Leaving dinghy on mooring for weeks at a time...

[basssears]

Anyone leave a dinghy on a mooring for long periods of time? I'm not overly concerned about theft (this is an area with a caretaker who keeps an eye on things, and I would be planning on more of an old beater style dinghy), more concerned with how to keep it afloat.

Other people in the mooring field leave dinghies on their mooring balls but they're often out there half sunken, half deflated, blech... last thing I want to do is arrive and first have to fish the slimy dink out of the water.

I imagine I could rig up a small bilge pump with battery and solar panel, but I worry about clogging and then not only does my dinghy try to sink but there goes my panel and battery.

I imagine an "unsinkable" dinghy would help but I still don't want it sitting there awash.

Maybe there isn't a great solution, but if you have one please share

-- Bass

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by basssears

Anyone leave a dinghy on a mooring for long periods of time? I'm not overly concerned about theft (this is an area with a caretaker who keeps an eye on things, and I would be planning on more of an old beater style dinghy), more concerned with how to keep it afloat.

Other people in the mooring field leave dinghies on their mooring balls but they're often out there half sunken, half deflated, blech... last thing I want to do is arrive and first have to fish the slimy dink out of the water.

I imagine I could rig up a small bilge pump with battery and solar panel, but I worry about clogging and then not only does my dinghy try to sink but there goes my panel and battery.

I imagine an "unsinkable" dinghy would help but I still don't want it sitting there awash.

Maybe there isn't a great solution, but if you have one please share

-- Bass

Somewhere I saw a really cool dinghy bilge pump system that was connected to the painter and used the wave action on the painter to move the pump piston. Dead simple with I think one moving part and no external power of any kind. Sorry I don't remember the name, hopefully someone here knows?

[Stu Jackson]

What is the purpose of doing this? i.e., like: to begin with, the reason I am considering this is:...

[basssears]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Somewhere I saw a really cool dinghy bilge pump system that was connected to the painter and used the wave action on the painter to move the pump piston. Dead simple with I think one moving part and no external power of any kind. Sorry I don't remember the name, hopefully someone here knows?

I have seen those (and thought it was a super cool idea too). I question a bit what volume of water they could move, but they also have the same intrinsic concern that an electric one off a battery and solar panel have, and that's clogging of the intake.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

What is the purpose of doing this? i.e., like: to begin with, the reason I am considering this is:...

Valid question


We have a cabin that we access by sailboat. We have a mooring ball there, and we have been using our Walker Bay to row back and forth from the mooring ball. It is kind of a long row and will eventually want to get a motor, but that's sort of beside the point to this post. Specific issues with using the Walker Bay are that it doesn't have great load capacity, and we have to sling it on and off the foredeck every time we travel to the boat and then travel to the cabin. The Walker Bay is, really, a great dinghy for our Gulf 32 as it fits on the foredeck, we'd just like something bigger and already in the water when we arrive at the mooring field.


We would pull the bigger dink for the winter months, but would like to be able to leave it on the ball (or at the very least on the beach, which brings a weight factor into it for what two of us can drag above high water line) during spring / summer / fall and have a bigger dinghy to carry two of us, a 100# dog and groceries and building supplies and propane etc etc back and forth from the moored sailboat to shore.


-- Bass

[SVTatia]

Also think about fouling..without paint it will a big task to clean it up.

[BugzyCan]

Why not install a lift on your dock to haul it out of the water? Or there is that Australian invention (Sea Pen) that inflates to raise boat out of the water. That way it is always there ready to go, just need to drop it down and load it, but it remains out of the water, so it doesn't get all slimy. You would want a rain cover over it.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by BugzyCan

Why not install a lift on your dock to haul it out of the water? Or there is that Australian invention (Sea Pen) that inflates to raise boat out of the water. That way it is always there ready to go, just need to drop it down and load it, but it remains out of the water, so it doesn't get all slimy. You would want a rain cover over it.

Sounds nice, but unfortunately I don't have a dock, just a shared island dock where I can't leave a dinghy. Ideally it would be nice not to have to go to the dock at all anyway, as it can be a non-starter at low tide with my draft, and if the wind's howling it's a pretty tricky in and out with full keel pilothouse.


Of course, if dinghy's on shore (on dock or just on beach) then I still have to be able to get it the first time I arrive, which means either slinging the Walker Bay off (defeating the whole purpose), or using the shared community dinghy that lives on the dock (an option, but still requires going to dock), that's why it would be nice to have a boat waiting already tied to the mooring (which I realize complicated grabbing the mooring ball quite a bit).


A good, tight rain cover that overlaps the gunwales nicely would go a long way to protecting the boat I would think, thanks.


-- Bass

[Dennis.G]

I have seen this done. Use an old little fishing boat, row it out or pull off the outboard when gone and there ya go, no one going to steal it. If you are gone long time maybe solar powered bilge pump? Of course solar panel might get stolen. Leaving a nice dinghy with an good outboard on mooring? Maybe in a "gated community" but in real world will not be there long.

[SailFastTri]

You can rig a standard bilge pump with battery and solar panel (add cheap waterproof charge controller) as a DIY project. Or you can spend the big bucks for something like this nicely packaged unit https://seajoule.com/

If your dinghy has a small sump area you should add a check valve on the output to reduce cycling. No check valve needed if you don't have a sump and the dinghy has a big flat bottom, because the output hose doesn't have enough volume to affect water height unless the sump area is small.

If you leave the boat with a clean interior you don't need to worry about clogging.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Dennis.G

I have seen this done. Use an old little fishing boat, row it out or pull off the outboard when gone and there ya go, no one going to steal it. If you are gone long time maybe solar powered bilge pump? Of course solar panel might get stolen. Leaving a nice dinghy with an good outboard on mooring? Maybe in a "gated community" but in real world will not be there long.

The little old fishing boat is what I'm thinking of. Was hoping to just go electric with a trolling motor, would be easy enough to pull and stash in the sailboat when I leave, just a hull left on the mooring would hopefully be relatively low key. Although I do fear anything of decent size would make itself attractive to thieves.

[a64pilot]

Your Walker bay with anti-foul and a small battery and panel.
Small panels are inexpensive, some are made to keep car batteries charged, pair that with a lawn and garden tractor battery and your not out much money.
Assumption is the panel is unregulated and just a trickle charger, and a lawn tractor battery isn’t expensive at Walmart so even if it only lasts a year your still not out much.

We had the hardest rain I have ever seen a couple of weeks ago here in the Bahamas, sunk the dinghy, well you can’t sink a RIB but it sure filled it up higher than I had ever seen, water inside and outside was level.
I have a PVC type of lift pump about 3” long with a handle that you lift to pump water, left by the PO.
Was a lot of work, and about half way through, I thought I bet a bucket would be better than this.
Well guess what? The bucket was a WHOLE lot better.

Point being so what if it fills with water? So long as it’s unsinkable 5 min with a bucket and it’s pretty dry.

So get a motor, but leave the motor on the big boat, not on the dinghy you leave on your mooring

[Dennis.G]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

You can rig a standard bilge pump with battery and solar panel (add cheap waterproof charge controller) as a DIY project. ......

Or just wire a 12 v solar panel direct to bilge pump. Might have to wait till sun comes out for pump to work, but what the heck.

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Dennis.G

Or just wire a 12 v solar panel direct to bilge pump. Might have to wait till sun comes out for pump to work, but what the heck.

[Montanan]

Keep it simple.

Just sling your dinghy from your transom with davits or a lift. No need to keep it on a mooring, except when staying at your cabin. You can set a retrieval line to return your dinghy to shore from the mooring so as to not have to swim out to the dinghy when you wish to transport yourself out to your Gulf 32.

Reference images below for examples of a Gulf 32 with dinghy on transom.