Towing a Dinghy Question

We have started towing our dinghy more when making short hops rather than hoisting it up to the boat deck.
What is the general wisdom on the outboard engine position while towing? All the way up or partly in the water so it acts as a keel?

Just a tiny bit of sketch and or prop is all that's usually needed, so it depends on your rig and how you can adjust your Outboard, all the way down is usually overkill.

All the was up is OK if the dingy tows fine and it might if aft heavy.

Thanks psneeld. It tows well with the engine all the way up to about 12 knots, above that it starts to wander a bit. I'll try lowering it a touch & see if I get better results.

Usually the faster you tow, the less you need in the water.

Could it be wandering because at 12 knots it is now sitting on the face of a generated wave and it is surfacing down it?

It doesn't take much of a hump.

psneeld said:

Usually the faster you tow, the less you need in the water.

Could it be wandering because at 12 knots it is now sitting on the face of a generated wave and it is surfacing down it?

It doesn't take much of a hump.

Click to expand...

Agreed... Alter [e.g. increase] length of toe line.

Have you photo of boat hull and motor?

If you have a planer attached to the outboard and with it up the bow is too high, try putting the engine down to trim the bow down. It may also steer straighter.
This may not be effective at low speeds.
I tried it at my 8 knot cruise and it did nothing to help with the trim, so I went with the outboard fully up.

I prefer to take the motor off the dinghy except for the shortest runs. With the motor on and tilted down, there's a lot of drag. Granted most of my experience is on sailboats where drag is more of an issue. With the motor tilted up the dinghy will be more top heavy and might flip if heavy weather is encountered. Friends just had this happen this week, flooded the motor and lost a lot of stuff out of the dinghy. I've had it happen in the past when the conditions didn't seem all that bad. Might not have happened with the motor off or tilted down, but impossible to know really. So I usually tow with the motor off and all loose stuff removed. If it does flip, just turn it back over and no harm done.

OR: How about towing a bit of "warp" from the dink?

Agree with short hops in good weax only. A friend called last night to tell me of his son who lost his dink and motor while towing across the Big Bend behind a 30-foot snailbote in snotty weax.

It is true some dinghies become easy to flip if the motor is tilted all the way up.

However, to keep the dingy tracking straight, you only need a LITTLE drag, so trying several positions may be necessary, but full down and max drag should never be needed.

So like so many things, it's a compromise of less drag and possibly raising the center of gravity too high.

In my experience, just a foot of skeg immersed with one or two blades of the prop immersed is usually all you need.

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen. The dinghy is sitting on top of the big boats wave, so I think a bit more tow rope sounds like my first step followed by a bit of the dinghy's skeg in the water.

I had my inflatable holed by debris last year when towing with the outboard down. A piece of driftwood got caught on the skeg and punched a hole in the tube near the transom. Now when I tow I raise the outboard.

All the way down is generally not needed and can be a bad idea.

Usually a 45 degree angle is all that's needed...but does vary with boat/ motor.