Traveling without a dinghy

We are close to purchasing a trawler. We sold our previous trawler last year and have been missing having one. A problem we had with the previous boat and it appears to be a problem with the boat we are considering is a good way to carry a dinghy. So, how many travel without a dinghy? Most of our travels will be on rivers and intercoastal, but a gulf crossing is always possible.

What do you do when your boat sinks?

manyboats said:

What do you do when your boat sinks?

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Good grief, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

A dinghy contrary to some opinions is not a PFD. We do not have one and our time afloat is well enjoyed.

Always take my dinghy with me, kids and I like to row and sail it when in harbor so I tow it on my Downeast boat. On my trawler it is on the roof, Since I need it it for excecise and since I am singlehanding mostly it saves a lot of singlehanded docking.

bikeandboat said:

We are close to purchasing a trawler. We sold our previous trawler last year and have been missing having one. A problem we had with the previous boat and it appears to be a problem with the boat we are considering is a good way to carry a dinghy. So, how many travel without a dinghy? Most of our travels will be on rivers and intercoastal, but a gulf crossing is always possible.

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We always carry a dingy. The one trip I made without one it was sorely missed. Any boat can carry a dingy even it you have to spring a couple of grand for custom davits. Worth every penny in my opinion. I would not want to have to pay for a marina every time I wanted to get off the boat. But everyone is different. If your plans are marina hopping then I guess it could be done, but having a dink opens up a lot more possibilities.

We nearly always travel with a dinghy, started back in the days when we had the big dogs aboard, carried over to subsequent dogs, etc. But even without the critters, we find it very useful.

(We even have ours rigged so I can launch it in an emergency with just a couple of line slashes.)

But FWIW, we began working the "how would we carry it" issue during our mothership shopping stages. IOW, we selected a boat that could carry a dinghy, one way or the other.

It's also possible to sort it a bit more by picking a dinghy that speaks to the "how must I carry it" question. More compromises here, but generally solve-able.


"Systems of systems" approach.

-Chris

We always traveled with a hard dingy, Nutshell Pram with sail. which is a nice dinghy to build if you have the skills to do it. I had never built a boat prior to the NP and it was a fun project. Plans are still available if you want to go that route. If your cruising includes the Bahamas you will need a dinghy.
We now use a 8' inflatable which fits into a bag that's about 3' long 2' high and wide it stows nicely out of the sun in the dock box we have on ouir boat deck until we need it. We use a 2HP Yamaha 2 stroke outboard motor for propulsion.
Bill

What about towing Vs carrying a dinghy?

There's also the option of collapsing the inflatable and storing it in the lazarette until needed. It's a bit more work, but it's an option many live with.

We love our dinghies. Even though we normally stay at marinas we love to just get out and explore in our Rib's. However, we know people who have no use for them. Some who dock at marinas but if they want to explore, prefer to rent. Some who prefer to tow, which we have no interest in doing. It's just a personal use kind of thing.

I consider the big boat to be the delivery vehicle for the dinghy, kind of like the 747 carrying the space shuttle. Since we boat to anchor out and use moorings, I couldn't cruise without one. Even when we dock, the dink is almost always deployed for fun and exploration. And yes, towing is a definite option, takes some practice for close quarters maneuvering, but what doesn't?

I have seen people with pocket trawlers such as C Dorys essentially use their boat the way we use a dinghy, but that kills some of the fun, and a lot of of the places you can get into (such as a dinghy dock!).

caltexflanc said:

I couldn't cruise without one. Even when we dock, the dink is almost always deployed for fun and exploration.

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Yup...We've been having some fun since I got ours mounted on the step with snap brackets. Cramming 36' worth of boat stuff into a 28 footer has been a challenge, But I think w got it!

I tow mine. It is shared between two boats. Neither boat has davits or a place on board for the dinghy.

I carry two 8' kayaks, one 9'6" roll up inflatable, and on occasion, tow a 9' Minto sailing dinghy. A 2hp Honda will go on the inflatable.

All this on a 26' boat, without looking too unwieldy.

A dinghy will come in handy, especially at the beaches along the ICW. There are some really nice ones that you can anchor near and paddle or motor in with a dinghy. It is hard to be sure but it looks on you avatar picture that your boat has a swim platform, maybe one back there on weaver davits? If not maybe an inflatable, carried collapsed on board?
Some folks have good luck towing, I am sure I'd be backing over the tow line one day! Some friends in a 60 footer once got the towing line wrapped around their prop, before they noticed the line pulled the dinghy under and the prop took some big bites out of it.
Good luck either way

Our dinghy (RHIB) frees us from going dock-to-dock. It is also our exploration vehicle.

And because we are a single screw, it could be our "get-home" in a pinch (have done this once).

This has been a popular thread. Fourteen responses in 4 hours. Many of the postings didn't address the OP's real question: is it possible to cruise without a dinghy. So I'll give it a shot:


My answer is certainly yes, but there are ways of having your cake and eat it too. I have a good friend who is a full time cruiser. He has a dinghy but because of his bad luck with outboards he has decided to limit its use to a trolling motor and as a result he doesn't use the dinghy much.


But he makes it work. Mostly by seeking out free docks. Active Captain is a great resource for this. In our area of NC there are free docks in; Oriental, Bath, Washington, Edenton, Elizabeth City, Manteo and almost free (with a Golden Age passport) in Ocracoke. I probably missed a few.


So if it were me I would give it try. But I definitely would buy a roll up dinghy and store it in the aft cockpit or a big lazarette. Other solutions include a kayak. Also there is nothing wrong with towing an RIB, just don't go offshore with one under tow. Storms can sink it and you will have no way of emptying it during heavy wind and seas.


And finally a word about dinghies as a safety device. Sure a real life raft is better, but if my boat starts taking on water and I can't control it, I have the dinghy to save my ass. It won't ride out 20' seas but I don't ever expect to be in them. Wherever I cruise a dinghy will work reasonably well as a life raft. Even a roll up can be inflated with a 12V inflater in 5 minutes. Don't leave home without it.


David

bikeandboat said:

So, how many travel without a dinghy?

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We don't use a dinghy as everywhere we go includes a mooring, dock or a slip. (Except for anchoring of course.) The dinghy you see in my avatar will hopefully be gone tomorrow morning to a new home. We will add a life raft, either on the bow with a hydro static release or in a valise, stowed??????

Revere Coastal Elite Life Raft

Having been a Rescue Swimmer when I was in the Navy, I formed some pretty hard & fast opinions on what was needed when the ship sank. A well stocked abandon ship bag, an EPIRB, shelter from the elements & an easily deployed life raft were my minimum requirements. Although a hand held VHF was not available to us back then, today it is almost mandatory. (Short answer to the OP's question? We don't carry one as we don't consider it to be a very good life boat. The Reveres (life rafts) are half the price of a Switlik.)

My vote is to aways take a dinghy. Last year bringing my trawler around from the storage yard, I thought it would be easier to bring the new-to-us dinghy to the boat after delivery. wrong. Not 100 yards from our new dock, we bumped bottom and wound up aground on the lee side of the narrow channel. So we had to call Sea Tow instead of using our dinghy to place the anchor to kedge off the bar.

A couple notes: The avatar is the boat I sold. We have not made a purchase of a new (used) boat, but have one in strong consideration.

We have a Lehr 2 1/2 HP outboard that runs on propane. Neat little outboard.

We do enjoy anchoring and will seek out free docks. There are some really good ones, surprisingly.

We have towed in the past, which is OK on rivers and small bays. Not OK in big stuff, but I have been told that an experienced boater can tow a dinghy in big rough stuff if you do certain things. Not sure what those are.

The Weaver snap davits would not be just what I want on the boat we are considering, but may be the better choice if we do not tow, if we take a dinghy.

Strongly suggest you have something, an inflatable or a kayak to get to shore if you have to. There are light duty inflatable dinghies that can be had for a couple of hundred dollars.

Couldn't imagine boating without one.

I could see perhaps doing it if I were alone aboard but would consider as skipper that I owed that contingency to anyone else I had aboard.

Glen

We carry ours on davits . We are on Kentucky Lake on Tn river . Only had it a couple of months but it' s been fun rowing around the marina or in the coves where we anchor .
By the way we used to live in Arkansas and have sailed a bunch on Lake Maumelle.

I have to agree with most of the others here and consider having one aboard a necessity.

My wife and I were at Loggerhead in Daytona the other day, and took a stroll out onto the dock (like you thought I would miss the opportunity?)
She saw a boat with a dinghy strapped to the swim platform in standard fashion, and commented on how it took up the usable space and didn't care for it.

The comment started me thinking. Since whatever we eventually decide on, may or may not be big enough to handle it, where would I put it?
I don't want it on the top, probably won't be room on the deck (don't have that kind of coin:lol, and I don't want to tow it.

Seems the stowable inflatable would be the best option. Get one that has the option of a small kicker, and you have the best of both worlds.

While I definitely understand codger's position on the matter, if your ditch bag is properly prepped, all of the items you need with be there, in the inflatable with you when it goes over. While certainly not the most ideal life raft, it can serve a dual purpose and there's one less thing to stow.
I just can't see rowing ashore or exploring in this: Revere Coastal Elite Life Raft

Check out Porta-Bote. You can find it on the web and on YouTube. I know nothing about them other than they've been around for years and I've seen a number of them being used as dinghies on the ICW.

There are at least 100 uses for a dinghy. Without one you are obviously going to be tied to marinas for the most part. We use ours for fishing, going to the beach, exploring, grocery shopping, evening/sunset cruises, and many other things. I wouldn't be without one.

We use the Weaver snap davit system with the Weaver Hoist. Talk to HopCar about it. He can fix you up.

We have two tenders, one that we tow and a rib on the boat deck. We usually have both but this summer we left the bigger one behind. We've had fun with our little 12ft RIB, it's a blast.
Smaller One


Larger One

caltexflanc said:

I have seen people with pocket trawlers such as C Dorys essentially use their boat the way we use a dinghy, but that kills some of the fun, and a lot of of the places you can get into (such as a dinghy dock!).

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A good many C-Brats carry dinghies on the roof! I had an Avon roll-up on top when I had a CD22 - also carried that on the Osprey. I did not carry one on the 17' Arima.

I cannot imagine boating in anything over 30' and not having at least a rowing inflatable.

Currently I carry a 13.5' RIB. And 2 hard kayaks. And a 6 man life raft (and 6 survival suits - the water is cold in the PNW). And I'm strategizing a way to carry an additional small aluminum RIB.

bikeandboat said:

The Weaver snap davits would not be just what I want on the boat we are considering, but may be the better choice if we do not tow, if we take a dinghy.

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Here's a couple of options to look into.





I'm kinda partial to the float in/out garage myself but the crane in/out has advantages too.