Securing Items in Dinghy

Steve said:

Here is what I wound up doing for storage on the dinghy, the space is 6" ID. X 10" deep, I scooped out that much foam from under the seat and put in a pipe with cap on inside and deck plate as you can see. It should make enough room for the few things I want to carry.
I'll try it a while, if it works out I might do the port side later on.
Steve W,

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Nice solution.

Steve said:

I do like the style of the Livingston and it performs well with my 6 HP Mercury. Mine did have several manufacturing flaws, in the seams of the seat hull joints which has allowed water to accumulate under the seats which should have been water tight. The hull/transom drains are of a poor design which do not work well at all.
Livingstone was purchased by a Company in the Carolinas about 3-4 years ago, the manufacturing moved from the west coast to the new plant, my boat was built at that time so I'll blame the problems on that. I don't know if the flaws have been corrected I hope so because they perform well, maybe a recent purchaser can chime in.
Steve W

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Hey Steve -Just to follow up. I have been studying the specs and really like the weight of the LV 9 at about 160#"s. Have you carried 4 adults in yours and if so did it handle it well? The LV 10 is 30 #"s more and if we purchase one it would be flipped up on Weavers. The additional weight would be a struggle.

Steve, no we have never had more than the two of us on the dinghy. It performs well with our 6HP Mercury four stroke.
Steve

secured to the dock with a padlock

Great at your OWN dock , but at a public dock using a long painter is required if as usual 30 dinks want to access a 12 ft dock.

Steve said:

Here is what I wound up doing for storage on the dinghy, the space is 6" ID. X 10" deep, I scooped out that much foam from under the seat and put in a pipe with cap on inside and deck plate as you can see. It should make enough room for the few things I want to carry.

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You can buy those pre-made but with a flexible bag, not a pipe.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|6880|48504&id=74866

Steve said:

Steve, no we have never had more than the two of us on the dinghy. It performs well with our 6HP Mercury four stroke.
Steve

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Thx

The big drawback with a Livingston, at least the 9' model, is the lack of freeboard with a heavy load. We've had three adults and a medium size dog in ours on a couple of occasions and it looked like three adults and a dog sitting in a hole in the water. If there was more than a couple of inches of freeboard I would be surprised. It would be very easy to swamp the boat in that condition if a wake came along.

My one beef with Mr. Livingston or whoever designed the thing is that he didn't increase the freeboard by a foot.

There was a similarly designed, competing boat in the PNW for a number of years called the Sorensen. I still see one on occasion. I have no idea if they were good, bad, or indifferent in comparison to the Livingston but they have the freeboard the Livingston should have had.

But with any kind of a load a 9' Livingston is a calm water boat only in my opinion and experience.

Thanks Marin. We often shuttle guests from the boat to the barrier islands on the Mississippi coast for swimming and need the ability to haul. Maybe the 10' should be considered? We can load our RIB Avon/WM up with 5-6 adults if necessary, but I am forever pumping it up or looking for a new hole. 100% FG sure sounds appealing!

Forkliftt said:

We can load our RIB Avon/WM up with 5-6 adults if necessary, but I am forever pumping it up or looking for a new hole. 100% FG sure sounds appealing!

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Steve, RIBs like any other dinghy have their draw backs. If you plan for 2 people to be using the dinghy, almost all of them will work. For more than 2, a RIB can meet most of your requirements. My Caribe usually has air added about monthly unless there is a cold snap. Then it will need some air. A doubled hull with bow storage will solve a lot of your storage problems. It's hard to beat the comfort of sitting high and dry on the big 17' tubes. There is a little weight penalty, but properly balanced with a 15 hp engine, it should skim across the water. Since mine is stored horizontally, I cover the rear and sides with a standard cover that is just used in reverse for sun protection. We carry 4 adults often. Boat wakes and rough water is no problem as it floats like a cork. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks Don. I rechecked the capacity of my rig and it is substantially more than the LV9. I'm beginning to think I will make a winter project out of repairing the small leaks and having the front Weaver Arc fabricated as you did. I have the rear arc but currently use the glue on pad for the front. And it creates its own set of problems when I too.

Livingston 10 ft

Here is a picture of my LV-10 with a Nissan 9.8 4 cycle. It is very stable with 2 aboard and planes at about 15 mph. It easily carries two adults, bicycles and groceries, or 4 adults. I don't have any issue with lack of free board.

What I believe to be a good Way!

14’8" oal, 480 lb, full fiberglass Crestliner runabout. 220 lb 50 hp o/b. Holds four mid-sized adults with luggage, five without... and still cruises at 20 knots. Fixed trim tabs. 12 gal fuel (2 - 6ers). Hand held GPS at slack tide - 39 knots w/low fuel level and me as pilot only. Wife on board with me she cruises 27 knots at 21+/- inexpensive nmpg. Fairly large waves and wakes are no problem with correct piloting and speed adjustment. Very dry, no sun burn. Nice stowage under front deck, i.e. full safety equipment. Stowage under seats too. Night lights, portable spotlight, instruments on dash. Tows well at any speed. Easy to handle w/boat-hook in close quarters. Stows at home-base marina on trailer w/cover.

For docking Tolly I bring the tow line tied real short – bout 6’ from transom (runabout has a great-white air fender on her nose so bumping transom is no harm – not shown in picts). Tow line lengthened as applicable to accommodate Tollycraft speed and weather/wave conditions – up to 40’ long. Tight Y line with center loop for tow line hook up extends to both transom corner cleats for even tow line stress on Tolly transom.


Why I Tow: After having a dink ripped off stern davits in surprise seas off Boston harbor (around 1962) dad decided towing would be best method. From then on we always towed with size up to a 13’3” Boston Whaler w/40 hp Johnson. Even though we encountered some distressing sea conditions the tow always came through. Dad held opinion that if things got too bad regarding the tow we could always cut her loose and let her go! Having experienced some 15 years of consistently towing and all the different hitching methods available it became a way of boating for me. I’m very comfortable towing and feel I can handle situations as they arise.

It’s simply great to have a seaworthy, passenger accommodating, fast, shaded, and very safe launch such as this continually at our avail – every time we boat!

PS: Inflatable on front cabin top in avatar was when we first purchased the Tolly and has been gone for a quite while; soon as I found the Crestliner tow-behind described above and shown in picts.

Forklift-- When we started looking for a more stable utility shoreboat to supplement the little sailing dinghy that came with our GB we quickly determined that a fabric boat is a poor value for the money if for no other reason than its finite life. Of the hardshell dinghies that were available at the time (1998) in a size that fit our boat the Livingston was the hands down winner. For two adults and the dog its lack of freeboard is not a big issue but it does limit the conditions in which you can use it.

The 10' model has somewhat better freeboard but it's not significantly greater than the 9' model. It does weigh a good bit more in the reinforced-side configuration which is why the dealer recommended against it for our particular application.

Were we in the market today for a new dinghy there is only one make and model that we would consider and that is the 10' Bullfrog. All the buoyancy of an inflatable, the interior space of a hardshell, the ride and speed of an RIB, and the longevity and resistance to damage of a Livingston.

Carey of this forum has one on his 36' lobsterboat and I've ridden in it on numerous occasions. In rough water at speed or just ghosting along in calm water it's terrific. For us and what we want out of a dinghy/shoreboat it's head and shoulders above everything else on the market unless one has the room for or is willing to tow something like a 14' or larger Boston Whaler or similar craft.

Art's "dink" has got my vote just because it's BY FAR the best looking .. a handsome runabout indeed. Where do you stow your dinghy Art?

But the question re the OP is how to stow things IN the dinghy. To that end a regular hard hulled dinghy is king as it dosn't waste half the volume of the boat w inflatable tubes w nothing but air in them. With the Livingston it wastes a large portion of it's volume w the tunnel right down the center. I'd call them a tunnel hull .. not a catamaran. Should have just left the tunnel out. Think of what it would carry then. So to store things in a dinghy the first thing I would do is get a dinghy that actually has a lot of USABLE space inside. For space the Livingston still is a very good choice and a good all around dinghy.

Marin,
The Frog dosn't seem better than the Livingston to me.

manyboats said:

Marin,
The Frog dosn't seem better than the Livingston to me.

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The Bullfrog has far better floatation-- no lack of freeboard when fully loaded which to me is the greatest deficiency of the Livingston--- has a much better and drier ride at speed, and has superior performance in rougher water.

The Livingston wins out in simplicity, weight, and static stability (boarding, loading, disembarking, etc.).

Photos are of Carey's 10' Bullfrog. He knows the owner of the company so arranged to have some clever additions to his boat.

manyboats said:

Art's "dink" has got my vote just because it's BY FAR the best looking .. a handsome runabout indeed. Where do you stow your dinghy Art?

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TY for compliment on our "dink" Eric. In water when we're out-and-about on Tolly. Trailor cover at our marina.

Great Laker,
I see you have some sort of bracket to hold your oars in place, can you post a picture of it pls.
Steve W

Oar holders

Steve,

I found these oar holders at West Marine. They come two to a box and each has a single bolt that holds it to the side wall. You can see that they are adjustable to whatever size oar you might have. I used two for each oar.

I'm quite happy with them as I don't have to think about where to store the oars, or whether I have remembered to load them in the dinghy before departing.

Larry

Larry, thanks, those look great. I'l give them a try.
Steve

As most here know I run the 12 T livingston. I have had this boat for over ten years now. Its a tough, reliable, utility boat.

This livingston replaced the 10 foot I had with the other vessels we lived on. I use them as my daily driver on the river and for our cruising adventures.

The 10 footer had a 15 hp on the back. I used to pull it off and swing the little boat up on the stern using weaver davits. But that was tough on the sides of the little boat. So I came up with a bridge kinda set up down the the inside of the hull close to the gunnel. A plank off set from the side by 2 inches supported three times down the side. I use fir and replace when it gets old using all the original fastenings. Like the cleats , rod holders, down rig holders etc. This also allows me to tie anything I want to the inside of the boat. Like fuel cells, ladder, shovel, axe, chain saw, fire pump what ever I want to carry.

The 12 T with the 35 on the back is at max wieght for my use. I can lift the stern to place it on the beach with the bow to the water. Keeps a dry boat yet can be slid to the water.

I tow the boat not yet having the ability to load it onto the oldfishboat. Have no real need at this point. It tows well and will self bail when it fully loads with water. But it has to be loaded correctly for that to happen.

I like its ability to keep all riders and stuff inside the boat. No one or no items riding on tubes. The little utility boat holds a ton of stuff. Well not realy its capacity is 900 lb.

With the old 35 it cruises comfortably at 15 to 20 knots with a max at around 23 but will kite if running lite wide open. I have three of the two stroke motors two 35 hp and one 30 HP. I keep one on the boat and one in reserve using parts from all three. I like being able to do my own work on the motors. They bin cheap and very reliable.

The pics show the rail inside with cleats etc. The boat tied alongside with a dead head under it, and on the beach etc.

Just sharing my livingston ideas and how I manage the loads etc.

But I would love to still have the runabout. As a live aboard that ends with two more motors I just did not want to maintain.