Dinghy Engine - How Big?

ranger42c said:

I kinda wonder if an electric trolling motor with some kind of solar charger would work over long-ish distances... but paddling, mostly, with the motor being more like an auxiliary... or an "I'm tired, but we gotta keep moving for a while."

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Chris. I have one of those dinky solar chargers that covers the front seat of Algae. It's "pretty to look at" but as far as recharging? No. Doesn't work. It's only a trickle charge.



If you went with a Group 27 or bigger you'd be set.
I have the larger capacity of the two Group24's -- essentially lawn mower batts, and it's not enough.

When a friend was borrowing my trolling motor he had a Group 31 and a 10' marshmallow. He was a big guy and it took him back and forth to shore (1/4 mile) for a week without the voltage going down past 12.5. No charging took place.

And he ran it on #4 most of the time.

A 100 amp hour battery would give you plenty of range at speeds 3 or lower. And frankly, that's fast enough in still waters.

I did see a 35 watt panel rigged on a dink with a trolling motor. I asked the fellow and he said it provided sufficient charging during the day to bring him back to his boat at night. He also mentioned his set up allowed the battery to be sucked down on overcast days.

An added advantage to the battery is having a little Orca bilge pump in Algae. My bailing days are over! Orca's (by Whale of Gusher fame) are 12-volt and designed for fresh or grey water only. $11 or so, not automatic. They do have a three year warranty and I've had two of them go belly-up.

Failure Points:
#1) at the impeller (the shaft broke) Routine maintenance means I clear the pump of hair every Monday. Failed within months of purchase.
#2) Burned up. And yes, I know how to hook up the wires. Did so properly, and within moments of starting, it started smoking. I dumped water over it to stop the smoke.

The third unit is now in Algae and functioning well.

(And what y'all call thread drift, my Kidlet calls bunny trails. I am known for my Bunny Trails.)

8' livingston with a 35lb 1983 4hp Mariner in almost mint condition. Love them both.

Chris, following is a photo of my strange little flats boat. I've traveled maybe three miles on this using two jet ski batteries. I would think a couple of group 24 batteries would keep you moving most of the day. Head out on one, when it dies, head home on the other. If you start out going down wind, turn back while you've still got some juice in the first battery.

Adelaide, will the 4 hp. plane your Livingston? What is the max hp. rating for it?

HopCar said:

Chris, following is a photo of my strange little flats boat. I've traveled maybe three miles on this using two jet ski batteries. I would think a couple of group 24 batteries would keep you moving most of the day. Head out on one, when it dies, head home on the other. If you start out going down wind, turn back while you've still got some juice in the first battery.

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Looks a lot like a paddle board.

Hi Oliver, yes it's basically a wide SUP with a box on it and an engine mount.

HopCar said:

"Apologies to OP for the short diversion. "

Chris, the OP enjoyed the short diversion as he uses a Minnkota 30 to push his canoe and a strange little flats boat.

Ok, we now have a new data point for my survey. We know it takes 133% of max rated hp. to make Hollywood happy. That's my kind of guy!

I understand the need for speed. Following is a photo of my dinghy circa 1971.

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HC,
Inboard Hydro's! ye haw!
I tried unsuccessfully a few years back to get the Admiral to allow me to spend copious amounts of discretionary income on getting into the 45sst class of tunnel boats.. I thought about getting back into racing in the cheap(er) classes.
Admiral said no way.. end of discussion.
She believes that there needs to be a limit to one's hobbies.. Ha!
She said with big boats, ski boats, flying, dirt and adventure touring motorcycles .. and diving and snowboarding I am maxed out.. Ha!
I instead added kiteboarding just to get her back..

HC, I bought my first boat at 16.. a old rung out direct drive crackerbox race boat with a small block chevy.. that solidly hooked me on fast boats at a early age. I think trawlers are the only machine I have ever owned that I didn't try to make faster.. including the lawn mower
HOLLYWOOD

Hollywood, back in the day I had a friend who would pit crew for me when I raced hydros. I returned the favor when he raced his Formula Ford. We were known as Splash and Crash.
I love those little cracker box boats. Did you have to carry an "Engineer" with you like the Jersey Speed Skiffs?

HopCar said:

Chris, following is a photo of my strange little flats boat. I've traveled maybe three miles on this using two jet ski batteries. I would think a couple of group 24 batteries would keep you moving most of the day. Head out on one, when it dies, head home on the other. If you start out going down wind, turn back while you've still got some juice in the first battery.

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Thanks, Janice, the add'l info is useful.

Hoppie your motorized paddleboard looks like it works, interesting out-of-the-box solution.

One reason I've wondered about re-charging... one of our longer canoe trips was 90 miles, not a round trip (by boat), and mostly along a river where gasoline re-supply would have been iffy, at best. Not that we would have needed much. And we paddled that whole trip anyway; didn't have the motor then.

-Chris

HopCar said:

Hollywood, back in the day I had a friend who would pit crew for me when I raced hydros. I returned the favor when he raced his Formula Ford. We were known as Splash and Crash.
I love those little cracker box boats. Did you have to carry an "Engineer" with you like the Jersey Speed Skiffs?

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Yes, they are two person team boats... the pics of the jersey skiff's look like they are insane.. all that power and round chines.. yikes!. The crackers are known for their porpoising and can be a real handful.
HOLLYWOOD

HopCar said:

Adelaide, will the 4 hp. plane your Livingston? What is the max hp. rating for it?

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Hello HopCar,

Yes, it will plane with 1 person (Under 200lbs). If it was a 4 stroke, it would not. I wieght 210 and I have to sit forward until it gets on a plane.... I believe my Livingston has an 8hp limit.

We have a large family so I purchased this AMI 15'6" Catamaran dinghy w/30hp Honda. It planes with 8-10 people if you need to. It weighs 400lbs and can carry 2400lbs. The major disadvantage is we have to tow it but unlike a whaler it is rubber and only scratches but does not dent the boat in close quarters

Having a heavy dinghy/motor combo is only a disadvantage in a couple of situations.
Lifting it on/off the mother ship in a wind or rolling sea, or lifting it off the shore after the tide goes out!!
Having wrestled with a 600-700 lb combo (40HP on 12 ft RIB), I would concede at least 20HP for a lighter lift!!

Max 2 Roll up with a 2HP 4 stroke Honda. Anything bigger I'd be tempted to ski behind it. No batteries, mixing, and cranks on the first pull every time.

6-Pack said:

We have a large family so I purchased this AMI 15'6" Catamaran dinghy w/30hp Honda. It planes with 8-10 people if you need to. It weighs 400lbs and can carry 2400lbs. The major disadvantage is we have to tow it but unlike a whaler it is rubber and only scratches but does not dent the boat in close quarters

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At what size does a dinghy start being a tender?

Moonstruck said:

At what size does a dinghy start being a tender?

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As well as an inflatable I have an 8ft f/g snub nose/pram dinghy. It`s called tender, because it is, very tender.

BruceK said:

As well as an inflatable I have an 8ft f/g snub nose/pram dinghy. It`s called tender, because it is, very tender.

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Good, Bruce. If you will look up the definition of tender, you will find many. In fact probably more than any other word I know of.

Moonstruck said:

Good, Bruce. If you will look up the definition of tender, you will find many. In fact probably more than any other word I know of.

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The two words can be used interchangeably. There is no hard and fast rule distinguishing.

A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel.

Tender: a dinghy carried or towed by a yacht.

Tender: An auxiliary ship employed to attend one or more other ships.

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

I don't know if any of you name your dinghy in this fashion, but it always seems a bit pretentious to me. Like saying you should see my real boat.

Does anyone give their dinghy/tender a name by the way. My previous boat was named Amadeus and I couldn't resist calling the dinghy 'Wolfgang'

A mechanical engine isn't necessarily required.



(Can you see the joy?)

Andy, It's not unusual to see a car or truck with T/T Some Big Yacht painted on it in my parking lot. I doubt most people seeing the car know what T/T means.

One of my favorite people was the Captain of a boat named Whistling Swan. The dinghy's name was Cygnet.

Mark, Do you even have an engine for your pretty little Trinka?

Andy G said:

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

I don't know if any of you name your dinghy in this fashion, but it always seems a bit pretentious to me. Like saying you should see my real boat.

Does anyone give their dinghy/tender a name by the way. My previous boat was named Amadeus and I couldn't resist calling the dinghy 'Wolfgang'

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Actually some insurers require it (mainly when it's not numbered itself). Also, it makes it easier in some countries that allow a tender clearance without it being done separately. And one or two states that don't require registration of a documented vessel allow a tender also not to be registered but would require the same boat to be registered otherwise. So while it may seem pretentious, it may actually serve a purpose.

We are not in those situations but that's what we've read and heard. As we're in Florida, all motorized vessels require registration so our tenders have numbers.

Now there is a very good reason not to label the tender in that manner. It could be an indication that no one is on the boat itself and that it's open to thievery.

We have nothing on our tenders except the Florida numbers. No name of any sort.

Andy G said:

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

I don't know if any of you name your dinghy in this fashion, but it always seems a bit pretentious to me. Like saying you should see my real boat.

Does anyone give their dinghy/tender a name by the way. My previous boat was named Amadeus and I couldn't resist calling the dinghy 'Wolfgang'

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There is a boat on our dock which has a name like "Mirage" and its tender "Apparition." That's clever.

My tender has "C Coot" inscribed on the interior transom.

HopCar said:

Mark, Do you even have an engine for your pretty little Trinka?

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Nope (and no registration and no unsightly numbers), and the Coot has only one engine and no genset either. Life is complicated enough.

Andy G said:

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

I don't know if any of you name your dinghy in this fashion, but it always seems a bit pretentious to me. Like saying you should see my real boat.

Does anyone give their dinghy/tender a name by the way. My previous boat was named Amadeus and I couldn't resist calling the dinghy 'Wolfgang'

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Not pretentious, just a means of legally not needing to register the tender. But usually the tender must keep within a certain distance of the mother vessel. eg 3nm in Queensland. That is a bit limiting, and tender registration is reasonably cheap anyway. Once over the 3nm limit the tender needs to have full safety gear, including flares & EPIRB when beyond partially smooth waters. Makes sense.

Now that I am home and have the tender registered I think I will remove the 'tender to..' lettering as it has served its purpose but is no longer needed.

Some people (like "pink hat" Al and "ready-to-go" Ray) are able to take life exceedingly easy!

My dink looks a lot like Windmill's dinghy from post #74. Mark, once I strap that 15HP Merc to my dinghy, I can bolt (and lock) the Honda to your Trink Dink!

Andy G said:

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

'

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Some people believe naming the boat "tender to" advertises that you are not on your boat or gives a crook a hint as to where he can find that tender at night.

I have seen many dinghies which were named and frequently the names were much more creative then the name for the main boat.

Andy G said:

Speaking of dinghy's and tenders, I sometimes see a dinghy pulled up on the sand with the words 'Tender to.....' on the side.

I don't know if any of you name your dinghy in this fashion, but it always seems a bit pretentious to me. Like saying you should see my real boat.

Does anyone give their dinghy/tender a name by the way. My previous boat was named Amadeus and I couldn't resist calling the dinghy 'Wolfgang'

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A pediatrician with a sail boat towed his dinghy. He named it Little Tender Behind.