Dinghy - on blocks or upside down?

[N4585K]

Fairly new to the forum, so be kind :-)

First off let me thank you all for providing so much great knowledge. Every day I learn from reading your posts on so many issues.

I have tried to search for my question but did not come across any answers so here goes:

I have a 2007 B. Oceanis 46 and have finally made the decision to get a proper dinghy and outboard. It'll be a AB Lammina 9 UL with a Yamaha 9.9. I definitely don't want to do the davit route so up on the foredeck it will be. I'm now faced with the choice of putting it upside down or to put in on blocks/chocks. What do you all prefer, and why?

And if someone can recommend a stainless steel guy in Malta that would be appreciated. Some reinforcements to the pushpit will be needed to accommodate the heavier 9.9 as well as a s/s hoist needs to be fabricated.

Grateful for your input!

[UNCIVILIZED]

Welcome to CF! And no worries about kid gloves, it's a gentle place. Especially as compared to another online sailing locale or three. Nice place to play they are

Unless you really can guarantee that your sailing will be in short hops, usually in the day time, where the weather is certain to be good the whole way, then it's better to carry dink's on the foredeck with their keel's facing the sky. And heavily lashed down for trips of any length when doing so. Just as you've likely seen with hard dinghies.

The reason(s) being that it's a lot tougher for a dinghy to fill up like a bath tub, from waves, spray, or rain when carried this way. And that they're much easier to reliably secure to the mother ship in this position, just as are hard dinghys. So that deflated or not, they ride a lot better, & more stably, thusly. They're also more inherently stable when placed on deck like this, due simply to physics.

Also, you don't want to be worrying about the dinghy in any of these regards when weather suddenly changes, or any one of 101 other things goes awry when underway.

Some other members will likely state that on a boat of your size you'd be okay with a dink stowed so that her keel is oriented towards that of the mother ship. And 9x in 10 that might be true, but it's that 1 other time where problems arise. Which is also why you see anything on deck on boats quite heavily lashed down for passages of any length. If, that is, said items absolutely cannot be stowed down below. The preferred location for large heavy items onboard. Including anchors, on long passages, where there's 0 chance of needing them on short notice.

BTW, you'll soon find that having a 2nd shore boat of some type is indispensible. Be it a cheap plastic kayak, a hard dink, or the inflatible kayak that fits in your day pack. And also think about how to carry your dinghy gear ashore too. All of the indispensibles that you can't operate one without. Life jax included.

[FSMike]

One seldom mentioned advantage of storing the dink upside down on the foredeck is that you can frequently locate it where you can open a hatch underneath for ventilation while at anchor and the rain showers won't get in.

[sapient sue]

N4585K

Welcome to the forum.

We use both methods for transporting the dink. When in calm sheltered waters or doing short coastal hops with a good wx forecast we stow our 2.75m inflatable athwart ships on blocks and strapped down always - however calm the conditions.

On ocean or longer passages it is stowed upside down and and tethered with stainless steal strops. Positioned between the mast and the dodger as we stow our hard dinghy upside down on the fore deck.

We don't have davits as our self steering gear is positioned on the stern and we have never had any problems lifting either dink with the main halyard.

Cheers Sue

[Snowpetrel]

^^+1 To both, it is really handy to be able to chuck it on the fordeck upright for short trips with a reasonable forcast (make sure it has a good drain!). And then flip it for the longer rougher trips.

Its easy enough to design some chocks that suit both options on most boats.

[iancoombe]

We always stow it on the fore deck bum up. Being a cutter its less likely catch sheets that way, and we also lift the nose to catch air at anchor.

[CSY Man]

Pull the motor up with a halyard and store next to the mast, standing upright with a few lashings around the mast.

[donradcliffe]

I've crossed oceans both ways, but at 75 lbs, your dinghy will be fairly easy for one person to flip upside down on the foredeck, and that's the way I prefer it, for all the reasons stated above. Mine fit upside down over the life raft in a kind of symbiotic relationship.

[reed1v]

We attached two handholds(the teak ones) to the bottom of the dink so on deck one could use it as another grab point. Also helped when launching. Upside down prevents a lot of problems when underway and eliminates the need for a drain plug which invariably someone forgets to put back in when launching. Also less wind resistance and a nice shelter to stow stuff.

[Wallaby]

I've done it both up and down, with +/- either way, depending on the situation and dinghy type/size. My current dinghy is a nearly 10ft RIB, and the storage mode is keel down, sitting in a fiberglass cradle bolted to the deck and covered with a tarp--however, I have been at the dock for over a year working on various projects and writing books. When I do leave, hopefully soon, the dinghy will be strapped in, keel down and deflated (for visibility and reduced water catchment) because I run offshore to the Bahamas. Once there, it rides on stern davits (longer trips) or is towed (shorter trips).

Lifting and turning a dinghy of that type/size onto the deck is a major undertaking--I would not want to do it every time I used the dinghy. Sitting keel down in a proper cradle protects both the boat and dinghy from wear and tear, but reduces visibility unless deflated.

[h20]

ha, yes that was a fun one to learn for us! dan boot key florida, now in Mexico

Originally Posted by FSMike

One seldom mentioned advantage of storing the dink upside down on the foredeck is that you can frequently locate it where you can open a hatch underneath for ventilation while at anchor and the rain showers won't get in.

[Eleuthera 2014]

We have the same dink and its stored inverted over the forward heads hatch. However, we got lucky and found a brand new Yammy Enduro 15 2 stroke. Goes like the devil

[N4585K]

Thank you everyone for your comments! Most of my cruising is done locally. The weekends that I get to go to Malta are spent there. Then at the beginning of summer holiday I do a longer passage (2-3 days) to position my boat at a different cruising area (Greek Ionian islands coming up). My wife and young son then join me there and I sail it back to Malta at the end of the holidays. As much as I want to do more and longer passages this is what works for my family and I am grateful for that. It seems that I should have it upside down for the longer passages but I could keep it on chocks for local cruising. Somehow it seems easy to just use a 3-point lifting bridle and use the spinnaker halyard to place it on the chocks.

I should probably post my stainless steel question in a different forum...

Thank you all again!

[tomcourtney]

An alternative I just bought...
http://www.foldaberib.com
They will give you a supplier local to you if you're interested.

[Sandero]

I am storing my 10' RIB on foredeck keel up for the winter. I hauled it up using the main halyard, my Milwaukee drill (Millie) w/ a winch bit from the bow eye... easy peasy... rotated and then released the halyard slowly. Forward hatches are open for ventilation.

I usually tow on most weekends, but if we were doing a overnight sail I would consider stowing on the foredeck... but lashed down. However I can't use the inner forestay for a storm jib and so I don't know what I would do for an ocean passage. If you can pick a decent weather window, towing is an acceptable practice for weekend cruising.

Towing is convenient but it does slow us down.. and never tow with the engine... ever. It's stored on the pushpit with using the Garhauer lifting crane.