Me again Re Tenders

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Cruising Roo I think you're mad to contemplate towing the dinghy. On a bad day the dinghy is going to end up surfing and hitting the transom of your boat repeatedly.

My tow rig consists of 2x 30 foot legs to make a bridle. These have spliced loops at both ends. The spliced loops at one end are spliced into a loop on the 75 foot tow hawser. all of this is floating line and prevents the need for shackles. So the towed vessel is back approx. 90+ feet.

This tows the tender so far back, it cannot get outside of the wake. Regardless of how much the boat surfs. As long as it doesn't go outside of the wake, it won't flip. Flipping is typically the result of the towed vessel surfing outside of the wake of the vessel doing the towing.

Also, since the OP is on a power boat. Once the tow vessel exceeds 8 kts, surfing is significantly minimized.

[rslifkin]

A little extra drag (like a tiny drogue) on the back of the tender can also reduce surfing problems in following seas. And for some tenders, the tow will be more stable and less prone to wander if there's a little drag back there.

[Fore and Aft]

Cruising Roo I have surveyed some bigger vessels that store two dinghys on the cabin roof. They are accessed using a dinghy crane. Another boat I surveyed had davits and a dinghy crane on the bow for the smaller tender. Often, I have seen the fishing Tinnie on the roof and "flasher" tender on the davits. The fishing Tinnie is often full of crab pots and gear and becomes its own storage compartment.
Shrew that's a big towline, have you ever had anyone try and cut in-between you and the boat?
Cheers

[Galumay]

Originally Posted by Shrew

My tow rig consists of 2x 30 foot legs to make a bridle. These have spliced loops at both ends. The spliced loops at one end are spliced into a loop on the 75 foot tow hawser. all of this is floating line and prevents the need for shackles. So the towed vessel is back approx. 90+ feet.

Similar to my setup, my tow line has a shackle on to a short, 3m line, that is shacked to the front of the tinny. I put a cable tie on the shackles. The 3m line on the tinny just makes it easier to take it on and off the tow line.

[Cruising Roo]

Hi Shrew. Thanks for your reply. That’s what I have gathered. Being back this far, as implied, reduces the resistance of the towed tender so good point…but this is coming from someone who knows NOTHING about the scenario in question. I am in a head spin ATM because while I was 100% certain about a motor boat, recent discussions, not on line but with friends, has opened my mind up AGAIN. The only thing that is certain, is that it will be a full time live aboard and needs to be suitable, nice and practical. I am leaving a property close to Barwon heads in Victoria; on 5 acres but a crap house so would like something nice for my, “journey into the twilight years” however long that will be.
Trslifkin, I never thought about that and I would like to tell you that is the only thing I have not thought about but that’s ********. Very relevant point thank you. I think the “davit” idea is winning to avoid the criticism (joking)
Yes Fore and Aft, that makes sense but as mentioned above, you (and some others) have made it clear that I need to pull my head out of my ars__…Oops…posterior and go for the Davit and I think that is the wise idea. With this set up, I will only need the one tender then. Cheers again for you valuable help.
Galumy, as mentioned above…I think the davit wins the day and I already have the boat so more money to spend on the mother ship…and maybe a beer or 2.

Holly bat ****, I am getting bloody amazing advice on this site so THANKS to everyone. Im am putting my place up for sale in the next couple of months so hopefully on the pond very soon

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

A little extra drag (like a tiny drogue) on the back of the tender can also reduce surfing problems in following seas. And for some tenders, the tow will be more stable and less prone to wander if there's a little drag back there.

We simply leave the leg down, not locked
Works fine

[RaymondR]

I towed a 4.6 metre aluminium dingy from Geraldton to the Abrolhos islands and back (about 100 nm of open sea) behind a 40" sail boat without any problems years ago however I did have a cover so that it could not fill up with water. Left the 25hp outboard on it.

To stop it banging up my steel boat I riveted 2"black poly pipe around the transom very effective and by having a draw string at the bow on the cover was able to make the cover really hard to remove without loosening the draw string (bugger of a thing to put on though)

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Galumay

Similar to my setup, my tow line has a shackle on to a short, 3m line, that is shacked to the front of the tinny. I put a cable tie on the shackles. The 3m line on the tinny just makes it easier to take it on and off the tow line.

I also have a 10 tow pendant made out of dyneema. It has thimbles spliced on both ends. One end is shackled to the padeye of the dinghy. The other end connects to a snapshackle spliced onto the 75 foot tow hawser.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

We simply leave the leg down, not locked
Works fine

Yup, for a dinghy that tows acceptably with the outboard on, having the outboard at least partially down can definitely serve that function.

[TabbyCat]

Originally Posted by Cruising Roo

I am thinking of towing a small 13 foot alloy tender with 35 PTT motor with full covers to keep the weather out. Do you think this is a good idea in terms of fuel economy on the trip or am I better to install a lift to put in on the hull. T

Most insurance companies will not cover a tender that is towed. There is a statistically large chance that it will flip or the line will chafe and part.

[singlespeed]

Not just bad weather. Large wakes can flip that tender. During a solo transit, ended up between the wakes of two converging ferries over a half mile apart. No way to escape the brute force of one or both wakes. Dinghy flipped, fortunately the dinghy motor was on the cabin sole. Took me over an hour to manhandle the dinghy right side up.

[Adelie]

I would say that 35hp is massive overpower for a 13’ tinny.

For a 13’ whaler which is a lot heavier it would be about right.

[Amapola]

We lift our dinghy to it's cradle on top and do not tow except very short distances.

[MicHughV]

The nice thing about a RIB or other inflatable.....for me....is the ability to sit on the tubes while going somewhere, or tying up to a dock, you can also stand on the tube, getting on or off to the mother ship, etc.

Finally, I spearfish a lot, so getting back on the dink from the water is important.
15 hp is plenty for my needs...

For me, a tinny offers no advantage whatsoever over a RIB/inflatable.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

The nice thing about a RIB or other inflatable.....for me....is the ability to sit on the tubes while going somewhere, or tying up to a dock, you can also stand on the tube, getting on or off to the mother ship, etc.



.

My wife and I can stand on one side of our wide body dory without tipping.

Finally, I spearfish a lot, so getting back on the dink from the water is important.
15 hp is plenty for my needs...

We have steps at the back

For me, a tinny offers no advantage whatsoever over a RIB/inflatable

If people come over to our boat in inflatables on even a slightly choppy day they are invariably damp on arrival.
Same if I see them going in for reprov on a day with a bit of chop
Worse still is they can only manage a couple of bags of groceries so need to do several trips.

We can and have done left the big boat at an island 15nm from the mainland
Motored back in the tender and done a reprov for a couple of months and ran back in 20 knots of wind and associated chop and stayed dry doing it.

Saying that, a smaller ally tender didn't work for us
To wet, not enough load carrying ability but could have been made a lot better by installing kapten collar
https://boatcollar.com.au/