assembling dinghy while ON a 27" boat

[sepharad]

I cannot find one video or even a discussion about assembling and inflating a dinghy while ON your boat.


Lots of videos of people assembling on a parking lot, a dock, a boat ramp...but never while on a small cramped boat.


My 27 footer is too small to keep an inflated boat onboard.


Is this somehow never an issue, arriving at a location and needing to assemble a dinghy to get ashore?

[grantmc]

Great post sepharad. Although my dinghy does just fit on deck.
I've a 26 foot boat and I've never figured out how to fold and put away sails on deck though.
Perhaps some of the great minds here can advise?

[CSYChip]

I have a cutter rig with a staysail boom in the way of the only place large enough for my dinghy so not quite as cramped but still a problem. I have a line between the bow and the transom of the dinghy that I use to lift the dinghy on a halyard to drop it in the water. For inflating, I start by attaching the halyard and putting a little tension on it. Then I inflate the outer tubes until full but squishy. My current dinghy has an inflatable floor so I inflate that. The last dinghy had floor boards which took a bit of juggling but I would put them in at this point. With the floor in place I finish inflating the tubes. Using the halyard I lift the dinghy and swing it outboard. Once the dinghy is in the water, I have a davit that I use to lower the engine but the halyard would work for that to.

[ranger58sb]

Our first dinghy was an inflatable with roll-up wood floors. We could only just about manage it in the cockpit on our (trawler-esque) 34'.

We eventually decided an inflatable with an air floor would have been easier to deal with... and would have been sufficient for our dinghy requirements. We'd gotten the roll-up instead because we had big dogs at the time, and thought dog toenails would have been too destructive. Turned out they often leaped on or off the tubes too, no damage. Air floors would likely have survived just fine...

-Chris

[hugosalt]

On my 30 fter. I position my 9'.6" air floor dinghy arthwartship on top of companionway and inflate/role out port/stbd. (easier without dodger)
It is easily positioned to attach halyard to launch.
Could also do, again arthwartship, just in front of mast using lifelines to support once
starting to take shape, however this was always more "fun"!

[wholybee]

My boat is larger, but the technique should work. I hang my dingy from a halyard. I assume on a 27' boat your dingy would be a rollup type stowed on the foredeck in it's bag. Just lift it right out of the bag to a vertical position. Inflate it, then swing it over the lifelines and drop into the water.

Stowing would be more difficult, but the same basic idea. Use an electric pump to get it completely deflated while vertical.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by sepharad

I cannot find one video or even a discussion about assembling and inflating a dinghy while ON your boat.


Lots of videos of people assembling on a parking lot, a dock, a boat ramp...but never while on a small cramped boat.


My 27 footer is too small to keep an inflated boat onboard.


Is this somehow never an issue, arriving at a location and needing to assemble a dinghy to get ashore?

Small boat dingy choices require compromise. I would lean toward an air floor inflatable, although it's not my favorite inflatable for sure. I have assembled ply floor dingy's on the foredeck of a 30 ft boat, but it is cumbersome. You may have to inflate with the dingy "cross-boat" over the lifelines on a 27 ft.

Another option is the Portaboat stored along the lifelines.

[MartinF]

There are other relevant issues. Recovery and getting the dinghy back in a neat package is more difficult. Do you already have a dinghy? How much does it weigh? Most will weigh more than 70lb Where do you keep it on board? Do you carry motor and fuel? My solution would be to tow it. Hard dinghies are easier to row, so you can manage without a motor. If you want to carry it, think about an inflatable kayak.
Good Luck, M

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by MartinF

My solution would be to tow it.

That would be my suggestion as well. Use floating line and tow with a long tow hawser.

I have 10 feet of dyneema with a thimble on each end. One thimbled goes to a shackle on the padeye of the dinghy. The other thimble goes to the Wichard snap shackle on the end of my tow hawser.

In channels the tow is pulled in close. In open water it's paid out further back.

[MartinF]

Many people faced with the inflate, launch, recover, deflate, stow task end up not bothering, which is a pity.

[Ryban]

Cruised extensively on a 27' for 3 years with an 8' Achilles folding floor dinghy. I just inflated it on the foredeck and wrangled it over the lifelines, which worked fine. For storage, basically same thing in reverse and lashed it down in its bag on the cabin top by the mast.

I definitely don't recommend extensive towing, even for island hops. I towed once between St Vincent and St Lucia, and ended up with a completely swamped dinghy that was threatening to break free. Had to douse my sails and get out into the dinghy and bail for 20 minutes. Was not fun.

Our new dinghy is a nesting wooden dinghy, and our boat is now a little bigger (32'), but it's ironically much more difficult given the weight and shape of the hard wooden dinghy. Our plan is to use our spinnaker halyard to hoist it above the lifelines then lower it onto the foredeck for disassembly.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Ryban

I definitely don't recommend extensive towing, even for island hops. I towed once between St Vincent and St Lucia, and ended up with a completely swamped dinghy that was threatening to break free. Had to douse my sails and get out into the dinghy and bail for 20 minutes. Was not fun.

I always tow with the garboard plug removed. YMMV

[Ryban]

Still, easy for an inflatable without the motor mounted to get flipped by the right timing of a wave and a gust, which has also happened to me while towing.

[tenchiki]

I still have an Achilles LT-2 inflatable (about 7ft long). When I had my previous Montgomery 17, it had no lifelines around the cockpit, so I would inflate and deflate it athwartship in the cockpit. For the larger boat (a Yankee Dolphin 24), the lifelines around the cocpit were too narrow, so I would inflate/deflate it athwartship on the cabin top. In both cases, I would tow it only for very short hops. After a little practice on the dock, I could get it to fit back in the (now disintigrating) bag.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Ryban

Still, easy for an inflatable without the motor mounted to get flipped by the right timing of a wave and a gust, which has also happened to me while towing.

I leave the motor on. Dinghies flip with the tow hawser is too short. I have 2 30 foot bridle legs to a 75 tow hawser to a 10 foot pendant. I've towed very, very long distances in 8+ foot seas and never had an issue.

Again, YMMV. I'm not towing across the Pacific. Because you've had bad experiences doesn't make it a bad practice.