Towing a Rigid Dinghy

[Capt Billy]

Originally Posted by lancelot9898

I currently have a 10 ft Archilles inflatable that is normally towed behind my 37 foot sailboat here on the Cheaspeake. I don't like towing it in rough weather, but there has been occasions where storm conditions have occurred and it has always have come through it just fine. I never tow it with an outboard and if I get a bigger dinghy then that too would be towed empty. Has anyone had experience towing a large aluminum fishing boat (semi V bottom maybe 16 feet in length weight around 300 lbs) behind their sailboat in various sea conditions? If so, I would like to hear some comments about that experience.

I have sailed my 39 ft ketch 25 plus yrs towing a DS 16 sailing dingy that we use to explore, in rough weather I take down the mast and on a reach I attach a small drogue to prevent it from surfing. I use a double tow line one as a safety and inspect them often for chafe, never had a problem other than loosing 1kn of speed under power but if I was worried about speed I would be on a power boat not a sail boat!
Captbilly

[Sojourner]

We tow our about 11ft solid aluminum rib-style dinghy in daylight only and low seas. About 110kg total with engine on, locked centered and down, giving some drag to track without needing a drogue. Quite a long painter setup, maybe 15 meters, the reverse of most, a separate floating polyprop from each stern cleat to a single bow D on dink for tracking and redundancy. No problems so far, but again, would never tow it overnight or in lively conditions. It's easy to pull and lash onto foredeck, why risk something so expensive over 10 minutes of work?

[Fendell]

A bit off topic, but how much speed would you loose towing a larger RIB (15-18') behind a cruising catamaran in the 38-42' ball park?

Say if cat was doing 5 knots on beam reach without towing, how much would you wipe off by towing a 15-18' RIB?

I'm not advocating towing as a long term option, more just out of interest for short trips and towing mates boats in somewhat favorable weather