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14-04-2021, 16:44
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: SE USA
Boat: Hunter 38
Posts: 1,450
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How much dinghy do I need?
Closing on a H38 next week. It has davits (> 100" width). I'm planning on a RIB, probably FG hull.
How much dinghy do I need for 2 people (male 6' 185lbs, female 4.92' 90lbs), and a typical grocery load or two sets of dive gear and 2 x 80 cu ft tanks? Or, 4 people no stuff.
I was thinking 10' or under. Reasonable?
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14-04-2021, 16:47
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Boat: Wendon Skylounge 72'
Posts: 120
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Quote:
Originally Posted by flightlead404
Closing on a H38 next week. It has davits (> 100" width). I'm planning on a RIB, probably FG hull.
How much dinghy do I need for 2 people (male 6' 185lbs, female 4.92' 90lbs), and a typical grocery load or two sets of dive gear and 2 x 80 cu ft tanks? Or, 4 people no stuff.
I was thinking 10' or under. Reasonable?
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Yes. Check the load limitations before selecting though. A 9.9hp outboard should put a dinghy that size on plane with two people on board. Not 4.
~A
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14-04-2021, 17:20
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: SE USA
Boat: Hunter 38
Posts: 1,450
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlanT
Yes. Check the load limitations before selecting though. A 9.9hp outboard should put a dinghy that size on plane with two people on board. Not 4.
~A
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I was thinking something in the 9'6" - 10' range with a 9.9 hp 4-stroke. I don't have load limits on the davits atm, but they are seriously stout and integrated with the Hunter traveller arch.
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14-04-2021, 22:10
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#4
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 28,400
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Hello, flightlead404,
Do see if you can find out somewhere what the load limits of your davits are. Your o/b is around #100, plus whatever your dinghy and its contents will weigh, out there on a longish lever arm where sea states and wind gusts can accelerate the loads. You should stay well within the load limits, too.
One of the other moderators, Dockhead, had beautiful davits, yet had a cracking problem (work hardening and overload).
From our experience, a 10 ft. dinghy will be smallish for both of you, a load of groceries and dive gear, but if you don't take your dive gear shopping, or vice versa ( ) you'll be able to manage well.
Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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14-04-2021, 23:01
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Plano, TX Houston, TX
Boat: Hunter 380
Posts: 91
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
We have a 380 and fitted it with a 350 with a 20hp tohatsu. The attachment points will work and my new davits r on order. The 9.9,15,&20 are the same block and without a starter 97lbs. I wanted something that could could get 4 people with supplies upriver quick in a pinch. I also know it could be a simple tow, dingy with motor in davits, dingy alone in davits with motor on a board or even dingy lashed to the deck with the motor on the rail for a passage.
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15-04-2021, 02:09
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#6
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Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Denmark (Winter), Helsinki (Summer); Cruising the Baltic Sea this year!
Boat: Cutter-Rigged Moody 54
Posts: 33,750
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Quote:
Originally Posted by flightlead404
Closing on a H38 next week. It has davits (> 100" width). I'm planning on a RIB, probably FG hull.
How much dinghy do I need for 2 people (male 6' 185lbs, female 4.92' 90lbs), and a typical grocery load or two sets of dive gear and 2 x 80 cu ft tanks? Or, 4 people no stuff.
I was thinking 10' or under. Reasonable?
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There is no right answer -- what you want can be done with an 8' soft inflatable, but a 10' RIB is better, 11' even better than that.
But there are other considerations. Do you plan any longer ocean passages? If so, then you will want to have a dinghy which can be stored other than in the davits.
When I bought my boat, it came with an Avon 340 with center console and 25hp Mariner outboard -- a "proper little motorboat". I loved it -- it was fast and seaworthy and capacious, could carry 5 people plus gear and could plane with 5 people and no gear. When I was keeping my boat in Cowes I would occasionally blast across the Solent in it in lieu of taking the ferry. I took day trips up rivers in it.
My boat had electric davits which made raising and launching the heavy dink a snap.
BUT. The davits were troublesome -- always at the top of the repair list. And the heavy dinghy swung around in a seaway, eventually cracking the davits. No way to store that beast on deck.
So I got rid of the whole mess and replaced it with an Avon 310 Lite folding RIB and smaller manual davits. This dink folds down to near surfboard size and can be stored on the foredeck in its bag. For short passages in calm weather, or storage overnight at anchor, it goes in the davits. It's so light that I can handle it single handed, even getting it up on deck and folding it.
This RIB is no longer made, but I think there is a similar French made one. It can carry 4 people and a small amount of gear in calm weather or two people and a lot of gear, but the tubes are small so easy to swamp it (don't ask me how I know). I used it at first with an 8hp Selva 4 stroke outboard which would plane it easily with two people, but because I don't have (and don't want -- windage) an outboard davit, I swapped it later for a 3.5hp Mercury, which I can lift with one hand. The dink won't plane at all with this but for my purposes that's ok. An alternative would be a Torqeedo or similar electric outboard which has some intriguing advantages.
If you never plan any ocean passages you could consider a dinghy which you can't handle without davits, but I would think three times about that, no matter how tempting is the speed and capaciousness of such dinks.
__________________
"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
Walt Whitman
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15-04-2021, 10:09
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 94
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
one you can survive(heaven forbid) in off shore... an old east coaster fisherman once told me
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15-04-2021, 10:20
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Chesapeake Bay
Boat: Hunnter Legend 37.5
Posts: 1,012
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
I have a Hunter 37.5. I use a West Marine PRU-3, fold up dinghy. I have davits, too, but for long passages I fold up the dink, place it in the bag and store on deck. I use a 3.5 tohatsu outboard ( soon to be 5 hp after I put the new upgrade carb on). Have had it for 9 years. It hangs on the davits mostly. Carrying capacity is 990 pounds. I have easily transported all 5 of us (kids and wife) and used it to take the dog to go potty.
About the outboard.... no planing. It's much better/faster than rowing, though.
Ben
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15-04-2021, 11:28
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: On Barnegat Bay in NJ
Boat: Hunter 40.5 and C+C36
Posts: 222
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
I had a 10', 100 lb AL RIB which was good for 2-4 people. I used attachments to a high arch to store the dinghy. I could raise it high for ocean passages so that it would not scoop up water when heeled. Low to see over on the Intra Coastal. With 4:1 block and tackle it was hard, but OK, for my wife to raise. I never traveled with the motor on. It was very hard to stop swaying under sail and much harder with the motor. I rigged an arm and 4:1 tackle with which I could raise the motor and swing it on to the stern rail. Sailors with 8' dinghies wished they had bigger.
I used a 15 HP 2 stroke engine with which I could plane with 3 adults and gear. You stay dry up on a plane. The 15 HP weighs the same as the 9.9 HP. Alone I could go over 25 knots. I recommend a 2 stroke for the weight and easier maintenance. I also carried a 3.3 HP 2 stroke which I used 90% of the time to go boat to shore.
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15-04-2021, 11:42
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,074
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Keep in mind that there are a number of dinghy docks that post length limits. Usually around 12 (sometimes 13) feet. In the last few years, dinghy's (like surburban houses) are getting bigger and bigger.
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15-04-2021, 11:50
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Cruising, now in USVIs
Boat: Taswell 43
Posts: 1,033
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
We sail a Taswell 43, and have used the same RIB for the past 11 years. We have davits in the rear, but as was mentioned, it can swing a lot in a seaway. We've devised a way to cross-tie it and steady it, but we always bring it up on the foredeck (upside-down, with the motor off and on the back rail) when we're making a longer passage and/or the seas are really up. Our RIB is 11'3", with big tubes. It's fine for the 2 of us, even after a grocery run. But it gets pretty tight for 4 of us! We use a 2-cycle Yamaha 15hp O/B. We can plane with the 2 of us, not with a full load (2+groceries+beer/pop+bottled water, etc), and no way with 4 on board. Not a big deal....unless we've got a long way to go, which is the case more often than not. Get a dink and O/B as big as you can afford/your davits will support-extra space and/or power is always nice!
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15-04-2021, 12:06
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: San Leon, Texas
Boat: Knysna 440 once I get my new dock and the canal gets dredged
Posts: 914
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Quote:
Originally Posted by flightlead404
Closing on a H38 next week. It has davits (> 100" width). I'm planning on a RIB, probably FG hull.
How much dinghy do I need for 2 people (male 6' 185lbs, female 4.92' 90lbs), and a typical grocery load or two sets of dive gear and 2 x 80 cu ft tanks? Or, 4 people no stuff.
I was thinking 10' or under. Reasonable?
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TWO THINGS: one; there is a growing trend among marinas with dinghy docks to limit their length to 12' as they're tired of all the paramilitary assault weapons clogging their limited dock space. Two; make sure you get something you can fit on the foredeck comfortably - davits are a no go for long offshore passages, for short hops people generally just tow their dinghy with a good painter.
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15-04-2021, 12:15
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Hawaii
Boat: Jeanneau SO DS 49
Posts: 356
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
If you just want to get to shore and back in calm conditions then a 10' soft bottom will suffice. If you want to stay dry, explore outside the harbor, plane with 4 people, anchor furthest out for bugs, privacy, and tow it safely, them a 12' rib/20hp is needed. Rightside up on the foredeck engine attached for passages, easily done with 2 people on spin halyard.
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15-04-2021, 16:22
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#14
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Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Denmark (Winter), Helsinki (Summer); Cruising the Baltic Sea this year!
Boat: Cutter-Rigged Moody 54
Posts: 33,750
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Quote:
Originally Posted by arcticmonkey
one you can survive(heaven forbid) in off shore... an old east coaster fisherman once told me
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This is why God made life rafts . . .
Dinghy is not the right tool for this job.
__________________
"You sea! I resign myself to you also . . . . I guess what you mean,
I behold from the beach your crooked inviting fingers,
I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me;
We must have a turn together . . . . I undress . . . . hurry me out of sight of the land,
Cushion me soft . . . . rock me in billowy drowse,
Dash me with amorous wet . . . . I can repay you."
Walt Whitman
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15-04-2021, 16:25
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#15
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 28,400
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Re: How much dinghy do I need?
Actually, as Jim and I have had 15 hp obs forever, I think 15 hp is adequate. Sometimes, it required a prop change (but one needs a spare prop anyway, if one is an inveterate explorer) to plane with four large adults. Our dinghies have been between 13 ft and 3.5 m (11.2 ft). Okay for dive gear for 2, crowded for 4, but doable. Recommend at least 18" tubes, for "dryness". Smaller tubes, the payloads get a lot more splash, and sometimes you want a way to give the groceries a "raincoat".
You should be able to store the dinghy on the foredeck for passages, or be willing to lose it. At the costs of hypalon dinghies these days, that would be an expensive decision.
Fwiw, we found that less guests actually come visit when you are far away than we thought....and this seems to be a common thing.
Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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