The most popular dinghy size

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by akopac

This is on reason I went to a hard dinghy. The othe is my hard dinghy I can sail, row, and motor on a plain with a 3.5hp motor on a plain.

Akopac, what kind of hard dinghy do you use? When my current dinghy needs replacement in a few years, a hard dinghy that can be sailed looks quite attractive to me.
Do you have some link to pictures to the type?

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

Akopac, what kind of hard dinghy do you use? When my current dinghy needs replacement in a few years, a hard dinghy that can be sailed looks quite attractive to me.
Do you have some link to pictures to the type?

I could be wrong but it looks like mine. A Danny Greene design called Chameleon. 10ft 4 when together and 5ft 4 nested. Easy to assemble in the water as both halves will support a person, they wedge together and the bolts go in after, nuts already in place. They've been around for maybe more than 30 years now. Some people have made slightly smaller ones if they don't have 5ft 4 available, easy to do this. They have a large area in the bow to stow stuff that needs to remain dry. Fun to build too and will last for many many years. Mine is more than 20 years old. Just restored her. Cosmetic only needed.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by DanielI

Thanks to all the planing responses. I was imagining all these sailors quietly slipping in on their sailboats and then jumping into their dinghies to zoom about like all the other annoying power-boaters. But I can see the point in certain anchorages.



My ideal dinghy would be large enough to get my family of four aboard with supplies, but small enough to lift aboard a 30’ boat. As far as I can tell, such a creature does not exist.

I don’t like them but some folks swear by portabotes for this kind of use

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by picklesandjesse

I could be wrong but it looks like mine. A Danny Greene design called Chameleon. 10ft 4 when together and 5ft 4 nested.

Thank you, that helps. I need to check whether I get a benefit from the nesting option as I have some space on the raised salon roof. It's good to hear from people not going the inflatable way.

My main motivations are being able to sail around and having a dinghy that is unattractive when left on the beach unattended. Inflatables aren't either. A rigid dinghy also gives more sea-gypsy credits. As I fall short in the crazy-wild beard department and I'm not into parrots either, I need to upgrade it in other ways.

[picklesandjesse]

[QUOTE=Joh.Ghurt;3394523 A rigid dinghy also gives more sea-gypsy credits. As I fall short in the crazy-wild beard department and I'm not into parrots either, I need to upgrade it in other ways.[/QUOTE]

Pickles and Jesse are both parrots, but I don't have a beard. Photo sideways, can never figure this out once it's downloaded.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

Akopac, what kind of hard dinghy do you use? When my current dinghy needs replacement in a few years, a hard dinghy that can be sailed looks quite attractive to me.
Do you have some link to pictures to the type?

I have the Chameleon plans but haven't built it (yet). Similar craft include the CLC Passagemaker and the Bateau FB-10. None of these are really intended for planing -- they're displacement hulls.


You could also look at Bateau's GV-10 and GV-11, which are planing hard dinghies that have a bow transom (like a pram) to make them more compact. (plans only)


You can get 12' aluminum boats with a pointed bow that would be great if you have the room. My dinghy is a 14' aluminum boat, which I tow, works great but too big to store aboard.

[Vingt-Knots]

I have seen a couple of UK FRIBs down this way. Actually one is used by another Moody 45DS. It folds up and fits very neatly in the rear ‘garage’ on the 45DS. They can also be folded up and strapped down on deck if you want. The other FRIB is on a very sweet Aluminum French made boat, I think about 49’ LOA. On that boat they tend not to fold it but rather just hang it off the Davits, but they have a pretty serious factory Davit system onboard. We are just lazy Caribbean Cruisers so some Davit time is fine between the Islands. We went with Atlas Carbon Fibre Davits, which are very light, so the overall mass hanging off the stern is not too bad with a Highfield CL310.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by DanielI

My ideal dinghy would be large enough to get my family of four aboard with supplies, but small enough to lift aboard a 30’ boat. As far as I can tell, such a creature does not exist.

This was the original use case for nesting (hard) dinghies, which have fallen out of favor among cruisers. Larger mother ships is one reason.



Your other choices are a dinghy that is towed rather than hoisted aboard (which is what some people do who limit their cruising to protected, coastal waters) -- or any of a number of inflatable boats that can be deflated for storage. Of these, I would consider the drop-stitched, inflatable high pressure floors first.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

Akopac, what kind of hard dinghy do you use? When my current dinghy needs replacement in a few years, a hard dinghy that can be sailed looks quite attractive to me.
Do you have some link to pictures to the type?

Yep! A few have guessed already. It’s a Danny Green Chameleon. I built it in Ecuador in a little over a month. There is a whole CF thread dedicated to this dinghy. If it’s too big a few have built smaller ones, but Danny is a marine architect and experimented a lot with nesting dinghies before he settled on the Chameleon. Danny got it right. We love our dink.
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...hy-156370.html

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-...xy-horse-power

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by akopac

Danny is a marine architect and experimented a lot with nesting dinghies before he settled on the Chameleon. Danny got it right. We love our dink.

There are a lot of things to like about the design compared to other nesting dinghies on the market, be they in plan or kit form. I think it is interesting to compare and contrast with other designs that are or have been popular:

• The PT-11, no longer available but was sold as a kit for several years. Like other CNC-centric designs this has a more rounded hull form which provides better rowing performance at the expense of initial stability. Had a carbon fiber mast and custom machined fittings for joining the two halves. Longer, due to a pointed bow.
• Bateau's FB11, designed by Evan Gatehouse with the goal of making an improved Chameleon. Available as plans and possibly kits (I'm not sure). Although designed with hand cutting in mind (rather than CNC), this also has a more rounded hull form again with better rowing performance at the expense of initial stability. It also has more rocker. Like the Chameleon it has a pram-style bow transom. The designer specifies considerably less use of fiberglass than is used on the Chameleon, resulting in a lighter boat.
• B&B Yachts' Two Paw, plans, available in 6.5', 7', 8', and 9' versions. These smaller dinghies have a pram-style transom bow and carry their beam further forward to increase displacement as much as possible to make up for their short length.
• B&B Yachts' Spindrift, plans or kit, available in 9', 10' or 11'. Hull shape very similar to Chameleon but with a pointed bow.
• CLC's Passagemaker Take-apart. Plans or kit, this CNC-centric design has a rounded bilge, a transom bow, and a good deal of rocker. Not a true nesting boat -- the parting line is forward of center to allow a more optimal placement of the daggerboard, and the aft flotation compartment uses too much space to allow even the small bow piece to nest in the stern.
• CLC also makes the much smaller Eastport Pram (plans or kit).

There are several things in common among these designs:

• They are all lighter weight than Chameleon, mainly due to use of less fiberglass and to changes in the design of the seats.
• None of them copied Chameleon's seat design. While the designs vary, the removable aft seat in Chameleon and the dimensional supports for it are heavier than alternatives.
• In general they use four bolts to fasten the two halves together, rather than three plus the reinforcing beams on Chameleon.
• None of them, I believe, copied the daggerboard case that is partially open through the bulkhead with locating blocks.

[Jammer]

If interested in these, it's also worth reading through Stan Grayson's "The Dinghy Book," which was published right at the dawn of the RIB era and covers the state of the art of hard dinghy development at its height of popularity. The focus is primarily on non-nesting hard dinghy designs. Interestingly, as today, the author opines that 10' is the minimum worthwhile length, though there is extensive treatment of how to make the best dinghy when a shorter length is necessary due to space limitations.

[akopac]

Originally Posted by Jammer

If interested in these, it's also worth reading through Stan Grayson's "The Dinghy Book," which was published right at the dawn of the RIB era and covers the state of the art of hard dinghy development at its height of popularity. The focus is primarily on non-nesting hard dinghy designs. Interestingly, as today, the author opines that 10' is the minimum worthwhile length, though there is extensive treatment of how to make the best dinghy when a shorter length is necessary due to space limitations.

The Dinghy Book is now on my reading list. Dinghy’s are an essential piece of kit for cruisers, but they can be so much more in so many ways...

[Joh.Ghurt]

Originally Posted by Jammer

You could also look at Bateau's GV-10 and GV-11, which are planing hard dinghies that have a bow transom (like a pram) to make them more compact. (plans only)

Thank you for the references. Seems there are many more options out there than I anticipated and I really need to figure out what I want and need and what trade-offs work for me.

Originally Posted by Jammer

You can get 12' aluminum boats with a pointed bow that would be great if you have the room. My dinghy is a 14' aluminum boat, which I tow, works great but too big to store aboard.

I don't think I have space for 14', 12' will probably be close, depending on the shape of it.

[malbert73]

I think you may have missed my suggestion and thinking you should check these out-
Many small boat cruisers swear by them

https://www.porta-bote.com/?gclid=EA...SAAEgI1-_D_BwE

[Jammer]

There's a thread on the porta-bote.


Cliff notes version:
* For storage they are long and flat, like a surfboard, and people lash them to the sides of the cabin or to the lifelines, which not everyone likes (windage, susceptibility to green water, blocks portlights)

* Setup and teardown time is more than a nesting dinghy but less than inflating an inflatable
* There is some flexing and oilcanning which some people find disturbing.

* Can be rowed but there is some gunwale flex.
* There is a lateen rig available with leeboards but it is of limited utility.

* 10' is the size to get
* Does plane with 6hp with a moderate load
* More interior space than an inflatable
* Utilitarian appearance
* They tow poorly
* Durable when dragged over sand, rocks, etc. No problems with pet toenails, fishhooks, fillet knives
* Little intrinsic flotation, prone to sinking if flooded, especially if nonstandard thwarts or transom components are used
* Early botes had a plastic formulation that would leave black marks on the mothership at points of contact