inflatable vs Solid dinghy

[Big E]

Thank you to all who took the time to respond. I am aware this is probably an overly hashed out issue, but I'm grateful to get fresh perspectives. I think I'm going with the inflatable first, then perhaps an additional glass dinghy in the future. Thanks one & all![/quote]

[paul marko]

For anyone who wants them(Free) I have a factory set of Floor boards for the Avon Red crest. They are compleat with all fittings and in good shape (Bunzuil Ply). My Redcrest was eaten by a Hungry Rat in the FT. Myers Boat Yard a few years ago and I bought an Achillis inflatable to replace it, which I like. Now! while Ixcatl is on the hard I store my new inflatable in a wire container to avoid the Rat problem.

If any one wants the floor boards contact me while I am in Florida some time after March 01 ( cell 209 544 0721)

[Warren Kaplan]

I bought a seaeagle 9.2 ft boat and it has served me pretty well. I confess I don't use it very much but its big enough to carry 4 people (or plenty of gear) when I do use it.

Its PVC and not hypalon. I bought it for two reasons. The first, is that Seaeagle is manufactured and sold about 2 miles for my office so it was easy just to run over to their showroom, look at all the samples blown up, and pick the one I wanted. They just loaded a new one into my car on the spot. Second, I knew I wouldn't be using it that much so maybe I didn't need to go to the expense of hypalon.

http://www.seaeagle.com/SportRunabouts. ... #OrderArea

[David VanDenburgh]

I've towed that old plastic dinghy hundreds of miles in the open Pacific and always got away with it, but I get the odd feeling now and then that I'm using up the points in my black box.

John, I'm amazed that you've gotten away with towing a dinghy that much for that long. I've had hard and soft dinghys fiip over or swamp while being towed (so clearly I don't have enough points in my black box or something). Of course, towed dinks always misbehave when the weather is nasty. Trying to right an upside down dinghy while hanging over the rail of a bouncing boat is a nasty experience, destined to leave nasty welts on one's belly, and bringing a miscreant dinghy aboard during the nasty weather conditions that caused it to flip/swamp/break its painter/go airborne or whatever is a miserable experience whether it means hosting a rigid dinghy over the rail and settling it into its chocks and tying it down, or whether it means deflating a soft dinghy and strapping it down.

I never want to tow a dinghy anywhere unless its just shifting berths (and then mind the painter and the propeller).

As junior said, the few minutes spent deflating/inflating/installing-removing the outboard are well worth it. Having a small package strapped to the cabin top justifies the inflatable in my mind, even with all its (admitted) disadvantages.

[John Vigor]

John, I'm amazed that you've gotten away with towing a dinghy that much for that long. I've had hard and soft dinghys fiip over or swamp while being towed (so clearly I don't have enough points in my black box or something).

David, I'm quite amazed myself, but this is no ordinary dinghy. It came with another boat as a throw-away present. It was roughly built and only three-quarters finished. It looked like a practice boat from a fiberglass boatbuilding session at trade school or somewhere. It's 10 feet long and quite narrow for its length, a little round-bilged fishing skiff with many of the characteristics of a dory. When I got it, it had no gunwales or oarlocks and the sides were quite floppy. I added inner and outer gunwales, a skeg on the aft end of the shallow wooden keel, and a longitudinal thwart (if that isn't an oxymoron) between the center thwart and the aft deck. She has built-in air flotation chambers fore and aft.

At sea, I let her float off on the end of a 75-foot tether and leave her to her own devices. I stow a 13-pound grapnel anchor as far aft as I can get it, so that she pivots on her skeg when the painter tugs her, and doesn't go off sideways on a high-speed sheer. The weight aft also keeps her bow high and that, together with a nice flare, helps shed spray sideways.

I have made it quite plain to her that I shall have no compunction in cutting her loose, abandoning her, and sacrificing her to the gods of the sea if she gives me trouble. So far, this threat has worked in winds of up to 30 knots. She's not exactly docile in those conditions, actively surging forward on the run until her long tether restrains her by dragging in the water, and jerking savagely on the beat, despite the stretch in her painter. But every time I look around, she's still there and still afloat. I can only think the hull shape, designed as a planing platform for a fishing skiff, is about as seaworthy as any can be on a small dinghy.

She rows and sculls beautifully with one or two people, and I imagine she'd plane easily with a 6 hp outboard and behave like a little lady with a 2 hp.

I should have gotten rid of her years ago and bought a pretty little inflatable, of course, but somehow this homely little waif grew on me and now I can't bring myself to do it. Our relationship is not all lavender and roses, however. Her wooden transom is starting to rot, and she has started a leak that fills the aft flotation chamber, and I can't find where the water's getting in. There are some suspicious-looking transverse cracks in the paint on the outside of the hull and I'm afraid of what I'll find when I scrape the paint off. But I'll worry about that when the snow has gone and I can slap a fiberglass patch on the outside of her considerably scarred bottom.

The chances are that she'll bury herself in a wave at sea one of these days, and I'll have to chop her loose. We both understand that, but until then we'll hang together, as faithful old buddies always do.

Cheers,

John V.

[Steve Laume]

I do not have hundreds of offshore miles towing my dink but I have had her in some situations that she had no right to be in. High winds, very choppy seas and a few trips through the Race when it was cookin. I have created two attachment points in the bow. I run separate lines to each one and the working line is run through a small block to reduce chafe. I have certainly had a couple of issues towing her. There was a breakaway in Buzzards Bay that lead to the idea of two attachment points. There was also the night that we noticed the dinghy acting weird while about to enter the Great Salt Pond on Block Island. It seems her drain plug had popped out and she was riding very low in the water. Aside from those two incidents she has taken on a good bit of water while beating into a very stiff breeze.

I am seriously considering making up a cover for her so no spray could get in while towing. This would also serve to save me ever having to bail her out at the dock after a rain and keep the varnish looking fresh for a very long time. I wonder if a strong, good fitting well secured cover would survive a roll over.

I know I also need to do something for longer trips but I love my CD-10 when rowing around a harbor, Steve.

[Loren]

I know I'm in the minority but these are the things I like about our hard dinghy (7ft boatex - fiberglass, about 70lbs.) We've towed it about 8000 miles over the last 12 years and have carried it on the foredeck about 1000 miles.
1. Cost - about $700 in 1996 - upkeep has been minimal-a few epoxy patches because of obuse. (should last lots more years)
2. When towed for most of the length of the Atlantic ICW (except crossing inlets in windy conditions) I could be rowing within moments when we first anchored or in a grounding situation. Many times in an anchorage if the dinghy needed to be inflated or even just launched from davits, the inflatable would not be used.
3. If the weather surprised me I could slow the boat and pull the dinghy onto the bow while underway.
4. My 2hp yamaha outboard is used when distances dictate and uses little fuel. In calm conditions we have transported 2 adults and two folding bikes. (not much freeboard)
5. The dinghy is fun to row!

Many inflatables stay in the locker and the owner either stays aboard of choses to take a slip at a marina. (clearly my opinion) I do mostly coastal cruising. If I'm out overnight or conditions are at all questionable, the dinghy is lashed securely on the fordeck before we leave (actually ours is angled against the mast with its stern against the aft lower shroud on the starboard side - the bow is just behind the cleats on the foredeck) This leaves good access to the anchor windlass via the port deck.
I have found that in conditions that are too rough for our little dinghy,I should stay aboard anyway. (yes I have been ashore when conditions worsened and I wasn't sure if we'd make it back without swimming - that's another story)
As was stated earlier - its all about tradeoffs!

Think spring,
Loren

[Paul D.]

There are a few words to be said for another alternative than those discussed - the nesting dinghy. For many of us CD'ers with less than 45 foot yachts with loads of room for the tender, this option works well. I have a nester buit by my brother, who built one for his CD36 too. This is a modified Dave Gerr NESTER dinghy. John made it of strip planked cedar instead of plywood for less weight, strength and beauty.

Pros over infatables include, she tows well, rows very well, can carry five if needed and is light enough for me to launch and retrieve alone. I realy like the option to tow or stow on the coachroof over the saloon hatch. This way it keeps rain out while letting me leave the hatch open for air. At 11 feet, it is a proper tender, but nested it takes up ony 5'. Putting it together and launching takes under ten minutes and less with two people.

Cons are that you do have to put it together and take apart. I do touch it up with varnish or some glass once a year or two and I do need to allow time whenever I am using it to talk to foks who are curious, but I enjoy that aspect.

I wil try to post some pictures if foks are interested. My brother I am sure has some too. But for our boats, as most are modest in size, I think this is a good option if one doesn't mind a little bit of work and enjoy a good row around the anchorage. John will build one for you if you like.

Paul
ps sorry, the L key on my laptop is shot and takes a bit of coaxing to actualy make that humble letter, I'm working on it...

[SPIBob]

The "What's the ideal dinghy?" question keeps coming up, and I suspect will continue to come up, because there is no slam-dunk answer or solution. When I was wrestling with this issue, I decided to rate each option (inflatable, rigid, nested or various combos of these) on several factors or qualities to see which option best fit my needs.

The factors I considered, in no particular order, were: carrying capacity; onboard storage in terms of space, deck access blockage and visibility interference; rowability; towability; stability; durability; ease of deploying and retrieving; expense; and the possibility of the dinghy doubling as a survival craft while underway.

At the time, six or seven years ago, my top choice would have been a Tinker---I forget the model name---inflatable with a rigid GRP hull, with the sailing option and survival craft option. The latter included rapid inflation and a deployable full-cover awning/sunshade. But the expense factor vetoed this option. It wasn't in my budget.

I went with the nesting option because it scored best overall on the factors that were most important to me. It had high scores on expense (I built it), rowability, and durability; medium scores on onboard storage, towability, and ease of deploying/retrieving; and low scores on carrying capacity, stability and suitability as a survival craft.

The scores on capacity and stability would be better with a 11' overall length model like the ones Paul D and his brother have. But with a cabintop main sheet traveler, I was limited to an 8' overall length, with a nested length just a tad over 4'.



This is an older picture. I have added deck padeyes for lashing. (Not directly related, but I've also switched back to tiller steering.)

So if I were trying to help someone decide what type of dinghy would be best for them, I would suggest they rank the various factors/qualities from most to least important/desirable, score or rate each option on these factors, and see which option best fits their overall needs. And warn them that it will still be a tough choice.

Bob

[barfwinkle]

I am seriously considering making up a cover for her so no spray could get in while towing.

Steve, while following this thread, I too tohought of this "solution". Additionally, I thought of placing one or two small canoe (or perhap kayak) flotation bags in the dink for h20 displacement. I like both ideas and most likely neither would work to profection, but I do like them.

Just a thought.

[Paul D.]

Here are a few shots of our dinghy,






And here is the dinghy nested on the coachroof in the back of this picture behind my nephew.

[Oswego John]

Hi Paul,

Beautiful shots of the boat and dink. Nice country up there.

Wow, can the thought in my mind's eye of what a person really looks like, throw a curve ball at reality. Of course, I've never met you or seen your picture before, but I won't be able to say that any more. Will I?

That is one of the reasons that I so much enjoy pictures of the various fleets' get togethers, with pictures and names of those attending.

Best of everything. The days are lengthening.

O J

[Paul D.]

Oswego John,

That's actually my wife Carmela rowing in Chippewa Harbour, Isle Royale National Park, a splendid cruising ground and a splendid woman. That is her Nephew John, a true Kiwi, who sailed across Superior with me and my three year old last fall to Femme's winter berth. It was a great little passage.

Ok, so here is a good shot that shows the dinghy stowed. I would like to make a proper tie down system bolted to the coachroof instead of the handrails like now. And yes, that is me, motoring off a raft with my brother's CD36 early one fall morning in Frog Bay, Apostle Islands, WI.



Here is my other nephew Johnny, also from New Zealand (Yes it's supposed to be confusing) as we sailed through the Apostles in May '06 to deliver the boat to her summer mooring across Superior on the North Shore of Minnesota in Grand Marais. You can clearly see my 2 strap lazy sailor's tie down that was proven up to 45 knots later on this very day! Things got fairly interesting. You can see the video on You tube. Search "Lake Superior cape dory". Though in that video it was only up to 30 knots. We didn't bother filming when the wind kept on rising. I was really happy with Femme, and of course, my nephew that passage!



Lastly, here is a shot I found of the forward section of the dinghy when I had her in the camp shop last summer for varnishing and touch up of the epoxy/graphite bottom. I cannot recommend that black coating enough! It is very tough, looks good and allows me to treat a varnished boat like a proper dinghy and drag her up the rocky beaches of Northern Superior! Just a regular epoxy mix with about 10% of west system Graphite powder. Two thin coats will do. We do the cedarstrip canoes at YMCA Camp Menogyn this way and they really hold up. Those canoes are on tough wilderness trips with teenagers for 10 weeks a summer and need little maintenance.



Maybe my brother could post some pictures of the joining mechanism for the dinghy (Come on Bro, it's 20 below outside with 15 knot winds, what the hell else are you doing right now?). If folks are interested we could find a series of pictures of one of us putting the boat together I bet. It is quite simple to do in the water, even in rough conditions.

All the best,
Paul

[Evergreen]

Paul:

We would love to see those other photos that you spoke of. The longer this thread gets the more interested I am in your nesting dinghy idea.

Currently we fit an 8 foot Trinka on the cabin top of our CD36 but it is a squeeze. We would love to have a slightly larger dinghy although we will always stay with a hard shell. We have found quickly from experience that many of the places that we go ashore are not friendly to "deflatables".

Thanks, Philip & Sharon

[John Danicic]

Ok.

As I like to tell my brother, make it light enough and you won't have to "drag" it up a rocky beach. It can easily be lifted up and placed on the beach.



I am currently working on a variation of the nesting cedar strip dinghy that will incorporate a hard graphite bottom and ultra-light construction.

Here is a link to a series of photos showing how I launch and assemble my nesting dinghy.


http://johndanicic.com/arrogantwoodwork ... g-page.htm

Back to staying warm.

Sail on
John Danicic
CD 36 -Mariah- #124
Lake Superior