Down Under? Mostly up!!!

[undercutter]

I cannot for the life of me understand why most everyone here leaves there dinghy motors up when tied to the pontoon dock. Now I understand that in some areas the tides are quite large but these dinghies in the pic's are not in jeopardy of bottoming out on a low tide. I also understand that many boaters here use tinnies as opposed to dinghy's and maybe do not give a s""t however the abuse that neighbouring tenders take from this action is unwarranted. These boats are expensive and the damage caused by motors left trimmed up unnecessarily is callous to say the least. That damage is being done by this habit is without question as so many of the boats here have visible damage and we have never seen so many partially deflated boats as during our trip in Australia. We have taken to tying to shore with a stern anchor whenever possible but as I said with the large tides in some areas this can result in a swim more often than not if you are late getting back to the boat. And yes, I am aware of all the possible hazards to being in the water here in Australia due to stingers, crocs, etc.

I must say that the people that we have met here are some of the nicest in the world so this really confuses me as to why???????? There must be an explanation.

[Tientos]

Depending on the location, but normal practice in the Top End, many tinny owners 'up' their motors to 1. Prevent growth 2. Stop mud etc, entering the intake.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Jim Cate]

This general complaint has surfaced on CF before, although not specifically aimed at Oz. And as before, I must say that there are no parts on a normal outboard leg/prop that are sharp enough to puncture an inflatable dinghy hull. Scratch the surface of a hard dink, sure, but not gonna damage an inflatable. In reality, the cruising life is hard on dinks of all persuasions. Encounters with rocks, barnies,, oysters and other hard and sharp objects are gonna happen. I reckon that the outboard issue is small potatoes overall!

And incidentally, the main reason that I raise my outboard when at crowded dinghy docks is to avoid fouling the many painters that inevitably get festooned around. The only way to allow lots of boats to use limited dock space is to use long painters, and sadly, they do get fouled on outboards left in the down position.This makes retrieval of the dink awkward or worse. IMO, it is better to raise them.

Jim

[Jacko]

Yes Jim I agree about the long painters but my poor dingy has a multitude of cuts and scratches from the very dingy dock in the above pictures in the end I would pull my dingy up the boat ramp it was the only way to escape the damage. Jacko

[Rustic Charm]

I'm a little surprised by this post. What damage?

My dink doesn't come near another even at a marina so I can't see how it's a problem.

The reason I lift mine is because it's not healthy for the motor to be sitting for long periods of time in salt water. Partly habit now. So I lift it and it drains.

[exMaggieDrum]

Big dinghy dock raftups happen at anchorages, from anchored boats, some of which are at marinas but often not, at least where we used to cruise. Props up can cause damage to other dinks. I have seen it and experienced it. The person who does it doesn't think the other should complain but it isn't their dink that get to big scratch.

As far as leaving it up to prevent salt water corrosion, I hope you are flushing out your motor after each use as the most damage happens in the cooling passages internal that don't drain.

We always put the motor up when beaching the dink but always left it down at the dock. I don't any of you who think it is OK will change their minds but your excuses for doing it are totally bogus. You should use a floating line for your painter anyway. Just my two cents.

[reed1v]

1. drain the salt water from the shaft
2. prevent fouling of the shaft external and internal
3. prevent waves from dousing the engine
4.keep folks from bashing the back of the tender.

[Quintessa41]

Exactly where were the photos taken ?

[BobFord]

Pic. taken at Airlie . It does dry out !

[Quintessa41]

Thought it looked like Airlie , motors up because of the mud at L/T ( you could wade out of there L/T). I made the mistake of leaving mine down , "once only " . Ps loved the Whitsunday's !!

[44'cruisingcat]

Places where there are lots of full-time "resident" liveaboards, who generally leave their dinghies in the water all the time, you'll find many will raise the leg to reduce corrosion and growth.

[JPA Cate]

A question for those of you who think it is the outboards that are cutting your dinghies: how did you rule out that it was not barnacle or oyster shells or metal bits sticking out of the dinghy docks that cut your dinghies?

The possibility of it being the outboards is a hypothesis that's been with us for years, but for our own dinghies, oysters and barnacles have been the major slicers,occasionally metal bits on timber docks, and none of the cuts they accumulate appeared to be due to someone's outboard motor.

Thanks for taking the time to explain.

Ann

[brownoarsman]

I raise the outboard on the big boat and the dinghy (a 1993 Avon rover hypalon) routinely floats into it. The dinghy looks like crap, but it's not the outboard that did it.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

Big dinghy dock raftups happen at anchorages, from anchored boats, some of which are at marinas but often not, at least where we used to cruise. Props up can cause damage to other dinks. I have seen it and experienced it. The person who does it doesn't think the other should complain but it isn't their dink that get to big scratch.

As far as leaving it up to prevent salt water corrosion, I hope you are flushing out your motor after each use as the most damage happens in the cooling passages internal that don't drain.

We always put the motor up when beaching the dink but always left it down at the dock. I don't any of you who think it is OK will change their minds but your excuses for doing it are totally bogus. You should use a floating line for your painter anyway. Just my two cents.

Yes, at the end of each days use, don't you

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by undercutter

I cannot for the life of me understand why most everyone here leaves there dinghy motors up when tied to the pontoon dock.

I must say that the people that we have met here are some of the nicest in the world so this really confuses me as to why???????? There must be an explanation.

Even looking at all of these pictures, how is having them up damaging the other dingys? Unless of course your running into the back of them, in which case an optomotrist is in order.