How Do You Carry Your Dink on Passages- Catamarans

[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.

[mcarthur]

Right side up, covered so not a water collector. Up to your boat as to whether it's on davits, chocks or just tied and hanging.

[sailjumanji]

Have never had an issue with it like this, nor have any of the other Seawinds that I know of. Some will put it at a bit more of an angle, with the aft tube higher than the boat-side tube. We leave the motor on as well, but its an Avon Rover 310 Lite RIB that weighs 95 lbs, and a Yamaha 8 hp two-stroke that weighs 59 lbs. So around 160 lbs hanging back there, and its pretty solid. And ready to be deployed.

[Fendell]

Out of interest, does anyone use a hydrostatic release on there dingy? Really should be if you intend on using it as a life raft.

Could be rigged temp in each heaving line for passage, and removed and stored when at anchor.

[LoudMusic]

We remove the motor, pull the drain plug, and snug it up tight to the davits on our Fountaine Pajot. Even on the low davits these boats come with and the substantial following seas we've been in, it never gets hit by waves. The boat rides up the waves long before the dinghy would get hit.

I try to use knots that are easy to release. We also have a life raft, but I think having the dingy as an additional raft could be handy if there was time to deploy it.

I'd like to have a sailing dinghy as well, but I'm having trouble sorting out where I would store it for passage. The RIB tender might have to become a towed boat, or one of the two would have to go on chocks on the fore deck.

[chrisr]

right side up, on the davits for us. the thought of turning it over leaves me unimpressed...very difficult for minimal benefit. motor stays on (which is one reason why we are keeping the 8hp 2 stroke...fairly light)

right way up the dink makes a great place to store overflow like rubbish, empty fuel drums etc

we don't bother with a cover...just pull the plug if it starts to rain

cheers,

[Saleen411]

So far it appears that there is little concern for getting pooped.

In serious conditions, or even survival conditions the conventional wisdom for a cat is to run, possibly with a drogue, IF you have the sea room. Not a universal opinion as some cat owners carry sea anchors.

So considering you are open ocean in serious conditions, isn't a dink up on davits, esp uncovered and with the motor attached, a serious safety concern?

[Bruce K]

Two 6-8" Alu screw in plates in transom, remove when at sea.

[tkeithlu]

"So far it appears that there is little concern for getting pooped."

Wow! another person who understands the origin of "feeling pooped," and probably understands that while a "poop sheet" may include male bovine excrement, that is not necessarily the case.

Yeah, this is not the problem that you have imagined. Monohulls and trawlers also ride up pretty well on following seas. The exception is small boats with outboard motors. Before manufacturers started putting a second transom in front of the motor, lots of boats turned turtle from a following sea, including my old dinghy. An RIB will still do it, so there is an area in which your concern for being pooped is quite realistic, just not for the big boat.

As for the "pitch poled"scenario, if you really do it, I doubt that you will find your dinghy after the fact, but some of it might still be in the tangled wreakage.

[SVHarmonie]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

So far it appears that there is little concern for getting pooped.

I'll correct that a bit: "...there is little concern by some people for getting pooped."

Originally Posted by Saleen411

So considering you are open ocean in serious conditions, isn't a dink up on davits, esp uncovered and with the motor attached, a serious safety concern?

I don't have a good answer for you about how to store a dink for long ocean passages on a modern condo-maran. They are set up for sailing with a RIB on davits, and that is it. Maybe the best bet is to rig it in such a way that even in the dead of night when the wind is blowing oysters off the rocks, and seas half the height of your mast, you can instantly release a dinghy full of a ton of water if things go pear-shaped.

With a dinghy on davits everything is just great, right up until it isn't. The idea that there are not waves out there that will poop a dinghy on davits is just WRONG.

For coastal sailing, and short ocean crossings with a bit of weather awareness and planning you can should be able to avoid weather bad enough to be a concern.

For tropical cruising, outside of hurricanes, weather is rarely bad enough to be an issue, even on long passages.

But... if you are crossing oceans higher than 30 Deg, and are making passages long enough that weather forecasts are not reliable, it really is just a matter of time before you get in conditions with big, steep, breaking waves that will clear your decks of paddleboards, surfboards, unsecured crew, etc. Now you need a lot of luck to keep that dinghy... You feeling lucky?

Dinghy davits generate ALMOST the level of passion that anchors do. Some people LOVE them and would never have a boat without them. Others think they are unseamanlike and have no place on an ocean going boat. Like most things passionately argued, the truth is somewhere in between. If your idea of an ocean crossing is from Miami to Bimini, or even from Key West to Panama, then davits are just the ticket. If you're sailing from Honolulu to Seattle, or New York to Normandy, not so much.

[Dulcesuenos]

We have crossed the Atlantic, leopard 42, and have circled the Caribbean Athena 38, and have been in some terrible conditions but have never ever had a wave even close to pooping the dinghy or the mother ship. We believe in good enough weather routing and weather data to avoid the survival conditions. That's not say we've not encountered some rogueish wave that knocked us about or got us wet, but never a pooping

[TeddyDiver]

DIY dinghy bay in the stern.

[sailjumanji]

If you are that worried about being "pooped", then tilt the dinghy some so it becomes a bit of a wall. The more you tilt the dinghy, the less water it holds if it does manage to get pooped.

We've never had a wave put water in the dinghy while hanging from the davits. Not on this boat, and not even on our smaller Seawind 1000 - which carried the same dinghy and motor in similar position. And we've encountered some pretty crap conditions crossing the Gulf of Mexico. Including waves coming from aft. And if we have waves washing across the bow, do you really want to try to secure a dinghy there?

[Mr B]

Pitch poling in this day and age, On a big Cat, Thats a Furphy,
Beach Cats, yes, Its also fun,

Crossing oceans on my 34 foot Cat, Standing knee deep in water in the cockpit that came over the transom from following confused seas, Twice only,
My Dinghy was at least 3 feet above the highest waves and dry,
I travel with the bungs out, so Rain water cant fill it, I dont have a cover on it,
My Dink fits behind the Hammock and almost up to the Solar panels, Well above the waves,

My out board, 4 HP is on a plate on the rail, When I travel, Crossing Oceans,
But I have now put in a bracket on my lower step to put the dinghy on to drive the boat in emergencys if my diesel fails,

Using the Dink to effect repairs to the hull in extremely bad weather, I dont think so,
Boat and Dink would be bouncing all over the place, Extremely Dangerous,

Lowering the Dink into the water and following the boat in extremely bad weather,
You would get a survival bag into the Dink, and yourself, And Epirb tied to you,
Putting the out board on it, Totally out of the question,
This is only if the boat is sinking and your abandoning it,

You just dont use the Dink at sea in bad weather,
Its for calm water and getting you to and from land when your at anchor,

[Saleen411]

Using the Dink to effect repairs to the hull in extremely bad weather, I dont think so,

Ah, but I recall reading about a crew in a Helia that HAD to fix their broken escape hatch. I don't know what the sea conditions were at the time, but they used the dink to get at the hatch from under the bridge deck.....saved the boat if I recall. I agree that if sea conditions were really bad, using the dink would be dangerous or impossible

The pitch pole scenario was sorta tongue in cheek. Extremely rare to be sure. However, a certain percentage of cat owners say they don't carry life rafts.....the dink is their life raft if it survives the event.

I appreciate the responses.....was just curious. I've only island hopped, sometimes in some rather sporty conditions, but nothing more than 42 knots or 8 foot seas. Evidently pooping isn't the issue I thought it could be.