Dinks. Size and where to put em?

[raylaracuente]

So I’m rewarding myself with a new inflatable due to missing the boat show this year.
I have a 27 and was wondering what dink solutions other guys have come up with as far as size and storage?

[Carl Thunberg]

I hate to see a post go un-answered, so I'll get the conversation started. There is no "right" answer to your question. A lot depends on how you plan to use your boat. Are you planning on primarily day-sailing, coastal cruising, or offshore passagemaking? You will find your answer by knowing exactly how you intend to use your boat. Small boats don't have a lot of options for storing RIBs. Your options really boil down to towing or deflating and stowing. If you plan to deflate and stow, you're better off with the smallest RIB that will suit your needs.

Be very careful how you store the RIB during winter or other long-term storage. Mice can do an incredible amount of damage to RIBs. A little off-topic, but still relevant.

[jparmen]

Are you committed to an inflatable? A Fatty Knees tows well and rows well, and with a small Torqueedo you can mouont on the back it will get you nicely in and around most harbors. John's right about first deciding what you want to do with it.

[Paul D.]

It is more work and some planning but a nester dinghy might serve. If you can stand putting it together and stowing onboard is a high priority as well as having a proper dink, then it should be considered.

We've a Nester dinghy modified by CD36 owner John Danicic, me and a friend built it out of carbon fibre but it didn't really turn out light - anyway, John's original cedar strip one lasted me twenty years and is still going in another application now. Look up Dave Gerr Nester dinghy, or the Chesapeake Light Craft nesters to see if something like that would work for you. CLC projects are very well designed and have great instructions. Highly recommended.

[Joe CD MS 300]

Like Carl said you need to figure out your needs. I’ve owned a 9’ plywood floor hypalon dinghy (1 year), a 12’ Avon Hypalon RIB with a 25 HP OB (20+ years) a 9’ Dyer Dow sailing dinghy (5 years) and a 10’6” West Marine / Avon Hypalon RIB w 4 & 6 HP OBs (16 years and still going strong). All were towed, never stored on board during over 35 years of coastal cruising off the coast of Maine. Also used, but did not own a Portland Pudgy. Very innovative. After getting used to the stability and carrying capacity of RIBs I couldn’t see going to a hard dinghy. The Portland Pudgy is much more stable than the Dyer but no where near that of a RIB. We often will need to carry four people. If that’s not your situation maybe a hard dinghy would work.

[wikakaru]

The best dinghy for a boat and best way to store it depend heavily on your proposed cruising grounds and plans and also on your desires. My cruising experience has ranged from long-range, long-term liveaboard cruising to daysails and occasional mini-cruises, and I have owned a mix of hard and inflatable dinghies over time. Here's my advice:

If your cruising area is limited to places where harbors are typically small, well-protected, and lined with facilities (for example, New England), a rigid dinghy that rows well makes a lot of sense. In these areas, outboards are often unnecessary. If you plan to cruise to parts of the world where good anchorages are often not located close to shore facilities--sometimes many miles apart--having a dinghy that can plane becomes very important.

Another thing to consider is how tolerant you and your crew are to rolly anchorages. If you can handle a lot of roll, you may be able to anchor in less desirable harbors that are closer to facilities. I personally hate rolly anchorages, so for me a place like Coral Bay, St. John, USVI was not "Jim Approved", but Water Creek, a 2-mile dinghy ride away, was perfect. Going ashore from Water Creek to Coral Bay without a planing dinghy wouldn't be practical. If rolly anchorages didn't bother me, we could have anchored in Coral Bay and a rigid dinghy would have been fine.

If planing is important, consider whether the dinghy you are looking at will be able to plane when fully loaded with all the boat's crew plus groceries, laundry, and jerry jugs of fuel and/or water, as would be the case on a typical "shore day" when cruising. A lot of rigid dinghies, including those that row well, can be made to plane with one person and no gear aboard, but bog down when fully loaded (or overloaded); many inflatable dinghies with roll-away or inflatable floors will likewise plane if lightly loaded, but become undulating serpents when loaded up and the outboard throttle is cranked open. RIBs tend to plane well even when heavily loaded if given sufficient horsepower, but of course, no inflatables will row very well.

As to stowage, if your cruising plans are for relatively short times and short distances (for example, no overnight or longer passages) leaving the dinghy in the water all the time and towing it while you sail is perfectly fine. If you are going to make true offshore passages, you will need to have a way to stow the dinghy on deck. Every boat is different, so storage depends on things like whether there is an inner forestay that limits space on the foredeck, or a rigid vang or dodger that limits space on the cabin house. Some boats use davits, although davits are not especially well suited to Cape Dories with relatively long overhangs and relatively narrow transoms.

Inflatables shine in the storage area. When left fully inflated, you can often fit an inflatable (even a RIB) in a smaller space than a similar-LOA rigid dinghy, because the inflatable's transom is located forward of the aft end of the stern tubes, so the length over all is not as important as it is length from transom to bow. Stowing inflated on deck is a good solution for day hopping in boisterous weather when it isn't safe to tow the dinghy. For longer passages, deflating the dinghy and stowing it either on deck or down below is best. Keep in mind that after you use a dinghy for a while it is going to get slimy and smelly and you aren't going to want to stow it below unless you wash it thoroughly every time, which most people probably aren't going to do.

Because your dinghy is essential your "car" when cruising, picking the appropriate dinghy for your cruising plans and boat is a really important choice. There is a vast array of boats on the market from simple, cheap, lightweight rigid dinghies like the Walker Bays, to good fiberglass dinghies like Trinkas and Fatty Knees, to nesting ones like the Chesapeake Light Craft Eastport Pram. Fully inflatable boats offer lots of different kinds of floors, from widely-separated slats to interlocking roll-up floorboards, to inflatable chambers. And with RIBs you can choose between fiberglass or aluminum hulls and bunches of bells and whistles.

Go around your boat with a tape measure and check out all your potential storage spaces. Consider how various dinghies will fit if you rotate them instead of having their keels parallel to the mother ship's centerline. Go to the dinghy dealer with your tape measure and check out the size of various dinghies. In the end, the choice is going to be a compromise. There is no dinghy that rows well, planes well, and fits in a small space. You are going to have to pick which features are most important to you. Good luck with your choice.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

[John Stone]

The best dinghy for a boat and best way to store it depend heavily on your proposed cruising grounds and plans and also on your desires. My cruising experience has ranged from long-range, long-term liveaboard cruising to daysails and occasional mini-cruises, and I have owned a mix of hard and inflatable dinghies over time. Here's my advice:

If your cruising area is limited to places where harbors are typically small, well-protected, and lined with facilities (for example, New England), a rigid dinghy that rows well makes a lot of sense. In these areas, outboards are often unnecessary. If you plan to cruise to parts of the world where good anchorages are often not located close to shore facilities--sometimes many miles apart--having a dinghy that can plane becomes very important.

Another thing to consider is how tolerant you and your crew are to rolly anchorages. If you can handle a lot of roll, you may be able to anchor in less desirable harbors that are closer to facilities. I personally hate rolly anchorages, so for me a place like Coral Bay, St. John, USVI was not "Jim Approved", but Water Creek, a 2-mile dinghy ride away, was perfect. Going ashore from Water Creek to Coral Bay without a planing dinghy wouldn't be practical. If rolly anchorages didn't bother me, we could have anchored in Coral Bay and a rigid dinghy would have been fine.

If planing is important, consider whether the dinghy you are looking at will be able to plane when fully loaded with all the boat's crew plus groceries, laundry, and jerry jugs of fuel and/or water, as would be the case on a typical "shore day" when cruising. A lot of rigid dinghies, including those that row well, can be made to plane with one person and no gear aboard, but bog down when fully loaded (or overloaded); many inflatable dinghies with roll-away or inflatable floors will likewise plane if lightly loaded, but become undulating serpents when loaded up and the outboard throttle is cranked open. RIBs tend to plane well even when heavily loaded if given sufficient horsepower, but of course, no inflatables will row very well.

As to stowage, if your cruising plans are for relatively short times and short distances (for example, no overnight or longer passages) leaving the dinghy in the water all the time and towing it while you sail is perfectly fine. If you are going to make true offshore passages, you will need to have a way to stow the dinghy on deck. Every boat is different, so storage depends on things like whether there is an inner forestay that limits space on the foredeck, or a rigid vang or dodger that limits space on the cabin house. Some boats use davits, although davits are not especially well suited to Cape Dories with relatively long overhangs and relatively narrow transoms.

Inflatables shine in the storage area. When left fully inflated, you can often fit an inflatable (even a RIB) in a smaller space than a similar-LOA rigid dinghy, because the inflatable's transom is located forward of the aft end of the stern tubes, so the length over all is not as important as it is length from transom to bow. Stowing inflated on deck is a good solution for day hopping in boisterous weather when it isn't safe to tow the dinghy. For longer passages, deflating the dinghy and stowing it either on deck or down below is best. Keep in mind that after you use a dinghy for a while it is going to get slimy and smelly and you aren't going to want to stow it below unless you wash it thoroughly every time, which most people probably aren't going to do.

Because your dinghy is essential your "car" when cruising, picking the appropriate dinghy for your cruising plans and boat is a really important choice. There is a vast array of boats on the market from simple, cheap, lightweight rigid dinghies like the Walker Bays, to good fiberglass dinghies like Trinkas and Fatty Knees, to nesting ones like the Chesapeake Light Craft Eastport Pram. Fully inflatable boats offer lots of different kinds of floors, from widely-separated slats to interlocking roll-up floorboards, to inflatable chambers. And with RIBs you can choose between fiberglass or aluminum hulls and bunches of bells and whistles.

Go around your boat with a tape measure and check out all your potential storage spaces. Consider how various dinghies will fit if you rotate them instead of having their keels parallel to the mother ship's centerline. Go to the dinghy dealer with your tape measure and check out the size of various dinghies. In the end, the choice is going to be a compromise. There is no dinghy that rows well, planes well, and fits in a small space. You are going to have to pick which features are most important to you. Good luck with your choice.

Smooth sailing,

Jim

Can't argue with anything Jim shared. Very solid advice. I'd look pretty hard at a nesting dinghy on a small cruiser. I have seen some inverted over the cabin top with a removable transom so they so double duty as a pram hood. I have had both rigid and inflatable dinghies and would not trade a hard dinghy for an inflatable...but I like reliability, easy of launching/recovery, and rowing.

One other thing to consider is your ability to enter and exit the water from your dinghy for swimming and snorkeling. My wife and I have no trouble with Fatty Knees but I know for some it would prove an impossible task.

[Steve Laume]

Some great advise has been given.

I just want to say that all dinghies are evil. I have had a number of hard and soft dinghies. Never anything that came close to planning and dealing with a boat and motor capable of it on our boats is pretty impractical. Weight is another important consideration. How much extra weight do you want to add to the cabin top of a small boat? This is also important where there is a large tidal range. Sooner or later you will have to carry or drag the dink for far longer than you would like. I suppose those little wheels on the transom are another option but I never had them. That leaves you with dragging a hard dinghy or carrying an inflatable. This is when size also matters. Especially if you are alone.

I love to row but hate to deal with dinghies, Steve.

[fmueller]

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Ray,

I’ve been trying to work this out for myself as well as a CD 27 owner for quite a few years. I’ve had a series of 8 ft hard shell dinks but basically our boats are just too small to accommodate a tender of any sort on deck. I would love to have a Fatty Knees, but it’s just too big for the 27 foredeck so would have to be towed exclusively. Also remember, anything lashed over the hatch negates the escape safety of the hatch (think cabin fire) as well as ventilation efficiency and light ... it also covers the forward cleats and makes anchoring and docking nearly impossible. Then there is vision forward … not much problem in open water but for me on Narragansett Bay … critical.

This summer I bought a Highfield 7 1/2 foot air floor inflatable. Why? They are just more stable than hard shell dinks. Simple as that and can be lashed, deflated, to the foredeck just forward on the cabin trunk quite nicely but let me tell you, inflating and deflating it on a daily basis (especially on said small foredeck) if you go cruising is just a p.i.a. and you’ll quickly tire of it. I did. Also, as packed from the factory you could almost get it into a locker but you’ll never be able to roll it up on deck that tight.

That leaves towing, which I did quite handily this summer cruising around Narragansett, the Cape and Islands. Including in some pretty heavy wind. Of course you read all kinds of admonition to “never tow the dink”. And then of course every third boat you see is doing exactly that. Of course during any kind of extended open water passage that’s pretty good advice, but the worst thing that happens is you might loose it … so maybe you take that calculated non life threatening risk ?? BTW this 60 pound inflatable with the air floor keel (with motor removed) tows at least as easily as any 8 ft dink I’ve had. The “keel” makes a big difference. So does having the thing properly inflated.

Also this specific model has a drain plug in the transom. If I leave it open, about 5-10 gallons of water works it’s way into the bottom of the little craft. In heavy air that goes a long way toward stabilizing it and preventing flipping in a gust. When there is that much wind, I am not worried about the additional drag. It has no effect on my boat speed. So if it’s going to be rough, I pop open that plug.

I got a proper towing bridle and learned quickly that in a nasty seaway small inflatables behave best pulled up short compared to hard shelled. So my thinking now is if I really have to, I can deflate it and lash it, but for the simple day sailor/coastal cruiser that I am, I’ll probably mostly tow. I’ve included a few pics. There’s lots of ways to go ... this is working best for me so far.

[John Stone]

Excellent write up Fred. Dinghies are the dirty secret of small boat cruising. Looks like you have found a workable solution.

[John Stone]

Had I a boat 25-30'ish feet, and because I like hard a hard dinghy, I would probably do something like this.

https://youtu.be/CF5ToVkX2lo

This couple is sailing a 30' Allied Sea Wind. Currently working their way up the inside passage of Chilian Patagonia. Seriously doing it.

[fritz3000g]

I don't have a good picture, but I've been very happy strapping a porta-bote to our lifelines. I made a little bracket (similar to the ones you see for paddleboards) to hold it.

It's a hassle to put together on-deck, but it is possible to do so. It rows well, tows well (we lose about 0.5 knot if the motor is on the big boat), and will plane with a 5hp outboard with one person on board. At 12' long it holds a lot more gear and people than most other dinghys.

[raylaracuente]

Thank you all. Brilliant solutions really. I did exactly what Jim suggested in going around the boat with a tape measure
even measuring the lockers. I've always wanted to build a pram and may still do it just for the hell of it but in the end I went with the Highfield model 230 (7'7" air floor) like Fred's.
Fred's post was the icing on the cake. It was a confidence boost that I made the right choice.
I also got a Suzuki 2.5 for it. I've only had it out once as the weather changes here in N.C.
but was pleased with the ride and learning it's little idiosyncrasies.
Thanks again!

[fmueller]

Ray. Do I see a bow sprit on your 27. ??? If yes can you post some pix. That’s my big problem. Can’t for the life of me figure how to carry my Rocna on the bow. I hang a Fortress from the pulpit just to have something at the ready. But my 10 kg Rocna is the better anchor for overnight.

[jen1722terry]

We agree with Steve L. that all dinks are evil. But for us who sail in Downeast Maine and the Maritimes where marinas and even public wharfs can be scarce, the evil is a necessary one.

We have one of the lightest hypalon inflatables out there, a 37 lb. Achilles air floor with a 29 lb. Honda 2.3. Slow, risky to tow in gusty winds (we have davits) but stable when loaded and easy for us to drag off a beach in the huge Maritime tides in these parts. This portability opens up some of the best secluded beaches on the many islands we visit. Worth the evil.

Cheers