How Do You Carry Your Dink on Passages- Catamarans

[Stress Recess]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

I would think having the dink right side up on the davits would be a bad idea, regardless if the motor was attached or not.

Upside down on the davits may not be a totally bad idea, though I would think it's not an ideal solution.

Deflating, and stowing would be safest, but what if you need it in an emergency.

Example....you don't have a life raft and you've just pitch poled.....

Or you need the dink to effect repairs ....like when your escape hatch glass breaks and you need to go under the bridgedeck to plug the hole before you sink.

I've seen a video or two where the dink is up on the davits when out in the open ocean and I'm like......aaaaaaa......don't think that's a great idea.

I am most interested to hear what you have to say.

Oh, and for those that will ask........"What kind of Cat?" Let's say 40-45' modern condo-maran.

From stress recess: if it is a hard dinghy, I would put an Anderson mini bailer in it. It’ll let water out but not in.

[Stress Recess]

Install an Anderson Mini Bailer $50-60 it lets water out without letting water in.

[charliehows]

simple lesson learned the hard way; on passage dinghy should be securely lashed upside down on deck.

lesson; solo passage, nasty short swell, tight tack thru passage near rocks, dinghy sitting on foredeck of trimaran gets washed off by a breaking swell, chaos, recovery, lesson learned (about 35 years ago). Davits? If I had 'em I'd only use 'em in harbour.

[Cheechako]

Right side up, drain open. Motor off if crossing big water. You don't say if it's a 20 foot or 80 foot boat though.
I'll tell you this, if you are in weather so severe you are worried about the dink high up on davits on a boat of any size, Just cut it loose! it's unlikely, but you have that option. Or for the 98% of the time you are anchoring and sailing short trips, leave it on the davits and when crossing an ocean... store it on deck.

[Sparx]

A couple of times now I have been on boats that dropped a dinghy off the davits while offshore. Most recent time a davit lifting line chafed through. Seems this sort of thing always happens at a time when I would be rather concentrating on something else.

Having hopefully learned from this, I inspect the davit lines and bridle carefully before going offshore. I also make sure the dinghy is not swinging around, and add a chafe check to the watch routine. On my own boat I have now also started clipping a long painter on the dinghy when going offshore. The painter is neatly flaked in the dinghy. The idea is that in a tight spot I could cut the dinghy off the davits and then let the painter pull the dinghy a safe distance astern. Beats trying to recover a dinghy in rough seas.

[Fendell]

Originally Posted by Gerrycooper56

You do know the depth at which the hydrostatic release works?

Depending on brand most HRU will cut at 3-5 metres.

[Mickeyrouse]

We cruised for a few years on our Bermuda 40, carrying the dinghy upside down on the foredeck. We used the whisker pole Topping lift to launch and recover, while using the mizzen halyard to Rig the 5 horse. I’m with the guy who mentioned getting into a dinghy in high seas- Doesn’t look like fun at all.

For us, one of the reasons we sail is to enjoy what we think is a great looking boat.(see avatar). My wife is always on me ( sometimes justifiably) about making sure we don’t look like the Beverly Hillbillies rolling into LA. Full-size backyard barbecue pit:no. Motorcycle on the side deck: no. 100 ft garden hose(coiled) on foredeck:no. Other miscellaneous gear fixed to rails, shrouds, stanchions, masts: no.
Somewhere in all this the matter of practicality intrudes. Rule No.1 about sailing- it’s not practical, efficient, or economics. You can’t justify it in practical terms as to why we do it.
I don’t think a single yacht designer ever drew the lines for a sailboat with the idea of davits hanging off the stern- I personally think it looks like hell. My taste, of course. Besides I have cruised on friends’ boats with davit-hung dinghies, and don’t think that getting on or off is one bit easier: much easier to come aboard alongside midships than climbing over the stern.

[Fendell]

Originally Posted by Ben245

Dinghy as a Liferaft = BAD idea. Maybe some peace of mind as a backup, but definitely not to be relied upon as a life saving appliance.

If you where prepared for an abandon ship with grab bag etc why wouldn’t you? There are many commercial boats that use a dual purpose small tender as Man over board/lifeboat, it’s deployed in an abandon ship just as the rafts are. That said (in Aus) you always have life raft capacity for all crew, and most foreign going vessels will have 2 x the capacity as redundancy.

I completely agree nothing replaces a offshore life-raft (serviced and in date!) but as your boat sinks wouldn’t you want all available means of floatation to be on the surface with you?

[Palarran]

In the same storm I had two near incident's. Day 1 at night in 50ish knot winds and rain we must have fallen off the course a little and were hit by a big growler. It came over the port side from about 40 degrees of my boat, threw me across the cockpit, hit the dingy, and bent the fittings. Two days later we were running in 40 knots apparent with massive swells coming in at 120 degrees. My mate and I looked out behind us and said "Well, that one is coming on board. And it did, filled the cockpit with 6 to 8 inches of water but spared the dingy.

The dingy is a concern and I've observed a lot of pretty screwed up storage systems on cats. But in the overall spectrum of worries about long distance passages it's pretty far down on my list. Standing rigging, rudders, fire, flood. I'd spend 5 times more effort worrying about these then my dingy.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by Mickeyrouse

Somewhere in all this the matter of practicality intrudes. Rule No.1 about sailing- it’s not practical, efficient, or economics. You can’t justify it in practical terms as to why we do it.
I don’t think a single yacht designer ever drew the lines for a sailboat with the idea of davits hanging off the stern- I personally think it looks like hell. My taste, of course. Besides I have cruised on friends’ boats with davit-hung dinghies, and don’t think that getting on or off is one bit easier: much easier to come aboard alongside midships than climbing over the stern.

Hmmm, I think the original poster was asking about catamaran and dinghy davits. Certainly for cruising and island hops, the ability to hoist and drop a dinghy with motor in the water in minutes beats the heck out of dealing with overturned on front deck, halyards, putting motor on while alongside, etc.

Getting on and off a dinghy in a cat, with transom steps? Again, a lot easier than coming alongside midships. Which is why I suspect the majority of cats sport dinghy davits, and expect that more than one yacht designer drew them there.

[Sos]

Originally Posted by Sparx

On my own boat I have now also started clipping a long painter on the dinghy when going offshore. The painter is neatly flaked in the dinghy. The idea is that in a tight spot I could cut the dinghy off the davits and then let the painter pull the dinghy a safe distance astern. Beats trying to recover a dinghy in rough seas.

This is what we do - always clipped on even when not on passage. Too easy to unhook davit clips and it drift of

[Mr B]

A dinghy on the back of a catamaran, Is not a safety device,

Its a means of transport when the cat is at anchor in a quiet bay or on the hook some where its protected, To get from the boat to shore,

The floor of my dinghy is one foot lower than my bottom step on my cat, Which is on the water line,
I sit in my dinghy and put food or diesel or anything else I have bought on the bottom step,
Then I stand up and step onto the bottom step of my cat,
The dinghy is just tied off to the hand rail on the steps when I am not using it,
The motor stays on the dinghy when I am moored,

Dont get confused with a Cats dinghy and a Liferaft, They are two entirely different things, With different uses,

Dinghy on a wide transom cat with steps, No problem, A forty foot Cat would be at least 20 feet wide at the transom, Approx,

Dinghy on a Mono with a narrow stern, Very problematic,
How the hell do you get into it at water level, Its a 4 foot high step, Approx,
Most mono's have a huge rudder sticking out the back as well, , Another problem,

Its just one of those minor differences between a Cat and a Mono,

I also only use my dinghy if the water is more than two feet deep when I am moored,
Nice sandy beach, I just step off onto the sand with the tide out,

Cheers, Brian,

[Svan]

Where the passage will take us through more than one weather system we will bring our porta-bote on deck. We can collapse it in on the foredeck and lash it between the lifelines and cabin.

The porta-bote will also very glady surf around in a big following sea. Only once has it gone full submarine on us. It came back up no problem; we spent a bit of time bailing it out and considered it a lesson learned.

What annoying tradeoffs dinghies are. The portabote is tippy like a canoe. Inflatables can pop. Rigids are always that shape.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by Sos

Sounds like that trip would make an interesting read

He was the commodore of our sailing club ,nice guy

[smj]

Originally Posted by admiralslater

He was the commodore of our sailing club ,nice guy

Interesting, so I wonder if he owned one of the 3 original Mantas built by Tek in Toronto or one of the Florida built Mantas.