DIY hard dinghy stabilizer

[sailorcherry]

Thank you everyone! Lots to consider.

Pool noodles: yeah tried that. They don't like to stay on, at least my dink, plus they only offer being a rub rail, no stability or flotation.

Fenders: it is where I am leaning. I just hate to buy, say 8 fenders, and end up dissappointed and feeling like I blew money down the drain (since they will be too small on the mothership). Hence asking if anyone has tried and been happy.

Raymond - thanks for the pic

Capn Bazza - thanks to you too. It looks like it helps a bit.

Uncivilized: That is plan B. We have been talking about re-using large soda bottles (our fav dinghy bailer) and wrapping them in fabric/canvas. But it may not look good (lumpy and all). Or wrapping individually to be like fenders. But there again a tad to small, I think?

Probably going with three large size fenders per size.

[UNCIVILIZED]

When you're deciding what to try, also consider how tough your setup will be to clean. As sometimes dinghys pick up some mess gunk on their gunwales from rubbing up against things, like say, pilings. And the creasote sometimes found on them, makes a mess if it gets onto things. Including boat topsides, or your clothes.
So you'll want it not to be too tough to remove your flotation to clean both it & the dinghy. That & to do general upkeep on the dink, as when you're using them every day, they take a beating.

[RaymondR]

Getting the right dingy and then getting it set up for cruising is a big part of keeping the cruising life enjoyable. I have had about four of them and the one in the picture set up with the box seat and three wheels is the best of them. I have found that stability is a matter of hull shape and weight and durability the material it is made from. My next dingy project is motorizing the front wheel with a small Honda whipper snipper motor and two fat low pressure tires.

Whatever you decide to do mate, good luck with it.

[Scout 30]

I've thought about attaching a couple of these to my Bauer 10. Heavy duty, priced right & can be used as beach rollers.

Beach Roller

[sailorcherry]

Well guys, mission fail!
And don't hate me but we didn't take any photos either, sorry
Have lost too many phones to water damage and we removed them while out there underway to test another issue (trying to plane w/a 15hp, but the hull shape and freeboard just aren't right for that).

Okay, so on a 10' hard dink we took six, three a side, 2' long new fenders, all the same size. Added eye bolts (in the gunwhales where we added wood reinforcement). Tied them up like the few pictures you will find on google. Looked nice too!
The issue in our case was we were going to need to add more holes to the hull. You need the eye bolts low enough, close to the waterline, to be able to pull the fenders down, so they don't float up and not do the job they were intended to do. Therefore, we would have to add wood pieces for reinforcement and even then it may still tear or crack our hull. It just isn't worth it in case it goes south. A thicker hull could do it, but this one is just too thin (partner is a shipwright by trade, so he knows!), especially for needing to go fast.

Speaking of fast, as expected once you get going, 10kts, we had a bunch of flooding and spray due to those bad girls - I am sure we were free, funny entertainment for dockside onlookers!

It looked really nice and for on the hook it makes it a no brain (no worries of scratching your hull or when you raft up to your buddy's boat)

We think it would work if:
You went to the trouble of adding wood reinforcement or had a thicker/stronger hull than ours.
And if you kept it as a sailing/rowing dink and under power to a max of 6kts.

[Snowpetrel]

Sorry to hear it didnt work for you, my friends boat was plywood, so he attached the saddles a few inches under the gunwale to hold the down. They wedged in nicely under the rubrail. His boat was for rowing, so no spray issues. Hopefully you find a solution that works.

Maybe some 2 inch thick closed cell foam glued to the hull would work and be streamlined?

I think the some of the dinghy dogs type collers use aluminium annex track to attach them at the lower edge. That might be a way to distribute the load, prehaps with some fabric flaps that lash around the floatation and up to the gunwales.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[sailorcherry]

Thanks Snowpetrel. I really like that saddle idea. You're friend sounds like a pretty smart guy!

Yep, the whole closed cell foam, doing layers perhaps, has been an option we have talked about too.

The first experience was actually reconstructing the hull with pontoons of sorts filled with floation.Kinda making it look like a tri-hull hydrofoil kinda boat. But again after figuring out the costs and risk of permanent structural damage to the hull we stopped and moved onto the fender idea.
The practical solution is having two dinghies; an inflatable to act as the truck and a sailing dinghy for fun (like a laser).
One of the big benefits to a boat over 40' with a flush deck - it's a mobile garage for all your toys!

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Sorry to hear it didnt work for you, my friends boat was plywood, so he attached the saddles a few inches under the gunwale to hold the down. They wedged in nicely under the rubrail. His boat was for rowing, so no spray issues. Hopefully you find a solution that works.

Maybe some 2 inch thick closed cell foam glued to the hull would work and be streamlined?

I think the some of the dinghy dogs type collers use aluminium annex track to attach them at the lower edge. That might be a way to distribute the load, prehaps with some fabric flaps that lash around the floatation and up to the gunwales.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app