A couple of questions on dinghy and motor logistics

[LauraleeG]

Hello all!
Just got our tender for our Landfall! So now we are one step closer to being prepared to @&ck off!!
We have some logistics questions:
1) anybody have any cheap hacks/ advice on getting the outboard up and mounted on the bracket on the boat without breaking ones back if you don’t have a pulley /crane system? I assume you start with purchasing a harness and then...????

2) hacks on getting the dinghy safely stowed on board for long distance or canal passages? In theory one could use the main halyard?

3) for long day sails with good weather forecast I am thinking tow boat with motor safely mounted on sailboat. Dinghy tucked in ? Or.....

Any links or redirects welcome.

Thanks! LauraLee

[slug]

I prefer to leave the outboard on the transom...then lift the dingy , with motor , up with a spin halyard and store on foredeck

Motor always stays on ..I cut the transom out and hindge it ..the motor tips into the dingy ..the height and length profile of the dingy plus motor is now the same as the profile of the dingy without motor

[sailorboy1]

In the end your back will think davits are cheap.

[slug]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

In the end your back will think davits are cheap.

Some boats can’t handle Davits ..Davit hung dingies are not happy at sea

David hung dingies are a pain in the ass if you are in a region we’re you dock stern too

Everything on boats is a compromise..davits included

[Sparx]

We use a motor carry harness and halyard to hoist the engine off the dinghy. Some care is required in this operation to not bang around with the motor dangling from the halyard. Definitely a two person job. The same halyard will also lift the dinghy on deck. We have davits, so only occasionally hoist the motor or dinghy on board.

For a day sail in protected water we see lots of boats successfully towing dinghies with motors mounted on the transoms. This is standard practice throughout Downeast Maine for example.

My practice has been to have two painters connected for any tow more than
a short distance. Two painters greatly reduces the number of times ones looks behind wondering if the dinghy is still there.

[tkeithlu]

Amen on Sailorboy's comment. You're talking about a complicated and heavy task in a limited space. You're also stuck with towing your dinghy under some circumstances. Think about ways to simplify the job. Unless you are talking about very long periods of not using the dinghy, have a goal of stowing and launching it and the motor as one piece. That could still be a halyard job if your boat and standing rigging will allow you to wrestle it into place on the deck, or could be davits. Slug found an ingenious way of doing it with a halyard, and I'm sure there are other ways.

[Cthoops]

We use the main halyard to put the dinghy on the foredeck, but 99% of the time we tow it using a bridle with two attachment points. We’ve towed it in some pretty sporty conditions and it’s been fine, but we never tow it with the outboard on.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by slug

Some boats can’t handle Davits ..Davit hung dingies are not happy at sea

David hung dingies are a pain in the ass if you are in a region we’re you dock stern too

Everything on boats is a compromise..davits included

Maybe, but i bet they can be put on the OP C&C 39 Landfall. I leave my motor on the dinghy and have sailed in F7 conditions and it was “happy”. Probably a lot happier than if i had beed towing it.

In the end you can make up all kind of stories, but if cruising and your boat supports installation nothing beats davits. Well maybe one of those boats that you drive the dinghy into a stern locker.

[tarian]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

We use the main halyard to put the dinghy on the foredeck, but 99% of the time we tow it using a bridle with two attachment points. We’ve towed it in some pretty sporty conditions and it’s been fine, but we never tow it with the outboard on.

This

[Tayana42]

LauraLeeG, good for you that you are getting ready to go. Dealing with the dinghy and outboard are important issues that require thoughtful consideration of the compromises that will work best for you. I can only offer what has worked, so far, for us.

My wife and I sail our 42’ double ender two handed. Davits would have been difficult to fit on our pointy back end. If we had a transom type boat we would have added davits. Instead we tow the dinghy with a harness if we are in sheltered coastal water and predictable conditions. We NEVER tow with the motor on the dinghy. Otherwise we lift the dinghy onto the foredeck using the staysail halyard and a lifting harness. At first we lifted the motor to its bracket on the stern rail using the main halyard but found the angle difficult to control pushing the motor back to the stern rail. We tried using a block and tackle from the main boom as a crane for the motor and that may work for you but for us it was awkward. The low height between the boom and the top of the motor on the bracket caused difficulty moving the motor into position. We found a used Garhauer dinghy motor crane on Craig’s List for a couple of hundred dollars US and it made life much easier for us. I strongly recommend this type of arrangement for lifting the motor. I should also add that we chose an air floor type dinghy as a compromise to make lifting it on deck easier and for longer passages or when conditions may be difficult we can roll it up and stow it below.

You will work out your own compromises and routines that will work for you. Whatever you start off with you will probably modify or change completely as you gain experience. There is no one right answer, only your right answer for now.

[amanoni]

Here in the PNW, generally for passages, the dink goes on deck, hauled up with the spinnaker halyard. A motor hoist mounted to the stern, Forespar is like $400us, is more than worth the cost.

For short sails , we often tow the dink, sometimes with the motor, mounted and locked on. I too use a dual painter and harness.

[Group9]

We used to put our Boston Whale 11 foot tender, on the foredeck of our sailboat using a jib halyard, and store it there inverted, when we felt it wasn't prudent to tow it (which wasn't often). It was easy after we had done it a few times (except once in 20 knot winds, where I learned a good lesson) .

We also put a block and tackle between the dingy and the shackle on the jib halyard, which made it easy to raise the dingy up a few more feet, and then back down, from the foredeck. This was mainly when I was doing it by myself, and needed to be where I could lower it, while keeping it from swing into the lifelines, or side of the boat.

We had a St. Croix crane to hoist the motor up, but after one cruise, we dumped our 25 hp Mercury and replaced it with a 9.8 Nissan, partially because I got tired of wrestling the 25 up onto it's bracket on the stern pulpit.

[zengirl]

Is it possible to build a davit structure of pvc? Would it hold up?

[Group9]

Originally Posted by zengirl

Is it possible to build a davit structure of pvc? Would it hold up?

I can't see how that would work. You could make your own our of stainless steel tubing, after mocking it up in pic, but you'd probably be better off, just buying some davits.

You don't have to buy them new. Check craigslist, and used marine places like Sailorman (down in south Florida). We bought our like new St. Croix crane there, for $350.

We have Garhauser davits on our boat now, and they are pretty sweet.

[motretu]

because your dink is local transport when anchored, and therefore reliability is most important, consider using a 2HP as your primary. weighs less than 30#s, uses very little fuel, will propel the dink at 3-4 kts with two people and should be reliable. use the larger engine as a back up or to go fast or with lots of weight in the dink. depends a lot on how you use your dink, but in the 10 years of cruising my 45' downeast in mexico, my 9.9 left the stern pulpit less than 5 times using a boom lift to install on the dink. the 10' inflatable less engine was easily hoisted with a halyard and stowed on deck. also, with smaller engine the dink was less attractive to thieves and the combo was easily raised out of the water with a halyard at night.