Carrying Dink On Roof.

What's everyone's thoughts on carrying a dink on the roof?It's 14'1" x 5'4" and roughly 105lbs without the OB.My boat will be 30' with an 8'4" beam and the roof will be about 7' above the water line.I don't think 105lbs will make that much difference in stability considering all of my tanks will be below the water line and most of my storage will be at or just above the water line.The dink will be strapped on chocks with a cover over it and the drain plug out.I can't install a full swim platform and davit system, because the upper I/O will be in the way.On most good days,the dink will be towed.

Since you're building a new boat, talk to the designer.; I'm curious though, how are you going to get it up there?

Here's what I think

Stability won't be an issue, but you will probably need a davit which will weigh as much or more than the dink. Launching a dingy from a roof in less than dead flat conditions will not be fun or safe. If you can re-think your swim platform and use snap davits I think you will be much happier. I've had both on the same boat and always went to the swim platform dingy first. I think a 14' dingy is not going to work out on a thirty foot boats swim platform because I don't think you have enough beam to protect your dingy from docks and other boats. Unless you plan on fishing or water skiing behind your dink 10' is probably plenty of boat especially if it is a rib. launching from snap davits takes seconds and the snap davits stabilize your dingy when secured to the swim platform. Your ding then can become an added cockpit adding space for wet dogs kids swimming and all kinds of other neat stuff. A fourteen foot dingy is a big boat, do you really need a dingy that large? Fourteen ft is a large boat to row and will need more power to run if you expect to plane it, more weight again. 10-12 ft is probably a better choice.

We launch a RIB with a 40HP Honda (est. 500-600lbs) from our "boat" deck using a boom winch. Would prefer to either/or have a lighter dinghy, a crane (vs a boom winch) or preferably a totally different approach. When the wind is honking or the sea is bubbling or some other boat wakes us, it can be very scary!!! Given a redo I would opt for any way that does not require launching a heavy boat from 20ft up in the air!! If you can possibly set up davits off the stern it would be much preferred and would probably mean that you end up using your dinghy more frequently. Certainly there will be less stress!!!

I was planning to use a crane that runs from the deck up the back of the cabin and above the roof by 36 inches.I did one of these out of aluminum, on a pontoon, for lifting coolers on board.Worked beautifully.It was two piece and used pins to remove the upper section,48 inch boom,and manual strap style boat trailer winch.I've decided against carrying the dink on the roof.

I have rethought this idea and I think I will build a smaller dink.I was planning to build Maxi Miss.I think I'll build Mission Bay to use as a dink.That just means I will make two trips to shore to get everyone.I do plan to use a 5hp to 9.9 four stroke OB.I hate rowing, but I will have a set of oars for those special occasions.

I don't want to move the swim platform up.It would defeat the purpose of keeping it close to the water.If I put it above the I/O, and have the platform full length,it will be about a 1.5ft. below the top of the transom and nearly 1.5ft above the water.The transom is only 36 inches from the hull bottom to the rail cap.

What to do, what to do.

Swim platform

Try this approach, build your platform around the drive. You probably would want to maintain 12" of free board with your platform. If you get it too low you will have problems in following seas and at anchor. You don't want following breaking seas steering your boat with the platform. If you plan it correctly you will be able to change props with the drive up from your platform.

I don't see a perfect solution to your dinghy storage problem.

But I would not recommend putting an 11' dinghy athwartship an 8'4" boat. I have almost the same situation with my dinghy (13'5" plus the outboard on a boat with a 15'6" beam) and it makes it much harder to maneuver. Your I/O will help with the turning, but that's still too much overhang on each side.

Further, that dinghy is 4'3" in beam - on a 12" swimstep that will make it 5'3" above the water - depending on where your cockpit / cabin sole is, I think that might obstruct your rearward vision.

If you're looking for a temporary solution to fit in a smaller permanent slip - and always plan on towing - then I suppose either the swimstep or the cabin top could be made to work. Depending on your slip configuration, you might be able to keep your dinghy in the water and tuck it under the bow.

Scary said:

Try this approach, build your platform around the drive. You probably would want to maintain 12" of free board with your platform. If you get it too low you will have problems in following seas and at anchor. You don't want following breaking seas steering your boat with the platform. If you plan it correctly you will be able to change props with the drive up from your platform.

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Good points.I will see how things work out and if that is an option.

refugio said:

I don't see a perfect solution to your dinghy storage problem.

But I would not recommend putting an 11' dinghy athwartship an 8'4" boat. I have almost the same situation with my dinghy (13'5" plus the outboard on a boat with a 15'6" beam) and it makes it much harder to maneuver. Your I/O will help with the turning, but that's still too much overhang on each side.

Further, that dinghy is 4'3" in beam - on a 12" swimstep that will make it 5'3" above the water - depending on where your cockpit / cabin sole is, I think that might obstruct your rearward vision.

If you're looking for a temporary solution to fit in a smaller permanent slip - and always plan on towing - then I suppose either the swimstep or the cabin top could be made to work. Depending on your slip configuration, you might be able to keep your dinghy in the water and tuck it under the bow.

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I didn't consider the rear view issue.I do plan to have a rear view cam.My boat will be trailered except when doing the loop.Then I may run into slip issues with the dink on back.When I am on my local lakes,i won't use the dink.

Somethings are hard to plan for,but I want to be prepared when I build.I'd rather makes changes on the fly rather than have to rework something.

I'm watching this thread as I'm in much the same boat.
And I tend to agree w refugio. I've thought about it for years and have no "perfect solution". Had to resort to a soft bottom rubber ducky as a temporary solution and don't like it at all. Was going to do davits on the stern but now that we're not going to be in Alaska where cheap moorage makes that a good solution I'm back to the roof top. A canoe is a possibility as very light canoes are available but windage while docking could be an issue. I'm thinking of a very light aluminum crane and a boat w OB that weighs 200 lbs. Have you ever considered a Portaboat?

Ditto, "manyanchors" Eric, although I'm thinking of an 8-foot, oar-powered, 80-pound (not yet acquired) hard dinghy using the spare halyard to lift/lower it to/from the saloon roof. But if traveling in the protected Delta waters, it may be best to just tow it like this sailboater:

Looks like he's towing an 8' Joel White Nutshell Pram. Thinking of building one of those or something like an Oughtred Auk over the next winter.

Auk:

manyboats said:

I'm watching this thread as I'm in much the same boat.
And I tend to agree w refugio. I've thought about it for years and have no "perfect solution". Had to resort to a soft bottom rubber ducky as a temporary solution and don't like it at all. Was going to do davits on the stern but now that we're not going to be in Alaska where cheap moorage makes that a good solution I'm back to the roof top. A canoe is a possibility as very light canoes are available but windage while docking could be an issue. I'm thinking of a very light aluminum crane and a boat w OB that weighs 200 lbs. Have you ever considered a Portaboat?

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Not a fan of PortaBoat.Heard some stories.

markpierce said:

Ditto, "manyanchors" Eric, although I'm thinking of an 8-foot, oar-powered, 80-pound (not yet acquired) hard dinghy using the spare halyard to lift/lower it to/from the saloon roof. But if traveling in the protected Delta waters, it may be best to just tow it like this sailboater:

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I will probably tow on the good days.The only thing that concerns me when towing a dink,is it hitting the transom during a quick throttle down.I'm familiar with tying the dink off on the side when reversing.

dwhatty said:

Looks like he's towing an 8' Joel White Nutshell Pram. Thinking of building one of those or something like an Oughtred Auk over the next winter.

Auk:

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Nice! But for a thousand dollars more, one can get a ready-built Trinka 8. Like the idea of two rowing positions; choosing the one best to balance the load.

Hold da phone!Porta boats have come along way since the ones I heard stories about.A member of another forum,his parents just bought a brand new Porta Boat.These are way better than the ones I saw advertised 15 years ago.

I would rather build my own but this I would consider.They look way beefier than the older ones.

Mark,
I LOVE the Trinka.
Ben2go,
Yes. JUst as a very practical thing the PortaBoat works well for many applications. It's NOT a rowboat. A double end PB would be a deceint rowboat but most people do'nt even know what a row boat is. But as a very small OB boat that folds up they seem pretty darn good. It's possible we could use the port side deck alongside the cabin to store it and avoid most of the downsides to the roof top boat/dingy but if I could pull it off well the cabin top dingy would be could be a good classy boat. I wonder how difficult it would be to unfold the PB on the gunn'l of the aft cockpit?
But to have a Trinka or an 8 knot OB would be so much more like a "perfect solution" .... As posted earlier.

I love the Trinka too. A buddy of mine bought a 10' Trinka several of years ago & he tows it when he cruises. I bought a Bauer 10 about a month ago & plan on towing it also. We've used an 11' Avon with an inflatable floor for years but I'm tired of having an ugly dinghy that I can't row or sail. I'm thinking about rigging up snap davits to the stern of the dinghy for rough crossings although it's said the Bauer, like the Trinka, have been towed through very rough seas successfully. I've got a big pilothouse roof but getting a dinghy on & off of it would be challenging.

Towing i did that for 2 years in a row going down and back to Fla, Then i read the piece about the guy who was in rough seas, The dingy surfed down a wave behind the boat and fouled the prop that then fouled the rudder. taking waves side,Too caused items to start breaking and in the end the boat was lost. Then i said ok davits but have heard horror stories about big swells snapping the dingy off the davits with water weight ? so what when and where i guess it depends on how you use it and where you are going.

ben2go said:

What's everyone's thoughts on carrying a dink on the roof?

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Since you asked..... I think it's a bad idea and would never do it on any boat. Stability may or may not be an issue but more important to me is safety. If one's dinghy/shoreboat is the only means of abandoning the vessel I believe it should either be in the water already (towed) or stowed in a manner that it can be in the water in a very few minutes (swimstep mount or stern davit of some sort).

I've seen boatdeck-carried dinghies get away from the people launching it and break cabin windows and cause injuries, and that was in the relatively calm water of an anchorage with the boat barely rocking. Think about trying to launch the dinghy off the roof in an emergency-- a boat fire perhaps-- in rough water, which Murphy's Law says is when an emergency will occur.

And to the notion that "I'd just let the boat sink out from under the dinghy" keep in mind that boats don't always cooperate by sinking level. They turn over, stand on their sterns or stems and could easily damage, destroy, or sink the dinghy in the process of going down.

Now if you carry a separate life raft that will auto-deploy or can be launched in seconds with the pull of a lanyard or whatever then the need to be able to get the dinghy into water in a hurry is not so great. But most of us don't carry rafts for space or cost reasons. So the dinghy fills the role of lifeboat.

Which means the faster it can be in the water when you need it the better. Having it up on the roof of the cabin will make deployment a slow process at the best of times and perhaps an impossible one at the worst of times.

I would not want a trinka for a general purpose dinghy. They are beautiful and all that but round bottom boats are a pita as tenders. The porta boat is a great solution. You probably won't impress the neighbors with it or win best in show! They are very practical from many standpoints and Way above inflatables IMHO. For a general purpose skiff (think pickup truck), it must be able to tough it out at the town landing with other skiffs while your doing your shopping. Bumps and bruisers are the norm. Trinka is a delicate flower that would also be a theft temptation.

If you are building a boat with a flat stern you can stow it standing on its stern. Run a pulley to the trailing edge of your cabin roof and use a small trailer winch or block and tackle to pull the bow up into position. Kills your rearward view but will allow you to use the dink you already have and would be EASY to launch in pretty much any conditions esp if it really only weighs #100! As for your swim platform you can make it with a hinged center section to allow for those times you need to trim the outdrive completely out of the water.

As far as those fold up porta boats go, I'd consider them an item for a RV/tent camper that wants to be able to paddle around a lake at a campsite. The sterns are SUPER flimsy unless you build some bracing (essentially make a plywood cutout the same shape as the entire stern) and then its still not going to be something you'd want to have your trip's enjoyment depend on. 'Twould suck being off on a weeklong excursion and have one of the flexible seam/hinges tear or separate.

twiisted71 said:

If you are building a boat with a flat stern you can stow it standing on its stern. Run a pulley to the trailing edge of your cabin roof and use a small trailer winch or block and tackle to pull the bow up into position. Kills your rearward view but will allow you to use the dink you already have and would be EASY to launch in pretty much any conditions esp if it really only weighs #100! As for your swim platform you can make it with a hinged center section to allow for those times you need to trim the outdrive completely out of the water.

If I build one of those designs I mentioned,it will come in under 100#.My outdrive will come thru the transom right in the center of the swim platform,maybe a little higher,in the down position.I am planning to build twin swim platforms that have angled sides to allow for the sweep of the outdrive.

As far as those fold up porta boats go, I'd consider them an item for a RV/tent camper that wants to be able to paddle around a lake at a campsite. The sterns are SUPER flimsy unless you build some bracing (essentially make a plywood cutout the same shape as the entire stern) and then its still not going to be something you'd want to have your trip's enjoyment depend on. 'Twould suck being off on a weeklong excursion and have one of the flexible seam/hinges tear or separate.

I have been getting mixed reviews from other people I have talked to about Porta Boats.I only plan to use a dink when I do the Loop and have to anchor or moor.With the shallow draft that my boat will have,I have no issues jumping the rail and wading to shore.I'll have to plan that around the tides.I may leave myself high and wet with a long swim back to the boat.

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That's my idear anyway.

Sailor of Fortune said:

I would not want a trinka for a general purpose dinghy. They are beautiful and all that but round bottom boats are a pita as tenders.

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I can confirm that from direct experience. Our boat came with a lovely Montgomery sailing dinghy in a cradle on the aft cabin top. Great little boat to row or sail but absolutely horrible as a shoreboat. Not only did it require the use of the boom to launch and retrieve, a time-consuming process, but for two adults, let alone the dog, it was way too unstable, tricky to get into and out of unless it was beached, and had a minimal carrying capacity.

We put up with it for about four months and then added a Livingston on the stern. The Livingston's ugly but it's extremely stable, it's easy to get in and out of even when the water is choppy, and it has a lot of interior space. While we won't buy a fabric boat, the same can be said for a decent inflatable/RIB.

We kept the Montgomery because it's a fun little boat to sail and it makes a great and very aesthetic place to stow the crab pot, dinghy motor fuel, etc. But we would never recommend a round-bottomed boat as being a good choice for a shore or utility boat.

Regardless, the Trinka has a beautiful bottom.



Probably why it tows and rows well.

A timeless design that anyone with an eye for beauty would be proud to own.

Carl Martin said:

A timeless design that anyone with an eye for beauty would be proud to own.

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True...but at the bottom of the list for a utility dink.

One might rethink that when the outboard for your plastic barge or gray balloon won't start & your life depends on getting to shore.

Carl Martin said:

One might rethink that when the outboard for your plastic barge or gray balloon won't start & your life depends on getting to shore.

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Really? Never thunk that after 40 years of crusi'n..

All of the dinks I have/had oars that do just fine (been rowing for 50 years plus competative) so I know what a good "rowboat is. Also have had so many friends wind up nearly drowning from similar round bottom dinks. Most people with round bottom dinks get rid of them to get a real utility dink...never the other way around...unless they started out with one even worse than a round bottomed one no matter how nice they look....

If you carry it on the roof.
Make sure the drain is open or the cover is rain proof.
Or carry it upside down.

A dink full of water sure can weigh a bunch.

SD

Carl Martin said:

One might rethink that when the outboard for your plastic barge or gray balloon won't start & your life depends on getting to shore.

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Not true, I think. Our wide, square Livingston actually rows very well. In fact we used it for a year this way with no complaints at all until we decided to put a motor on it. Not because it was hard to row but because after getting "caught" in a current one day while rowing to shore we realized that with the swift currents around here we should have a motor so if we did need to buck or cross a current we'd have the speed to do so. The motor is not large--- a Yamaha 4hp 4-stroke--- but it will move the Livingston fast enough to overcome the typical currents we are likely to encounter. So we powered the Livingston as a safety measure, not to overcome any sort of rowing difficulty.

Does it row as well as the Montgomery dinghy on the cabin top? Of course not. But it rows just fine for utility and shore work.

The GB36 we chartered before buying our own boat had an 8 or 9 foot RIB on the swimstep. It had a motor on a transom bracket but we never used it. The inflatable rowed just fine. I've never tried rowing a big one so perhaps they're a different story.

... I've never tried rowing a big one so perhaps they're a different story.

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One of the issues the grey balloons lol have are the oars. We had an 11.5 foot Avon roll up with an inflatable floor. We got rid of the 2-piece aluminum oars and replaced them with properly sized one-piece wooden oars. It rowed fine, though not like a rowing dinghy. We could row anywhere if we didn't want to mess with the outboard.