think anyone tows their tender offshore.... for long anyway!

[eliems]

Towed my 10' rib to Broughton Islands and back to Vancouver, some rough water ... no issues. If I strap it down onto the deck I would have no emergency hatch, I see this all the time where people would be trapped under a strapped down dingy. (Say for example there is a fire in the engine compartment under the hatchway).

What is a pain is the rain accumulating in the dingy after a wet night, (usually first thing in the am getting the dog to shore).

[DeborahLee]

If your thinking Walker Bay you might want to search here for Walker bay problems or warranty before buying.

[pistarckle]

I towed a Whaler 11 foot constantly for 3 years and then a 15 foot for 6 years . I chartered from Puerto Rico to Anegada . Mostly semi-protected sailing except the runs from Culebra back to the V.I. The higher the seas the farther back that you put it . Well over 90 percent of the charter boats in the Carib will tow a dingy ! Most of the problems that you have you will only have once , and then you will have learned your lesson !

[SimonV]

Guilty of stupidity....do not tow your dingy, weather can change quick, wind over current , and a change in depth from hundreds to tens with a narrowing between islands can make big seas. With all the above = lost dinghy, pulled cleats, a week at anchor staying aboard, and big expense in New Caledonia .

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Do NOT piss on an electric fence, I was about maybe 4 or 5 when I did, God know why I did, but I can tell you not to from personal experience, you will feel pain in your guts and it will hurt so bad that you will lose vision for a few seconds.
Some things you never forget, I think it's called one trial learning or something like that?

Never tried it, but my dog did once (before I could stop him). I have never, ever, seen a Rottweiler move that fast. Like greased lightning.

[Tingum]

Towing coastal or through protected areas like the Bahamas is no big deal. I have towed a 14' hard bottom inflatable over 10,000 miles. That said I would NEVER tow it on an offshore passage. You must watch the weather! The longest coastal passage I have towed was Lake Worth Inlet to Cape Fear in settled weather.

[DeepFrz]

S/V Surya: I think I will go piss on an electric fence to see what will happen....

Please, post pictures.

Constantly Towing Tender. Wasn't that a movie?

[resilientg]

Thanks for the reply's so far everyone,

Good to see the different opinions.

I'm thinking that as i'm only coastal cruising and the dinghy that i intend to use is worth stuff all i will tow it with a cover over it to help stop water ingress and see what happens.

Worst case scenario is that the tender disappears as i don't think I'll be snapping cleats of my steel boat.

A little loss of speed doesn't bother me either.

Once again, thanks to all who took the time to respond, "especially those who have towed their tender for longer distances and shared their experiance".

Matthew

[motion30]

I know of.a 100'+ mega yacht that had to cut loose a 40 fish cat it was towing due to a storm. Never saw it again

[Group9]

If I'm not offshore, I pretty much tow mine everywhere I go. It's an 11' Boston Whaler and it tows well. The only problem is that if you get in any kind of seas, it will surf down the waves, making it pretty important to not get caught doing that.

Offshore, I just use a halyard and a block and tackle to put it on the foredeck, upside down. I would rather have a Whaler 13, but I know I couldn't get it up on the fore deck and still get my anchor locker open.

I've never fooled with davits, even though I often think about installing a radar arch set up to do double duty as davits.

In the Bahamas, I saw a 150 foot yacht towing a 42 Hatteras SF like a dinghy one time, and lots of boats towing center console boats of various sizes. I guess if bad weather was coming, they planned to put crew on it and just motor alongside.

[Seagull111]

Most of us locals in Maine tow our dinghy when coastal cruising. I towed a hard Puffin dink in all kinds of weather for 15 years with no problems. Got an inflatable and discovered that they row like crap and tow like a sea anchor. Got caught in an unforcasted blow ( 35kt gusts) and the dink flipped with the outboard on it. It was a clusterf@@k getting it on deck. I have gone back to a 10 foot 6 Puffin which rows well and tows even better. If I go off shore I'll lash the crappy inflatable on deck.

[WindLove]

It's ok to tow a dinghy, but put it on deck with winds gets close to 20 knots. I have had a near loss by putting off the decision. It's like reefing, if you are thinking about putting it on deck, it's time,