Dinghy Selection

hmason said:

Looks kind of rickety to me. Don't know that I would trust that.

Click to expand...

It's a very heavy-duty Weaver-davit setup. I don't know if the brackets on the swimstep and the pivoting "davits" mounted on the side of the Bullfrog were actually made by Weaver or not. But whomever made them, they are significantly heavier in materials than the Weaver Snap Davit components we use for our 9' Livingston.

So the lower side of the Bullfrog is solidly clamped to the brackets on the swimstep and the upper side of the dinghy is secured in place using rod-type standoffs, same as the Weaver system.

The rigging from the boat's boom is, I assume, used to lift the motor off it's bracket for installation on the dinghy once it's been deployed.

To be honest I can't remember how the dinghy itself is deployed and retrieved, if he has a Seawise-type winch on the port side or if he uses the boom fall to lower and raise the dinghy (which is what we do with our Livingston).

The owner and his wife have taken the boat up the Passage to SE Alaska several times so I assume his dinghy and motor storage and deployment system gets the job done fairly well.

The boat is kept next to our friend's lobsterboat so I'll have to remember to walk out there the next time we go to our boat and refresh my memory on his setup.

I sure like the Bullfrog and we're getting near the time when we'll also have to make a choice. The cost and weight are factors, but it looks like it will last. Theft in the Caribbean is also a concern, but there are so few there that it may be easy to track down. We also like the Livingston but the 10 ft. model with higher freeboard is also heavy.

Just purchased a 10 foot Bullfrog, utility tender. Tiller steering. Has not seen the water yet. Finished mounting a 15 HP, 4 stroke on it a few days ago. Put a downrigger mount on it today, and got that wired up. Looks very well built. Will let you know how it works out. It is replacing a Walker Bay Odyssey air floor, which has served us well, but limits exploring being its powered by a 2 HP. Had a Livingston before that, was a tough little boat, but I got to hate that center section. Had a Horizon after the Livingston, about the same boat, minus the center tunnel. Both survived, the abuse of getting dragged ashore.

I've spent some time riding around in my friend's 10' Bullfrog in smooth water and choppy. His is powered with a 15hp Honda. In choppy water at speed the ride is pretty good and the spray kicked up is not bad (I'm always riding on the middle seat). It's got a V-bottom but not a super-deep V. So the boat can pound a bit but it's not as bad as I thought it might be.

One thing I really like is that since the tubes don't hold air, they can be whatever shape one wants. So on the Bullfrog they are cut down straight on the inside instead of being round like the outside. This makes for signficantly more interior room than a similar size RIB.

My friend also had the owner of the company make him a special middle seat that is also a fuel tank. So he has good fuel capacity without having to clutter up the inside with a portable tank. I don't know if the company offers this now as an option or if my friend's is a one-off, but it's a great idea.

Marin said:

Here is a shot of the Island Gypsy I mentioned with the Bullfrog mounted on the swimstep.

Click to expand...

So dark under the swimstep I can`t see what if anything supports that step. Mine has triangulated brace supports bolted back to the transom.

As I recall the swimstep is pretty solidly braced to the bottom of the transom. I believe there are four triangular braces spaced evenly the length of the swimstep. Very similar to the braces on a Grand Banks.

The perfect dinghy?
Too bad it was discontinued.

I just happened to be reading the section in Beth Leonard's "The Voyager's Handbook" that discusses dinghies. The book has quite a bit of information about different types of dinghy's, pros and cons, material differences, etc.

The section in the books and the comments here are very good information.

Later,
Dan

Earlier I mentioned an acquaintance who carries a 10' Bullfrog and 15 hp motor on the swimstep of his Grand Banks 36 Europa using a Seawise Davit. I came across this photo today on one of my other computers showing the setup

The swim step is the standard GB swimstep. However he had the boatyard in our marina (Seaview North) design and fabricate the hardware necessary to support the Bullfrog and its motor. As I recall they reinforced some of the four stock swimstep supports and fabricated at least one additional support to go where the most weight was.

It's a great setup, much more user friendly than the one on the Island Gypsy I illustrated earlier since the Seawise Davit takes care of both the dinghy and motor storage in one go.

I have a 12' Rigid Boat and I LOVE it. It looks similar to that Bullfrog boat but better to me. It has 12 cubic feet of storage inside the tubes. It performs better than an inflatable but is rugged like the Whaler. Built in 10 gallon gas tank in the bow to put the weight where I want it. Lots of storage under the bench and console. Ultra high end Frigid Rigid cooler for seat. I have a sterio, underwater lights and bilge pump. A 30 Evinrude Etec performs awesomely.

On the tuna sport fishing boat I was on, they used Livingston's when a really large yellowfin tuna would get too far away from the boat. They would put you and a crew guy in one with a portable radio, hopefully before you ran out of line on your reel, and off you would go. If you landed it, you came back with it strapped to the side of the boat. I did a 203 lb fish that way, very stable and powered well with a small outboard. I would hate to carry one back to the water at low tide though.

I first saw the Rigid Boat 2-years ago at the Stuart, FL boat show. I got so excited about it I called the Admiral to come to the show to see it. By the time she arrived, I had negotiated the whole deal including a couple of modifications.
The first thing she wanted to know was the price.

So, now we have a Whaler. Happy wife, happy life...right?

Ha! You should have brought it home and surprised her with it. Ya know, when I die I just hope my wife doesn't try to sell all my stuff for what I told her I paid for it.

The Whaler is a great little boat. I have an 11' and a Montauk. But that Rigid is the best dingy ever. Even though it's a little pricey.

Two things I noticed regarding using one of the Rigid Boats tiller models as a dinghy... EXPENSIVE & HEAVY!

Bullfrog boats looks like a great choice!

All dinghies have some strengths and weaknesses. Really may depend just how you use one more than anything.

As to the longevity and daintyness of inflatables.... same with rigid ones. I have a 25 year old Avon where the tubes have never been punctured and still hold air just fine. There are 2 holes in the floor from me being stupid and pulling them up on a dock where nail heads caught it. Would not have happened to a RIB. Some hard dinghies if neglected will suffer their own issues.

I prefer hard dinghies to a point also...but for me and the boat I have now...switching to a RIB I think is in the cards.

psneeld said:

All dinghies have some strengths and weaknesses. Really may depend just how you use one more than anything.

Click to expand...

This kind of sums it up. But that said, I'm on team inflatable. Protect the big boat. Purchase a modest price one so you can replace it if need be. Hard dinghys can leak too. Especially if the are two layered hull then the water seeps into the sandwich portion and makes the dinghy incredible heavy. We had one like that. It would no longer plane until we fixed the hole and towing it would put unecs stress on boat and dinghy.

Another point for the inflatables which I don't think I read already, but if it gets really calm at night at anchor, when that hard dinghy sneaks up and hits your hull, it WILL wake you up.

See the big fender? That's home port for the Whaler when tied to the side of the mothership. One fender = no dings and no noise. When we load items, just hand them over the side; easy. We do not tie off from the stern. If we want to board from the swim step we simply walk it around. Also the perfect position to lower the cable from the crane to lift it.

hmason said:

See the big fender? That's home port for the Whaler when tied to the side of the mothership. One fender = no dings and no noise. When we load items, just hand them over the side; easy. We do not tie off from the stern. If we want to board from the swim step we simply walk it around. Also the perfect position to lower the cable from the crane to lift it.

Click to expand...

To complicated!

We use the ball shaped fenders when we tie the big dink up to the mother ship.

hmason said:

See the big fender? That's home port for the Whaler when tied to the side of the mothership. One fender = no dings and no noise. When we load items, just hand them over the side; easy. We do not tie off from the stern. If we want to board from the swim step we simply walk it around. Also the perfect position to lower the cable from the crane to lift it.

Click to expand...

Looks good for a calm anchorage, but in a rough anchorage or one where current and wind give you any chop occasionally on beam, not ideal. Plus, there is a bigger gap to step over

OMG. We can't get a concensus about anything. I've been curtailing my true sentiments for a long time. Now I'm going to tell you (or y'all) like it is:

The Whaler is the best dinghy for everybody
I tie it up in the perfect place
Only buy Garmin
My generator is perfect and I'll run it whenever I please
My anchor is the only kind to have
My anchor chain is the right size
The brand of oil I use is the only one you should use
Volvo engines are....oh never mind
All sailors are future trawler owners
Obama is a great president and history will prove me right

Discuss!!!

hmason said:

OMG. We can't get a concensus about anything.

Click to expand...

Cold beer at a calm anchorage?

Some will want "whine."

Now I am confused. What is the difference between a dink and a tender? Some of the dinks look more like a tender to me.

I think a dink is usually quite small and tiller steered (or rowed). A tender is larger and is usually wheel steered. A tender can be small such as a Whaler or a center console RIB,or quite large depending on the size of the mothership. Cruise ships have tenders that can hold 80 or more passengers, a megayacht might have a 27 foot speedboat as a tender. Anyway, that's what I think. (BTW, both dinks and tenders should have an anchor).


Howard

On Algae I through bolted a couple of eye-bolts at mid-ship -- one on each side. That way, when I come into the swim platform I can simply snap her to Seaweed. She's hooked at the closest possible place and unloading is a cinch.

Mine's a beater, but with the fenders along both sides it's all good. I'd like to put a couple more at the bow but then the numbers would be covered so have refrained.

She would at tide change come up and clunk the swim platform. That's when I started hooking her from the davit. It places her back a couple feet and she cannot bump Seaweed.

Ideally, I'd tuck her up on the swim platform -- she fits. BUT, then I would not have a way to re-board the boat as she (Algae) would block the swim steps. I'm still pondering that -- and may (using Marlinspike) create a rope ladder that can hang from one of my cleats in the cockpit. I'd like the dink out of the water so I won't have to scrape barnacles.

I've tried block and tackle (a double with, and one without becket) but there's not quite enough purchase for me to haul up the boat. I'm not certain a pair of triples would do it though an engineer told me it would suffice.

The other option is to use something *similar* to Weaver Davits... I've got extended U-bolts at the transom of Algae and the boat she came off of had a pair of gizmos on the swim deck that looked almost like pelican clips but I've not seen anything similar.

Scotty hooked the transom U-bolts to the swim deck and then had a double block and used it to totally lift the bow until it was vertical. I want that -- if I can find it. And it's not Weaver.

In all that spare time of mine I've moved the doggone dinghy innumerable times trying to figure out a way to get her out of the water, especially when underway.

This is my set-up:

I`m looking at a set of poor mans davits, on Inflatable Boats inflatable boat products dinghy paint and parts and accessories. Consists of 2 ss incomplete hoops which rotate on a base bolted to the swim step. You bring the inflatable dinghy to the stern, sideways, swing the hoops down, the dinghy tubes on one side are captured in the hoops, pull on lines attached to the top of the hoops, dinghy swings to vertical and gets tied off using the lines. Seems simple, may block access somewhat to the transom steps(no door). Pics on website are of it fitted to an IG32. It appeals as an easy fix.
Edit: Janice, Seaweed looks even cuter in your pic posted with the dinghy.

jb cruzan said:

cold beer at a calm anchorage?

Click to expand...

check!!!

janice142 said:

This is my set-up:

Click to expand...

This photo speaks volumes as to your life style. My hat is off to you!

I think my Rigid is 650 lbs and handled fine with my 1000# Davit. My boat does not notice the weight when loaded just like it does not notice if three guys would be standing there. It also has a big rubber like rub rail so does not damage the mothership upon loading or when tied up alongside. And I usually use a couple fenders as well which works with no issues. It is seriously not a problem. It performs better than a rib, I can stand on the tubes and I don't have to fill / adjust air when the weather changes.

I like Janices' set up!