dingy tied to boat question?

[magna 6882]

We went out yesterday a tried the dingy for the first time. We struggled a bit with the davit and getting it off loaded. Surprising since i spent my career rigging and hauling superloads . My question is once floating and tied to the swim step the wave action ,while anchored ,seemed to want to raise the swim step and then come down on the dingy. I went to a one line connection and let the dingy float several feet away but that still doesn't stop the dingy from getting damaged by the swim step.
Whats the best method for tying while anchored?

 

[markpierce]

Tie it abeam.

 

[Nickair]

A few bumpers tied to the dingy’s side and as mentioned, tie the dingy abeam. Then the dingy is secure from the swim platform.

 

[Comodave]

If you want it secured to the swim platform then look at a set of Weaver Snap Davits. They will hold it secure without hitting the platform and also hold it while boarding and disembarking. They make a bit of noise when the dinghy is rocking.

 

[Jmarsh203]

Get a bigger dingy with higher sides and bow. Swim platform can’t come down on top of something that can’t get underneath it. Or tie it abeam like the others are saying.

 

[menzies]

Yes, tie it abeam, all you need to do is have bow section abeam not the whole dinghy.

I had Weaver davits on my last boat. They do work as designed, however with two issues. In your case, with lots of wave action, you will get a lot of slapping noise. You can swing the outside of the dinghy up against the transom but then you have to deal with the outboard and gas can every night.

However the biggest issue with Weaver davits is toe stubbing!
In time everyone on board will get right totally fed up with them!

 

[caltexflanc]

Let the dinghy further out say 20- 30 feet or so. In really rocky conditions, tying abeam at best will induce additional wear and tear and noise. A little experimentation and you'll find the sweet spot for your particular rig and whatever prevailing conditions.

 

[Simi 60]

Calm night we give it ten feet
Bumpy night like tonight we give it 30 ft and attach a meter of half inch chain 10 ft from the bow to take shock out of rope and settle the dinghy down.

Dead calm night when tender wants to end up alongside backwards we have old bicycle tubes at the corner of the big boat, lines with clips on the tender fore and aft and attach it up against the duckboard with a fender between.

Bycicle tubes double as shock cords for mackeral rigs.

On occasion we have tied alongside as well

Or pull it out on davits.

 

[Coastal Cruiser]

Hang a couple of fenders vertically from your swim platform staples. Barely above the water. Then, as others have suggested, tie it abeam, bow and stern.

 

[Ski in NC]

That's the nice thing about an inflatable dink. Need fenders? Nope, the whole thing is a fender!!

In sloppy conditions we would let it hang off a like 30' tow line. Never seemed to get tangled up with the big boat. Kinda theft bait way back there, but yous gotta take some chances.

 

[kthoennes]

After struggling with that same scenario for years we finally found a solution that works well enough for us. Swim noodles -- the bigger ones about four inches in diameter, not the skinny ones. We use a couple of 6 or 8 foot mooring lines with loops at each end (made those custom, I can back-braid lines myself but it's not hard to learn). We run the mooring lines through the center of the swim noodles. We tried all kind of solutions, fenders that would never stay in place, expensive boat snubbers (those long heavy black rubber things). The swim noodles seem to work best of all, low cost, and we got green to match the boat canvas color. They hold off the dingy in all but the roughest chop but we can pretty easily still pull the dingy close to the swim step to get in. I put brass snap hooks on each end of the mooring lines to make the connections faster.

(Sunlight can do pretty bad UV damage to the swim noodles after a season but who cares, they're just a few bucks so we replace them when they get tired. Old ones lose their stiffness after a while too. I thought about doing covers for them but the covers would much more trouble and cost than the noodles are worth.)

 

[Nightsky]

Dock or mooring whips would work. Store bought can be a little pricey. May be a good DIY project.

 

[Solly]

Slip a 5' piece of PVC pipe over the lines. Or however long will hold the dinghy where you want it.

 

[firehoser75]

Magma,
I hope you are enjoying your new boat, and Welcome to the world of boating. It's all about compromises. You had trouble using your crane and many owners have complained to me about the difficulties of using them especially in choppy conditions. It is a lot of work to raise the dinghy each night, so most don't and then have to put up with tying the dinghy in a way to minimize damage or noise.
If you had chosen a Sea Wise davit, you could pull your dinghy each night in about 2 minutes. But, it takes up a bit of swim grid room (can still enter and exit fine on one side) and can impair your view aft a bit. You could have gone with a Roskelly Olson style of davit and been able to easily raise and lower your dinghy, but again, this time you give up much more of your swim grid access with the dinghy in place. Compromises.

We chose the Sea Wise, and have never (at least so far in 4 seasons) had any of the toe stubbing issues Menzies talks about, and like the ease of deploying and retrieving the dinghy. Ours is hand powered (smaller dinghy - no center console), but they make a motorized one for larger dinghies as well.
From what I can see, your best compromise with the system you have is to tie the dinghy alongside as best you can. Good luck.