The 26 feet & under club: What dink / What engine?

[LBW399]

Those of you that cruise (or intend to cruise) or sail regularly on small sailboats 26 feet & under (My boat is 23 feet l.o.d, w/7 & 1/2 feet beam) , I would be interested in:
*what you use as a tender, and do you row?
*do you use an inboard diesel or an outboard engine as your sailboat auxiliary when not using the wind, and if an outboard--in a well or off the stern? And then, if OB, where do you store your gasoline.

I like & appreciate all the info given on CF, but a lot of it has no relevance when the boat owners kindly giving it are sailing on boats 30-50 feet.
There are a few of us oddballs out there that either will be cruising on a pocket size boat, or already are--and it is those that are that I am interested in hearing their view on these two issues.
Cheers

[Sheepshank]

Hello kiwi,when I had a ranger a 26 I had a 7 ft pram.I liked it alot,it would fit on the foredeck,if I was offshore .most always rowed.A roll hypalon inflateable with an alluminum knockdown floor is very practical,but they don't row well.

[zeehag]

when i had my columbia 26, my islander 26 then my other smallboat, i used a 10 ft achilles with a 6 hp evinrude for transportation. towed it behind---
is a kind of blessing now to have a boat large enough to keep dink on deck.

[LBW399]

Originally Posted by Sheepshank

Hello kiwi,when I had a ranger a 26 I had a 7 ft pram.I liked it alot,it would fit on the foredeck,if I was offshore .most always rowed.A roll hypalon inflateable with an alluminum knockdown floor is very practical,but they don't row well.

Hi Sheepshank,
Would you have crossed an ocean with it on your foredeck?

[Sheepshank]

I wouldn't have crossed an ocean on the ranger 26 at all. but where else could you put it?better than towing if you are out for more than a day sail.





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[Tomm0]

I tow a 2.4m inflatable behind my 24 joubert. I can hoist it onto the foredeck if it's to be a long trip, but I usually don't bother. It has 3.5hp 2 stroke on it, and the mother wears a 8hp long leg on a spring loaded drop-down mount that let's me pull it up and all the way out to reduce the drag if I want to.

Disadvantage of the outboard for me is that with a 24 foot light-weight boat, if I go forward to mess with the jib or drop the pick, the outboard comes most of the way out of the water and loses all its push. I weigh about 100kg and that's enough extra weight on the bow to pull the stern up a good foot or two.

In rough weather I need to keep the weight to the stern too, to stop the prop cavitating between swells. Makes using the head (which is forward) impossible when motoring if its just me onboard... I need to send a passenger astern to offset me moving fwd.
No such issues under sail of course- rudder goes a good metre deeper than the outboard.

Inboard would be better in some ways, but for the noise and heat it brings inside. The outboard is quiet and a long way away from my wife reading in the cabin. The fuel lives in a tank strapped into the foot well in the cockpit with a ply cover, and spills would run out the cockpit drain holes not into the bilge.

Also I can take the outboard off for servicing, replace it myself, swap it for another in an emergency... And drop it on the tender for a bit of fun if I want some speed the 3.5 can't provide.

[Whaubner]

Originally Posted by Kiwi399

Those of you that cruise (or intend to cruise) or sail regularly on small sailboats 26 feet & under (
There are a few of us oddballs out there that either will be cruising on a pocket size boat, or already are--and it is those that are that I am interested in hearing their view on these two issues.
Cheers

I wouldn't say oddball. I would say many if not most folks started or learned on a similar size boat. I know many of sailor who took their <25' further than they have ever taken their larger boat.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Kiwi399

I like & appreciate all the info given on CF, but a lot of it has no relevance when the boat owners kindly giving it are sailing on boats 30-50 feet.
There are a few of us oddballs out there that either will be cruising on a pocket size boat, or already are--and it is those that are that I am interested in hearing their view on these two issues.

Believe it or not, most of the folks on this forum who cruiser larger boats started out cruising smaller boats. I myself started out on a Santana 22. Had it been a perfect cruiser, I'd have probably stayed with it. Unfortunately, it didn't have room for a dink.

So here is the answer you don't want to hear, coming from someone with extensive experience cruising small boats: the best solution to the dink problem is to get a bigger mothership.

[JPA Cate]

Bash,

I beg to disagree. We have met too many people cruising a very long way from home in boats around 22-26 ft. o/a, not recently admittedly. And they all carried small plywood, usually home made dinghies on deck for ocean passages. The french ones were more barge like in design, beamy for their length; and some carried nesting hard dinghies.

However, bigger is definitely more comfortable!

Ann

[janice142]

Originally Posted by Kiwi399

Those of you that cruise (or intend to cruise) or sail regularly on small sailboats 26 feet & under (My boat is 23 feet l.o.d, w/7 & 1/2 feet beam) , I would be interested in:
*what you use as a tender, and do you row?

Hello Kiwi399... My home for the past five years is 23' and the dink is a 7' fiberglass hard dinghy of ancient vintage (much like myself) ...

I do have a trolling motor ("fresh water only") that I've been using in salt water for the past three-plus years. It's rusted, corroded and works. Mine is hard so by keeping the bottom (inside) of the dinghy clean I have a fresh water catchment system. 1/2 a dink is a full 50 gallons which fills my water tank. I like that.

When underway I tow mine 3' aft of the stern with the bow raised. The motor is out as are all items that normally stay in the rowboat (oars, bailer, spare water jug)
In the coastal cruising sailboats I see, mostly their marshmallows (inflatables) are tied to the transom rail, with just the two tube ends sticking in the water. Always the motors are either on the stern pulpit or not visible.

I have seen the rubber canoe hybrid's lashed along the side deck (inside the stanchions) along with kayaks on other small boats. Of course towing a dink means you are accepting the risk that you might have to cut the cord and lose the dinghy should weather deteriorate.

Bash's comment regarding going larger may have worked for him but I have to tell you there is a simple pleasure in owning a small boat. Enjoy yours, and happy cruising.

[The Garbone]

I use a 8 ft achilles that I tow on a fairly long painter for short moves . Deflated and roll it on the foredeck to travel. 2.2 Honda OB kept on the stern pulpit when not using the dink.

One day I got lazy and left a cushion in the dink, storm blew through that night. I got lucky and found the cushion jammed between a boat and the dock the next dock over. Never leave anything in the dink.

[ohdrinkboy]

I'm on a large lake (600+ miles of shorline). I have a 1994 Evinrude 25" shaft 8hp outboard and tow a sit on top kayak when I want a dinghy.

[Cheechako]

Alot of people seem to like the Folbot, so that's another option for a small boat.

[roverhi]

I had a 9' Avon Redcrest that I rowed around on my 26' sailboat. Sold the boat but kept the dinghy when I moved up to 35'. Sold that boat and kept the Redcrest when we built our W32 and sailed off to French Polynesia. Rowed that dinghy all over the place, sometimes miles at a time. When I got back into owning a sailboat after a long hiatus, bought a used Avon Redcrest for the new to me 35' boat.

The Redcrest's inflation chambers are spilt amidships so you can inflate just a half and fit in a small space on the cabin top. Keeping Half inflated made for a comfy lounge on downwind passages and quick pumpup and deploy when we got to port. For long passages, stuffed it in a bag and stored it on deck aft of the mast lashed to the handrails. Had an engine for the Redcrest for a short while but it was such a pain and the Redcrest so easy to row that we deep sixed the outboard pretty quickly. The rubber oar thwarts on the Avon are the best oarlock set up. All the others with pin type oarlocks aren't designed for hard use. Never had floorboards for any of he Redcrests. Haven't rowed one with floorboards but someone told me they row better without them.

[Ocean Girl]

Lived aboard a Ranger 23 with dinky rubber raft, no motor, plastic oars. First year aboard I didn't have a car ( sold it to help buy boat :-) ). For grocery shopping I would sail at close to the store as i could get in my ranger and row ashore in the dinky raft.

If going cheap, I think an inflatable kayak would of been much better, would of handled the wind better. but the raft was free, I was poor, so good times.

All my tenders after that were true inflatable dinghies that I bought used. Avon, zodiac, and my favorite, the west Marine sport boat with the floor inserts. I always stowed dinghy on deck( deflated). Mainly because I singlehanded and found it easier to sail up to anchor or my slip without worrying over the dink.

Have fun
Erika