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How should I tow a dinghy?

79K views 94 replies 53 participants last post by  HUGOSALT 
#1 ·
Most catalogue advise a bridle be setup on the 2 side D-ring of the inflatable dinghy for towing. How about the motherboat side? Should I run a rope between the port & stbd stern cleats and hook the dinghy bridle to it? Should I make an eye loop at mid point for clipping the dinghy bridle ?
 
#33 ·
Denby-

I'd say you'd have to worry, but CD will never catch you... and as long as you stay out of the range of his BBQ Grill mortars, you'll be fine.
 
#37 ·
If you have a problem with your dink running into you especially a hard dink, fit a fuel funnel to the tow line just in front of the bridle, pointy end towards the towing vessel. As the towed dink moves over the tow line the funnel fills like a sea anchor and slows the dink saving your top sides.
 
#41 ·
First it depends on the dingui. If it a inflatable w/ hard bottom or a aluminum or fiber glass dingui, it should have a U bolt in the bow. In that case a rope atached to de bolt an then w/ a bowline to a line that cross the stern of the sailbota from a cleats in each side should work perfect for daisailing. If the dingui is soft or the sailing longer I recommend storing it in a locker or on deck.
 
#42 ·
I have thought about making a tight-fitting cover for the dinghy, ... with a ridgepole (probably mast) stem to stern underneath, It should keep water out. Anyone try that?
Skip,

I did a sunbrella tight fitting cover for a RIB dinghy, the bungees were tight enough the first year to support the cover and keep any water from accumulating, but the second year the bungees needed replacing. So i put up a collapsible pole, BoatersWorld. The only difficulty I had was the bungees attaching just below the dinghy rub rail, otherwise the bungees would have run underneath the hull and there add minimal drag, but accumulate growth.
 
#44 ·
Has anyone here had experience with the Dinghy Tow system? It's method is to drag a dinghy backwards with only the bow in the water, sort of like a semi-davit. If the dinghy ships any water it is only a bow's-worth and, I guess, would not amount to much. It keeps the dinghy under control in tight quarters, too.
We used a dinghy tow for probably several thousand miles - several times up and down the ICW and in (not to) the Bahamas. We had it swamped once by a Gasshole on the Cape Fear River who thought it would be prudent to run his 6 foot wake right next to our boat. Busted one of the clips that hold the dinghy to the bracket.

Had it come loose on the Albermarle once - same clips came loose in a nasty chop.

And the final straw was in the Bahamas. We were anchored on the Banks between Bimini and Nassau. The wind picked up at about 90 degrees to the rollers that were coming in off the Atlantic. We had tied the mizzen halyard to the painter to hoist the whole dinghy out of the water, but we were bouncing so much it was slamming into the water with a horrible crashing noise about every sixth wave. One of the square pipes of the dinghy tow bent, and the dinghy turned and snugged its side up to our transom - rubbed part of the name off the boat. And ruined the dinghy tow. Needless to say, sleepless night - and I could do nothing - it was as dark as the inside of a cow out there and the boat was a carnival ride.

So we towed or stowed the rest of the trip and we now have a davit system which I'm going to install next chance I get.

My advice echoes a lot of what was said above. Double up on your lines if you're towing and connect to different cleats on the deck and tow points on the dinghy - lines break and so do cleats, d-rings, etc.

I don't think I would purchase a dinghy tow again, though in calm waters it was handy, I don't always sail in calm waters.
 
#45 ·
Just a warning as I have also pulled a dink on davits and behind for many, many miles - I doubt under most circumstances I would take my tender to sea on davits. It is even sometimes tough in the ICW. If you get into a rolling sea of better than 5+ feet or so (depending on your boat), that thing starts slamming around back there. If you get pooped, it is gone along with part of your transom.

I am not contradicting you at all. Just sharing my experience. But the davits are great at night... cause it is still there in the morning!!!!! I would buy them again in a heartbeat (and did). Just make sure if you raise it on davits for any long runs you really lash it hard for lateral movements.

Good posts and enjoy your contributions.

- CD
 
#46 ·
Cruisingdad:

100% agree. Big seas, or chance thereof - dinghy on deck! Every time I had trouble with the dinghy tow it was unanticipated. Whodathunk a powerboater would have put up a six foot wake ten feet from a sailboat? Oh, yeah, what am I saying?

The other two times the weather reports were good. Whodathunk NOAA would tell tall tales? Oh, yeah, what am I saying?
 
#48 ·
Hoping to have a new inflatable by the end of the summer

I didn't see the need to start a new thread so i'm just tacking my question onto this one. :)

I'm thinking that we would tow behind most of the time but during heavier weather we could just deflate and lash it in front of the mast... if not stowing it down below.

Our boat is 27'... would keeping an 8 foot inflatable inflated on the deck be too much and in the way of running rigging? What about the genoa and chafe? I know there is physically enough room on our boat but i feel like it would make things too tight up there. What is your experience?
 
#49 ·
I didn't see the need to start a new thread so i'm just tacking my question onto this one. :)

I'm thinking that we would tow behind most of the time but during heavier weather we could just deflate and lash it in front of the mast... if not stowing it down below.

Our boat is 27'... would keeping an 8 foot inflatable inflated on the deck be too much and in the way of running rigging? What about the genoa and chafe? I know there is physically enough room on our boat but i feel like it would make things too tight up there. What is your experience?
I have a 27 foot Cheoy Lee and sometimes I tow the dink, sometimes I deflate and tie it to the cabin top below the boom and sometimes I stow it down below. It's situational and it is the captain's call. If the weather is good, tow it,i f the weather is bad, stow it. I do not want to end up at a nice tropical anchorage with no way to get ashore.

Buying a new dinghy will cut into my "buying a new case of beer money."
 
#50 · (Edited)
I read all the previous post but still don't know what to expect re the dingy we're getting. Its a Port. Pudgy...And while we had no problems in towing an inflatable, though didn't do it during heavy weather either, this new dingy likely weighs too much to haul aboard but it is self bailing. We have a 30' Morgan so we'll see re davits or that other half davit thing next year, if necessary. B.O.A.T.=Bring Out Another Thousand!
 
#51 ·
Please go back to the snubber suggestion. We have a RIB- aluminum, so it's light-tow with outboard- raised all the time. I use a towing bridle, but also attach a line to the built in ring on aluminum bottom and then again on the ring where the bridle becomes one or meets to the single line of the painter. What is the proper length of the snubber line? Should it be shorter to just absorb the shock or since it's attached to the rigid bottom, should it be shorter to pull most of the weight?
 
#52 ·
Dinghys

The most important part of towing a dinghy is to have the proper towing lline...It HAS to be a FLOATING line...WHY...Because when you drop anchor...and start backing down on her...The dinghy doesn't back down but goes foward...If your line is not of the floating variety you are playing Russian Roulette...maybe not the first time..but it WILL catch in the prop..If your prop doesn't break the line...The dinghy will be drawn in and you will hear an awful screach as the prop will put a nice big gash in your Zodiac..

I do not recommend towing dinghys...At anchor dinghys lagging on towing lines get stolen..Need to be attached to a sling and a halyard raised from the water ..They rarely if ever get stolen in this posture....If your hallards can't handle it...Get a davit..to take your engine off and raised...This of course lightens the hallyard..."No one said that cruising would be easy"....a lot of deck work..

"When it starts to blow... your dinghy will go"...especially at night under heavy sailing conditions. That is not the time to get "the damn thing" on deck

Get your crew to put it on deck.. BEFORE you weigh anchor..That's what crew are for..LOL
 
#53 ·
Just a note of experience: While towing our C-12 w/15 hp in 6' seas/23 kts off the S side of St. Thomas this weekend, the snap link that connected the thimble eye on the tow line to the towing ring failed. It looks like the spring broke. And thus, we noticed our dink going the opposite way of our boat. It was an interesting rescue in those conditions. I ended up diving overboard and jumping into the dink as it as very hard to get the 2 boats side by side at the same level (dink rides side to wind and swell).

I had crew attached a shackle to the tow line and toss me the center part of the tow line, came up close to the stern of the sailboat, then had 100' of float time to attach. Then it came time to get on the bucking transom... good timing and all was done. It was a good drill.

Lessons: No more snap links for convenience. Heavy shackle only. Those conditions were a bit big for towing... sail elsewhere or haul dink.

Happy Towing...
 
#54 · (Edited)
Getting Better

This 'ol' thread [Feb. 08] has a lot of good ideas. I got the Portland Pudgy and love it. It came with a nice bridle system. We have to tow and made two 250 mile vacation sails last summer and it towed fine. We put the little Tuhatsu outboard on the rail for traveling. I appreciate the suggestion of using a snubber...will do that. I also like the idea of using a funnel to keep it from bumping...though it may look like a hardware store ad but the time we put it together.

I learned early on to never, ever back down while anchoring with the tow line in the water. :mad: That prop nearly gobbled the dink. I take up the slack, then back down.
 
#55 ·
Towing Experiences

I've towed mine for thousands of miles without any issues....Until one night off the coast of Cuba in 4'seas. My wife was on watch. I came up to take my watch and the dingy was gone. One line totally missing and one parted. We now keep the inflatable stowed unless we are going to be in port for a while and use the 2 piece nesting dingy which we keep on the fore deck when under way.
 
#56 ·
I have an Avon inflatable. coastwise I do not remove the well secured 4 hp outboard. On s/v "Fianna", my Pretorien, with a slight reverse transom, I use two independent nylon towing lines which go through port and starboard stern chocks to cleats. Each is tied independently to my nylon towing bridle, which is led through the midships handle on the bow of the dinghy and then to the port and starboard towing rings forward, near the dinghy's waterline. This is a belt and suspenders towing rig with two independent componets, but has the downside of needing to manage two lines at the stern of the yacht instead of one. This year I intend to install an outboard lift (Garhauer, removeable) and mount the outboard on the tern pulpit when not in use. In general the whole dinghy issue for me has become a bit of a muddle. Frankly, for my purposes, I could get along nicely with a hard dinghy that rows well.. I have looked at peapods and considered shorter hard dinghys. I do not have the ability to store on deck due to the interference with my baby stay. But I am increasingly distressed by the profound ugliness of inflatables and by running an outboard for all of 5 minutes to get ashore in most situations. I'd love ton know what others think about the hard dinghy versus soft dinghy choice, and how a 35' yacht with no deck storage might finesse these choices.
 
#57 ·
... I'd love ton know what others think about the hard dinghy versus soft dinghy choice, and how a 35' yacht with no deck storage might finesse these choices.
That's an interminable debate here and in sailing circles. ;)

We get along real well with our hard rowing/sailing dinghies -- after a decade of cruising the Chesapeake we still haven't missed an outboard. Of course, we could put a small outboard on them if we ever needed to. But the rowing and sailing has always met our needs. That's where the hard dinghies really shine.

But it depends on your cruising grounds, too. In more exposed areas, with longer runs ashore -- sometimes even through moderate surf conditions -- outboards and inflatables have their use.

We are currently running a Dyer Midget (7'10") and a CLC Passagemaker Dinghy (11'7"). Sometime in the next year or two, we'll probably build a CLC Eastport Pram (7'9") as our primary sailing dinghy for the mothership (currently we switch off between the Dyer and the Passagemaker).

P.S. Congrats on your first post, and a belated welcome to Sailnet!
 
#60 ·
This is probably a "gimmie" but just for the record, we used to tow our zodiac behind a 36' morgan, and it was incredible how much that little bugger slowed us down! Maybe your boat would handle the increased drag better, but we would consistently lose about a fifth of our speed, and probably more than that in fuel efficiency.
 
#61 ·
On deck for longer passages, definitely. Weather can come up and you do not want to be dealing with the dinghy in a blow/waves. Agree about the likelihood of lines parting at some point (my husband managed to catch our dink on its way out of Boqueron harbor, but he's a really fast swimmer!), and about dink drag slowing the passage down - and another cool feature of on-deck is that even when it's raining you can keep the hatch open for ventilation if you have an inverted dink over it! Our Next Boat has davits, and it's not like we are going to not use them, since they are there already, but we were fine without them on the previous boat.
 
#62 ·
My outboard is to the starboard of my main hull, so I usually tow the inflatable off the port ama, never had a problem with it going anywhere near the prop :)

If the wind is likely to get over 8knots I stow it on the Port side between the ama and main hull.

The biggest problem with towing any dingy I have tried, the wake from the dingy is so much that I have to worry about no wash zones, at 6 knots the wash from the inflatable is about 10 times that from my boat, and it gets worse from there. :D

Dave.
 
#63 ·
as far as towing dinks is concerned---towing in seas has made salvors very very happy to have obtained their dink for FREE!!!!! and if ye leave the engine on , is a great help to them, as they donot have to go about purchasing one---lol....there are many folks who have felt that towing was necessary, they are out seeking new dinks as we speak...goood luck and fair winds.....i tow mine by deflating it and stowing on board--the engine goes before the mast quite nicely and i donot have to worry about losing mine to salvors....smooth sailing.....
 
#64 ·
Depending on conditions, I either "stow it or tow it". But when I DO tow my dinghy (a small hypalon inflatable), I actually bring it VERY close to the stern and tow it backwards, so that only the bow of the dink is in the water. The two pontoon ends brought nearly against the hull. I've never had a problem with abrasion by doing this.

There is an added benefit of doing it this way: When I get to whatever anchorage, or back to the slip, I simply take the mizzen halyard and clip it to the bow bridle and lift the bow of the dinghy right out of the water. As the pontoon ends are already OUT of the water and secured, this keeps the WHOLE dinghy out of the water!!...and out of reach form algae and barnacles. To drop the dinghy in the water, it is a simple task to let go the mizzen halyard. If you don't a mizzen, the main halyard should work just as well to get the bow out of the water while at anchor or dock.

This system works great for me, and doesn't cost a dime and keeps the dink's bottom MUCH cleaner, as the whole thing is out of the water while sitting, yet still immediately ready to go.
 
#66 ·
Depending on conditions, I either "stow it or tow it". But when I DO tow my dinghy (a small hypalon inflatable), I actually bring it VERY close to the stern and tow it backwards, so that only the bow of the dink is in the water.
Hey, SoulVoyage, i've thought about this, but haven't come up with a way to do it yet...

rather than re-invent the wheel, can you give me (us) some advice and/or pix on how you did it?

i have a 1972 Morgan 30/2, Yanmar inboard (so no O/B bracket on the stern), with an 8 foot Caribe RIB and a 15 HP Yam 2 stroke O/B

thanx!

(i tried to PM you, but apparently i have to have 5 posts before i can PM anybody. i thought it was easier to do this than to make up 5 "junk" posts!;) )
 
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