Why is Planing Ability Important in a Dinghy?

[Cadence]

A trip to the Yacht Club, how do you find the right one?

[Sandero]

You need to find balance. I won't do davits for multiple reasons. I tow coastally and use a Garhauer lifting crane to hoist the 8 hp 4 stroke to the rail. Never tow with the motor. It takes a few minutes to deal with the motor.

I like to go fast, but I don't like wakes from power boats and so I don't want to wake other sailors... so I don't. When I can save I open the throttle. There is no need to plane for a typical cruiser with a *service* dink.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I'm also confused by cruising boat designers that think davits and dodgers are add-ons. Kinna like designing a house without a laundry room; these are core functions.

Amen to that, brother. Only, for "davits", I would write "dinghy storage and launching facility."

In fairness to the designer of my boat, Bill Dixon, my boat was actually designed to take the Simpson electric davits, with special knees to provide an excellent structural base for the davits, and all the wiring and so forth in place. My boat was delivered from yard with these davits. So they are about as well thought-out and good as davits get. Which, however, is not good enough, IMHO.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

PS the photo off Google is pretty damn well known its the first "real" cruising destination for many north Americans... And probably one of he best dinghy docks in the world, opposite a fuel station, free fresh water on the dinghy dock and the land end of thedock has the towns biggest supermarket! Bliss!!! BUT its a MILE over rough water to get there!
Name it

Mark

Since nobody else said anything, Exuma Market dock, Georgetown, Bahamas.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by avb3

Mike, I am seriously considering a Portabote as my dink. I've read the responses here on inflatables, ribs, etc. and everyone makes a decision for their own reasons (although some just follow the herd).

I know all the advantages of the Portabote. What constraints have you had that you wished were different? As example, I understand they can be a bit frustrating to put together, at least at first.

Hi AVB, glad to help. I do like our dink. So far it has proven to be a great choice for the way my partner and I cruise, but it is certainly not the best choice for everyone. So here's the downsides as I see them:

• Assembly is a pain. The two us can assemble/disassemble from our foredeck in about 10 to 15 minutes without rushing. We then launch or haul easily by hand. I can do it alone, but it takes about twice as long. It is a skill that you get better at with time.
  
• Storage is something to consider. On our Rafiki it works well b/c we have very wide side decks. The bote can be secured along side the cabin, and there's still room to move down the deck. The seats are secured in a bag right in front of the cabin on the foredeck. Neither get in the way of deck work, but I would seriously consider where you're going to store the bote and the seats.
  
• Portabotes flex and move under foot. It seems to unnerve some people. They are very stable, but until you get used to how they feel and behave, you may feel uncomfortable. Probably helps coming from a canoeing/kayaking background.
  
• The oar locks seem weak. Ours are still doing OK, but I've heard that other owners have replaced the standard issue ones with more sturdy versions. I might do that.
  
• The only other thing I'm planning to do is build some sort of canopy for the bow, probably out of sunbrella or other canvas.
  
• Finally, the sail rig is just for play. I got it. It's fun to play around with in an anchorage, but it's pretty rinky-dink. Not worth the money.

That's all I can think of right now. Does that help?

[JPA Cate]

Hi, guys,

Started out with a sailing/rowing dinghy. It was stolen. We got the first Insatiable, which came with a very used Zodiac, hypalon, 12 ft. (I-1 was 36 feet.) We rolled it up and stowed below for passages, and towed it locally. But, like Stu said, we discovered that fast was fun for us, and got hooked. And, I think we might have stayed with slow and small and been quite content, if we hadn't tried it out and discovered the fun quotient. It also makes it possible in sparsely populated areas, to leave the big boat anchored where she's best protected and take the dinghy exploring--the high speed possibility allows you to return quickly, as well as extending your range.

Present dinghy is 3.5 m. (A bit over 10 ft.) alloy bottom RIB. It just fits between the mast and the baby stay, disinflated and tied down. There is still room on the side decks to get forward, and enough room to use the pole. We use the main halyard to transfer the 15 hp 2 stroke from the dinghy transom to the pushpit mount. Only rarely, have we needed to use the dinghy to take an extra anchor out, one of the arguments for a big motor, which proved not to be necessary, in our usage.

Ann

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by jcapo

Since nobody else said anything, Exuma Market dock, Georgetown, Bahamas.

Indeed! Correctomondo!!

And a lovely place it is

Thats where I met Vasco, and quite a lot of CF people.


Mark

[Cadence]

Someone said putting one out on a painter, (sp?) Just ensure it not one to fill up and be a great sea anchor when upside down.

[huffart]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i love the freedom my ROWBOAT gives me-- i can sleep at night with it in the water..is safer for bubba daboatkat, as when he fell in, he swam to the side tied dinghy and i could easily scoop his cold wet self into boat.....
it is not on the to be stolen list as it has no engine and is not reflatable....i can land on a beach without problems..try that in a inflatable many times.....
i do not suffer problems from ethanol in gasoline nor do i store any gas on boat--i do not have to rebuild my fuel system in engine on back of dink ever
funny how rowing keeps me able to eat what i WANT to eat not what some trendy bunch if nuts preaches...no special diet, no added fat on my body...roflmffao..
.LOTS of exercise...
oh yes--propulsion system is over 10 yrs old and still flawlessly functional.. try that with an outboard...
so what if it takes a buncha time to get places--i am not on a schedule.
this lifestyle really has no use for schedules, as schedules kill sailors......

if i want to explore, i do have a torqueedo t1003s to add to dinghy if i choose to do so. or i will kayak.....
....

What kind of rowboat do you use?


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[Sandero]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Amen to that, brother. Only, for "davits", I would write "dinghy storage and launching facility."

In fairness to the designer of my boat, Bill Dixon, my boat was actually designed to take the Simpson electric davits, with special knees to provide an excellent structural base for the davits, and all the wiring and so forth in place. My boat was delivered from yard with these davits. So they are about as well thought-out and good as davits get. Which, however, is not good enough, IMHO.

Some designer / manufacturers leave the tricking out to the buyer... and each owner will have a different use and style... some into going from slip to slip... other to a mooring, others anchor out... some race and so on.

Davits with dink stowed are not advisable for ocean passages where a wave can poop the rig and rip it off. I big heavy planing set up is not mission critical for most sailors, but for some surely it is. YMMV

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

We cruised RTW the first time with just a rowing dinghy (trinka) and no motor. I loved it. Can only remember two places around the world where the row was at all difficult. We were young then.

The second time we took a high pressure floor inflatable with a 6hp motor. We can plane with two, but usually don't. It's more motor than we truely need.

We have never desired the big rib/hp combo that so many people find "necessary". And we love being able to completely put the whole thing away when we go to sea and having nothing on deck.

This is great to hear- we have a high pressure air floor for our current setup, but job and kids dictate local cruising mostly chesapeake. i can plane the airfloor with the 3.3 solo or with boat of my small kids <200 lbs total. Seems a 6-8 on an airfloor would be plenty, as opposed to having to go 15+ on a RIB which I then can't rollup and stow for offshore. I like a clean foredeck especially after some passages on other folks boats where I have seen significant water over foredeck nearly to the mast in bad stuff. Air floors are light enough to lift on beach rather than drag. I have chartered with the "big rig" RIB but geez is the dinghy heavy- getting it onto and off beaches is a chore... Can't imagine hauling onto foredeck.

If I did go RIB, I would keep my 3.3 which is enough to power any dinghy into all but extreme conditions. Then for most times when distance is short, this 30 lb motor could be used. More efficient, less valuable, less likely to be stolen, etc. keep the 15 hp on the rail for the less frequent long trips.

I always chuckle when I am anchored and see someone else struggle a good 15 min with their davits, heavy motor hoist, external fuel tank, etc. just to take their dog 300 yards to a beach at 4 knots, using approx 5% of their horsepower.


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[zeehag]

Originally Posted by huffart

What kind of rowboat do you use?


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i am using the lovely and unstealable walker bay 10 ft hard dink.
i wasnt able to row across the outflow of cosme in an 8 ft so i upgraded....still, an undesirable dink.
the stealable ones are pretty and either inflatable with larger engines or ocean going styles of beautiful wood ones.

i used to enjoy the fast and fun planing dinks, but i found them rather difficult to stow for passages. i have watched the folks with catamarans and dinghies on davits and the more i watch and laugh the more i see the one minuet deployment of these davit riding dinks actually takes 15 mins and lots of bad words.... fun to watch.
reinforces the validity of my choices

[colemj]

Originally Posted by zeehag

i have watched the folks with catamarans and dinghies on davits and the more i watch and laugh the more i see the one minuet deployment of these davit riding dinks actually takes 15 mins and lots of bad words.... fun to watch.
reinforces the validity of my choices

We can literally launch our dinghy ready to go in less than 10 seconds. It takes me 30-40 seconds to haul it back up because I am old and weak. If I used our electric winch, it would be up in 10 seconds also. This is a 12' 300lb RIB with 20HP outboard.

The only time I have used bad words launching or retrieving the dink from the davits is when I forgot to put the plug in when launching.

Likewise, I have never seen any catamarans with davits take more than a minute or two to launch or retrieve. Perhaps those Pacific Mexican catamarans are setup differently than those on the other side.

Mark

[MarkJ]

Sunday morning Croissants!

So the French bakery opens at 7am on a Sunday and the regular crowd race the 1 nm from the anchorage to be first in line, buy the croissants hot out of the oven, race home, and present the still hot to the Mrs.


In an 18 hp I am last to leave the anchorage at 6:57am and first in the bakery line, first Croissants hot out of the oven, first back home at 7:05am with HOT Croissants. If I had a Mrs she wold be happy

9.9hp leaves at 6:50 gets in the line behind me (I snigger a bit) gets a warm croissant and gets home to the wife at 7:11. She is reasonably happy as long as he makes coffee, does the dishes and polishes her brightwork

4hp gets outta bed 6:15 puts on his galoshers and Sou'Wester and leaves the boat at 6:30 am and is last in line, only gets one Croissant as the rest sold out to higher HP, leaves bakery 7:10 gets wet all the way home, at 20 to 8, presents wife with one soggy cold croissant which she looks at distainfully and says "I already ate breakfast, scambled eggs. You can have some too, they are still in the shell."


Anyway mine were great!

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Sunday morning Croissants!

So the French bakery opens at 7am on a Sunday and the regular crowd race the 1 nm from the anchorage to be first in line, buy the croissants hot out of the oven, race home, and present the still hot to the Mrs.


In an 18 hp I am last to leave the anchorage at 6:57am and first in the bakery line, first Croissants hot out of the oven, first back home at 7:05am with HOT Croissants. If I had a Mrs she wold be happy

9.9hp leaves at 6:50 gets in the line behind me (I snigger a bit) gets a warm croissant and gets home to the wife at 7:11. She is reasonably happy as long as he makes coffee, does the dishes and polishes her brightwork

4hp gets outta bed 6:15 puts on his galoshers and Sou'Wester and leaves the boat at 6:30 am and is last in line, only gets one Croissant as the rest sold out to higher HP, leaves bakery 7:10 gets wet all the way home, at 20 to 8, presents wife with one soggy cold croissant which she looks at distainfully and says "I already ate breakfast, scambled eggs. You can have some too, they are still in the shell."


Anyway mine were great!

our french baker delivers, no need to launch a dink...
as for west coast inabilities to laynch dinks easily, iu believe mos tof the problem lies in the amount of time not on water, which exceeds the time they spend on water----they havent the time to play with the touys they bought in summer, as many only sail 3-5 months of year...lol
i did notice that the ones who are on water longer are more proficient...