Towing an inflatable

[jongleur]

I intend to tow it backwards as I've seen recently
in a video. Tie from the hard transom to the
boat and tow closely.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Roy M

But, for economy and dependability, you can't beat the Armstrong System:

What, take drugs and cheat?

[J Clark H356]

I towed my Dinghy most of the way from Kentucky Lake to Punta Gorda, FL and back. At times after putting the mast back up, I had it on the bow, but for the most part, I towed it across the Gulf. We had good weather for both crossings, so it was not a problem.

I have my outboard mounted on an Edson stern mount and use an Ocean Marine pole with my KVH antenna on top and mounted Ocean Marine's outboard motor boom for getting the OB on and off the dinghy. I keep the dinghy empty while towing so if it did get kicked over by a wave or wind, I can get it back on board fairly easily. During the trip, I had no problems whatsoever with this setup. I had predetermined points where I mounted brass snap shackles so I could clip to my stern rail for the correct towing distance. I had another loop for rough conditions and pulled it in and snapped the snap shackle to the loop, keeping the dinghy very close with the nose up on my swim platform.

When docking, we had another snap shackle clipped to the rear lifeline. My wife would unclip that one while I unclipped the rear towing one and we moved the dinghy to the bow.

We used floating braided polypropylene line with a float and a bridle. After some heavy rains, I would have to pump it out since it was open and had no cover while towing.

[dthomas95]

Tingum, How did you keep the plastic floats in place? I've thought of doing this on short runs where I'm more inclined to tow the dinghy, but not sure how to secure the floats in place. Only idea I've come up with is to tie a couple knots on each side of the float, but don't like the idea of tying knots in the painter for long periods of time.

[Colin A]

Weaver or other swimplatform mount is your best bet for ease of use. I see locks as the only real issue towing. When I dock while towing I typically tie the dink right alongside the boat in whatever position to keep it away from the dock. Not that big a deal. Like other said you should avoid towing in open water so again a swim platform mount would be your best bet. If you look thru classifieds I see weaver systems used quite a bit but you would need to order new pads etc from weaver to attach to the dinghy.
On the motor I would add a motor mount right to the transom of the mothership just hang it there.
WEST MARINE Fixed-Mount Bracket | West Marine

[dilligaf]

There are a lot of great suggestions above, one thing we do is add a couple of large bungies to the painter with a loop of rope so the surge on the dingy will be softer. this will help the attachment points from being ripped off in bouncy seas. We however, only tow on short passages in the Pacific Northwest. If we are on a longer passage or off shore we stow the dingy on the bow.
Hopefully this helps