How do you carry your Dingy?

[therobesons]

The previous owner just rolled it up and kept it in the side lazerate. And the motor in the rear lazerate. When he went on a trip he would inflate and carry it on the fordeck in front of the mast.

I would like a clean simple way to carry it on the stern, but not with full on carry type davits, maybe more like the Pivoting Davit System.

Are there any real simple one?

How do you carry your dingy?

Bob

[dwarburton]

I have an 11 ½ ft inflatable with a wood floor so it is inconvenient to deflate it. For short 2-3 hr trips I tow it, for longer trips I will put it on the foredeck using the spinnaker halyard to lift it.
I have four folding pad-eyes mounted on the dinghy's wood floor and a lifting bridle that I made which I attach to the halyard.

I have heard of folks pulling the bow onto the swim platform so just the stern is still in the water. I have been told this reduces the (considerable) drag vs. towing I have not, however, tried this myself or collected any comparison data.

[wfahey]

I have a 12ft Porta-Bote. It folds up to 4" thick and we just lay it along the lifelines. The 6hp engine attaches to the stern rails. Not the best option out there but it gets the job done.

[fjackson]

I don't carry mine. I tow it. It has a cover so it stays dry. The outboard hangs on my C36 sternrail. I've towed the dinghy in winds over 35 knots and waves of over 10 feet. No problems.

If you carry your dinghy on your foredeck in a fashion that blocks your access to your furling gear, anchor, etc., you're creating a dangerous condition.

Fred J.
Amante #2209

[LCBrandt]

Fred, I tow my inflatable dink only when the sea conditions and winds assure me that it won't go airborne. I had this happen once, on a training cruise...the winds flipped the dinghy, then the "vacuum" created by the sea undulations plastered the upside down dink firmly to the water, the tow rings and handles ripped from the dink, and then we had to chase it down and retrieve it.

But I agree with you, I don't like it on the foredeck. If I must carry it there, I tie it securely, bow forward and bottom up. On the foredeck it smells up the V-berth, makes the V-berth very dark, obstructs the forward hatch as an emergency exit, gets entangled in the jib sheets, and impedes access on the foredeck. Fortunately, conditions that force me to carry the dink there are relatively rare in the Pacific Northwest.

In a few weeks I will be taking High Flight north again for the summer, from Portland to Puget Sound, and as is my offshore policy, the dink will NOT be onboard. I'll drive it up later.

When I tow the dink, I have the painter tied fairly short...the dinghy bow riding no more than 2 to 3 feet aft of the stern. This "short scope" has a number of benefits: it controls the dink better, preventing premature flips, I believe it to be more economical, and importantly, it makes it less of a nuisance when backing out of a slip in confined quarters. (Pssst, don't tell anyone, but I have actually climbed into and from the dink underway, because at C36 cruise speed and with the bow-high angle of the dink, opening the drain plug will empty the dink in short order. Significantly, I had competent crew aboard the mother ship while I was doing this.)

See photo taken underway, showing the distance aft at which we tow the dink. What you see in the dink is a large piece of styrofoam that we came across in south Puget Sound. It's our policy underway to occasionally "help the environment" by retrieving significant flotsam, and then getting rid of it in the next marina's dumpster. It's kind of a practice crew overboard...circle back, extend the boat hook and "stab" the "victim"...hey, just like the real thing.

[Peter Taylor]

For what its worth I have Weaver Davits to carry a 12 ft inflateable with the motor on the stern rail. They are very compact and a fantastic arrangement for the MK11 stern. I only have the dinghy on board when I expect to use it and with this system it only takes a couple of seconds to drop the dinghy down to allow access to the swim step. Well worth considering in my opinion as the dinghy is firmly anchored to the stern, they are hardly noticable without the dinghy attached, leaves the foredeck clear and no lifting.

[LCBrandt]

Peter, I wasn't aware of Weaver Davits, but looking at them on the Weaver website they look promising. Any chance of your posting a couple photos of your installation on the Mk II? It would be very helpful.

[Peter Taylor]

Will do Larry - just as soon as I can get down to the boat.

[Peter Taylor]

Larry,
As requested, attached are the photos of the Weaver Snap Davits on my boat.
They are simply bolted to the transom as you can see. It is necessary to glue two yokes onto the dinghy sides, the glue is permanent. I changed dinghys and was able to by spare pads only, keeping all the other fittings.
I don't have a photo of the dinghy lifted into position but there are plenty in the Weaver Catalog. I can't imagine a more simpler or convenient method of stowing the dinghy.
Hope this is of interest.

[LCBrandt]

Peter, that setup is sweet. Presumably you tie a line to the stbdside of the dink and just tilt it up into the stowed position??? The installation doesn't look difficult, either on the swim platform or on the inflatable dink. This arrangement would solve so many problems, and at a reasonable cost.

Thanks for sharing on the forum.

[therobesons]

My question is my 1985 C-36 does not have a swim platform of any kind, wonder if they would work some how!

Bob

[stu jackson c34]

A homemade solution, try this: http://www.c34.org/projects/kindred-spirit/davits.html

It appears the stern of our Mark I boats would be too narrow for the Weaver System, because only a short portion of the dinghy would be supported, compared to the posted photos of the Weaver system above.

[deising]

Thanks for posting that, Stu. There is no doubt that many sailors get quite clever in finding affordable ways to achieve a result.

[Gary Bain]

Currently I tow my dingy behind on a leash and it seems to work well on my 30" Catalina I used a dingy tow which was reasonably easy to install and worked well, as long as you did not mind the many comments about which way are you going?
www.dinghy-tow.com

[davidg]

Hi there,

I made a similar Weaver Davit installation on our 36 MkII but quickly found that even with only a few degrees of heel (like while motor sailing), the stern of the dinghy was dragging in the water to the extent that the whole dinghy was bouncing around to an alarming degree.

It is now back on the fordeck!

Dave Girling
Sanssouci #1628

[therobesons]

While this did work, the dingy was quit wet, I had the motor off, and you can't really back up without some pre planning.

Since mine is an older MK1 I will have to become very cleaver if I wish to carry the dingy on the stern some how, but for now it looks like maybe the fordeck is the way to go.

But even a rope lashing system may work, will check it out.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Bob

[mutualfun]

So far if we use our 3.5 hp motor we store that on the rail and bring the dink up close. Usually it's nose is up on the swim platform. But I am curious if any have ever carried a bigger motor such as a 9.9 by rigging up some type of mount so the skeg of the motor rest on the swim platform on a board and the rest is mounted to the swim ladder. Our 9.9 weighs 85lbs and is to heavy I feel to mount on the rail. As I have no room either on the rail.

Randy