When outfitting your boat for cruising, one of the many decisions you must make is how you will store your
dinghy while underway. Although your sailboat carries you the big miles, once you are anchored it’s the
dinghy that becomes your sporty convertible and gets you around.
Your dinghy allows you to explore the tiny creeks and shallow backwaters, it lets you meet and socialize with your fellow cruisers, and is your lifeline to shore. The goal of storing your dinghy should be that the act of storing and deploying it on a regular basis is not a job that you dread. So, what are your options?
Towing A popular way to manage a cruising dinghy while underway is not to store it at all, but to tow it behind your sailboat. With the outboard engine removed, most dinghies tow surprisingly well and can handle much rougher weather conditions than you may at first think them capable of.
When towing an inflatable dinghy, a bridle should be used to spread the load of the tow over two secure points. Each line of the bridle should run through a D-ring or a guide of some sort on each side of the bow and be secured to an eye bolt at the transom. This manner of attaching the bridle transfers the stress of the tow to the most solidly built part of the boat, the transom. If you attach a tow line to an inflatable via the glued on fittings near the bow, you risk losing the boat to a parted fitting.
Many hard dinghies are designed and built with a towing eye close to the water line and an everyday use eye higher up on the bow for tying to docks, etc. The towing eye close to the water provides an angle that raises slightly the bow of the dinghy and allows it to ride the waves more efficiently. Always remove the drain plug so that water will not accumulate while you’re underway. A partially filled dinghy causes unnecessary stress on your lines and attachment points, slows you down, and may cause the dinghy to swamp.
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To reduce the risk of fouling your prop when towing a
dinghy add floats to your
line and bridle, or choose a
line made of polypropylene. Polypropylene
line is nice because it floats on the surface of the water, but it does exhibit some undesirable characteristics. Polypropylene breaks down very quickly when exposed to sunlight, it offers poor resistance to abrasion, and it’s not real easy to tie. The best defense we know is to always shorten up on the towline before backing up or maneuvering in tight quarters.
Although we mentioned above that dinghies handle rougher weather than you might think, we don’t recommend towing your dinghy in high winds or rough seas. A flipped or swamped dinghy just isn’t worth the risk. Never tow your dinghy offshore, as weather conditions can change quickly. In these circumstances, securing your dinghy on board is the best solution. There are several options you may want to explore.
Deflating and Stowing Below An easy solution to the problem of securing your dinghy while underway is to choose a soft-bottomed inflatable that is designed to be deflated, rolled up, and stuffed in a bag for storage. The newest genre of inflatable features an inflatable floor and keel for stiffness and enhanced directional stability. When it’s time to stow the boat, you simply release air through the inflation valve, deflate the boat, and then store it in its own bag either below deck or in a cockpit locker. This can be a very practical choice for weekend cruisers who are able to tow the dinghy while underway or for those jaunts offshore or into rough weather when you want your decks to be clear.
On-Deck Storage Many sailors permanently store their dinghy on deck. The most common location for this type of storage is just forward of the mast with the boat secured upside down. Depending upon your individual deck layout and the availability of attachment points, you may need to add several pad eyes to provide for secure lashing. Chocks, either custom made or commercially purchased, will further aid in “locking” the dinghy into position preventing any lateral shifting.
Hard dinghies, soft-bottomed inflatables, and rigid-bottomed inflatables (RIBs) are all commonly stored in this manner. The downside is that you’ve got a “big thing” mounted on your foredeck catching wind and waves, and your forward visibility is usually quite inhibited by the presence of the dinghy. If you are mounting a RIB in this manner, you may choose to deflate the pontoons. This greatly lowers the profile of the boat providing better visibility.
If you decide to store your boat on deck, you’ll need to devise a method to safely get the boat from the water to the deck and vice versa. If it’s a soft-bottomed inflatable that you plan to stow in this manner, you’ll probably be able to lift the dinghy on and off the boat by using a single attachment point with a spinnaker halyard. Attach the halyard to the bow and raise and lower the boat while a crew person manipulates its position relative to rigging, lifelines, etc.
For a RIB or a rigid dinghy, you’ll need to fabricate a lifting harness to minimize damage to your hull and deck. You want to lift the dinghy in a balanced upright orientation, swing it over and into position on the deck, ease the halyard, and then have two crew members physically flip the dinghy over and gently position it on its chocks or just inside the lashing points. A downside to this storage technique can rear its head when trying to lift and stow the dinghy with the wind is blowing 25 knots.
Davits The use of davits is our preferred method for storing a dinghy. This type of storage provides the ultimate convenience for cruisers who are using their dinghy almost everyday. With 6:1 purchase blocks almost anyone can safely and easily raise and lower a 130 lb dinghy under control.
Davits should be strongly built, well braced, and designed to hold the dinghy as high up off the water as possible. If the davit relies upon the stern rail for support, then the stern rail may need additional bracing too. A good davit design incorporates a horizontal bar that locks the two davits together. A bonus of this design is that it provides an excellent mounting location for accessories like GPS antennas, solar panels, etc.
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| "Although we like davits, they are not for everyone or every situation." |
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Before you haul your
dinghy up on davits in preparation of travel, remove the outboard engine and pull the plug at the transom. The added weight of the engine and/or water accumulating can result in damage to your davits. As with the on deck method of stowing your
dinghy, the issue of lateral shifting while underway needs to be addressed. It’s no good to just pull the
dinghy up and let it hang loosely on its bridle. To prevent movement and chafe tie diagonally the boat to the davits in a crisscross manner.
Although we like davits, they are not for everyone or every situation. For example, cruisers using wind vane steering can’t really use davits as the transom space is already taken up. When sailing offshore, a dinghy on davits could become a liability in extremely high seas. On Serengeti, if we’re doing a passage of several days, we always store our dinghy on deck. For offshore jaunts of one to two days and with a good weather window we feel comfortable leaving our dinghy on our very high and secure davits. It’s something you have to look at on a case by case basis.
A downside to davits is the extra appendage you’ve added to your boat that must be considered when approaching and leaving the dock. Many a dock pole has been snagged by an embarrassed cruiser who forgot just how long his boat actually was.
When at anchor for several days or weeks in one spot, cruisers who don’t opt for the convenience of davits may want to consider lifting their dinghy along side over night. This action is easier than lifting the dinghy all the way on deck each night and has a couple of advantages over leaving it just tied up behind your cruising boat. It will deter theft and it will greatly reduce the amount of marine growth that can take over the bottom of your dinghy. Use your spinnaker halyard or other extra halyard and attach it to a simple bridle rigged up to lift the dinghy in a balanced upright manner.
When choosing your dinghy storage technique, look realistically at the type of cruising you plan to do, your physical capabilities, and your budget. Remember, the dinghy is the cruiser’s car and one that will be out of the garage a lot. Plan to make it as user friendly as possible.
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