Dingy, Tender, Dinks oh my

[Dirk Williams]

Good questions, the medium I work these cats is, white water. A few times I've taken a cat boat to Brookimgs Oregon and beach launched thru the surf, to bottom fish around the rocks a bit south of the harbor.

Securing gear, we teather/ tie everything using raft straps to the frame. I use a sort of net dive bag for my air pump. I slide it In And out of a collapsible opening.

Anchor? Rode? Never used an anchor on a raft, the weight isn't and issue, again by strapping the anchor with a quick release raft strap, and bagging the chain and rode, to the cross bar the raft row platform sits on, no worries.

Some of my rafts are equipped with aluminum dry boxes, water tight, we secure weapons, watches, clothing tools, camping kit, sleeping kit, etc etc.

Waves, again, I've been boofed out of many boats via huge waves.

I'm to the point in my raft driving, I will often flip the boat around and " pull" rather then " push" thru large wave trains.

Like boating it's all about timing. In Brookings the largest wave s I've punched is maybe three four feet.

These cats are rowed, not paddled. The right ratio of oar to boat can be a very powerful tool.

I've got some first assents on rivers that are normally 1200 to 2400 cfs, we were doing them at flood stage, like 57.000 cfs, huge powerful water. With a 30 foot per drop per mile. Upper Klamath River.

14 ft cats, with waves taller then the boats. Gotten sucked back into holes on these rivers, where it bent my frame like a pretzel, had to crawl on the river bottom, down river to break the breach pin on me.

One of my other boats and good friends was with me, his cat a SOTARS 14 had a low frame, and water over the bow kept him from flipping,

Mine was a high frame good for clearing rocks, but had no water pressure on the trap, cuz I had taken the tramp off. A wild ride. I was able to.swim to the second boat, and as I crawled onto,the aft tramp, I got crushed between a rock and the boat frame, breaking all kinds of leg parts.

Only one way out of the canyon which was down. I beat my frame back into,shape with large rock. And rafted out. Got sucked into two more holes, but had a good bite on the wave with my oars, and didn't slide back into the wave far enough to flip again.

These waves and holes were closer to 20 feet deep. God was with me. While I was in massive pain, the euphoria of cheating that river was unreal. My leg had swollen up to double the size of the other one.

Using your feet on the frame for leverage almost killed me, slipping back into either of the last two 20 foot hole would have certainly drown me.

Couple days later some brothers took a shot, one did a think called dry drowning. Which shut his kidneys down for weeks. Was on a machine. I was their and spent the day in the bolder garden looking for what I presumed was going to be a body recovery. To my amazement Greg was alive. - mess up but alive.

We were young and foolish. We were going to live forever.

I was 40 he 32. Both in profession that promote risk taking to save others.

What could possibly go wrong.

I'm headed to,Alaska in 2018, I'll be taking a couple cats. Some rivers up their I need to do. One comes out in Haines Alaska, the name escapes me.

Got a couple friend who,will met me their, both will be headed home from Nome, on their duel sport bikes.

Dam, I'm wandering today. Been in a snow bank to long.

Dirk

[Scout 30]

Dinghy threads come up regularly & few topics can get as heated. The bottom line is no boat does everything well, all boats are a compromise. Boats that plane don't row well & boats that row well don't plane. The main thing you have to figure out is how are you going to transport it. Are you towing it, pulling it up on deck or rolling it up & stowing it? If you're offshore towing is not a great idea. What about the motor? Can you lift a 100 lb motor from an unstable boat? Before you pick a boat you have to answer these questions.

[varkpilot]

[accomplice]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Can you fit several people plus dive gear (SCUBA) onto a catamaran style dinghy? And how will that much weight up high affect it's pitching characteristics as compared to a conventional dink where the weight will be much lower? How would you be assured of keeping said equipment onboard? Is there an easy way to carry an anchor for the mothership, along with the rode for same? And how do said boats do on surf line transits as compared to conventional dinghies? What about rowing for distance, or upwind in high winds & waves?

We have a cat dinghy, a Livingston 12 (LV12 Livingston | World Cat). It has about a 900# load capacity -- within spitting distance of our former 3.8Meter RIB. I'm not sure if they're still being made, but I believe they are still available.

We carry a small (7#?) Danforth in it, attached to ~6 ft of chain, and then we have two 30' painters. Within reason, it will handle rough seas, but from 30 degrees to 60 degrees off the bow, if it is blowin, I'm getting wet. The crew at the bow stays dry, though. It can easily carry both anchors from the mother ship. Furthermore, the indentation at the bow makes it easy to hoist/dump anchor and chain off the bow -- both keeps the boat more level and also there's more reserve buoyancy at the bow. The stern sits too close to the water to work over the transom though.

I don't believe our weight is any higher than it was in a RIB -- If anything it might be lower. In the RIB we generally sat on the pontoons. While we may sit on the gunwhale in the hard cat -- which is about the same height as the big RIB pontoons, we more often sit on the center tunnel or bow area where we are lower still. For gear, the weight is on the floor (sole?) in the RIB or the hard cat -- probably a wash.

As far as keeping equipment onboard, there are many options. First, there's gravity. If the dinghy flips or floods, stuff would be lost. It has never yet been so bouncy that anything stowed in the hulls went flying. Alternately, you can tether it to the hull. Or, if you have more time than I do, you could glass in compartments with locking lids.

As far as surfline transits go, I'm still refining my approach and learning from my mistakes. With an onshore breeze it is easier as you can drop an anchor and use it to turn the bow to the wind and keep it as far off the beach as you want, or don't. With an off-shore breeze, it is a challenge -- but no more so than in a RIB. Here, a stern anchor carried ashore can keep the bow to the surf. If the surf isn't up, you can bring it to shore and drag it up or anchor in under a foot.

As far as rowing goes, I don't have it fitted with oarlocks, but do carry two paddles for use in emergency. I wouldn't want to have to paddle far.

As far as going upwind in high waves/wind -- I find it goes directly upwind wonderfully, but 30 to 60 degrees off the wind I get very wet in the stern. If one had a center console version or a long tiller extension, they might stay dry too. I often "tack" upwind in it when the seas are up -- I'll go straight upwind, and then turn 90 degrees.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Adelie

If you need to be able to plane then a folding boat is iffy with much load. The largest Porta-bote is limited to 56lb engine weight which is about what a 6hp weighs. 6hp will get one person and maybe 2 on a plane if they are light and don't carry much or any gear.

Just noticed this thread and this comment. I’ve owned a 10’ bote for going on 10 years now. I row much of the time, but use a 3.5 hp 4-stroke outboard when we want to go far or long. The 3.5 will easily plane the bote with one person in it. It will even plane with two people on board in ideal conditions. I think a 6hp would have no problem planing with two people on board.

[sailhand]

I use this tender, it is light easy to wheel rows at four knots motors at 12 with a 4hp and is self draining with a flat deck you can lay a queen size mattress on and walk around it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_uZaIGwQZA0

I also designed and made it so I'm biased.