Tender dinghy questions

Hello all, I'm new to the group and cruising. I would like to know what everyone thinks about a four person tender to get to dock or shore from anchorage? Brands,engines, combos.

Thanks for all information .

What boat will this tender be paired with? And how do you want / expect to carry it? That will to some extent drive what is reasonable as a tender.

It will be paired with either a President 41 or a Mainship 34 thinking about using swim platform mount, open to ideas.

Ok, so that will limit your length to about 12 feet at the most, as you don't want a tender wider than the transom of the boat carrying it (for a swim platform mount or davits). And for 4 people, you're going to want as big as you can get, so you'll be looking the 11 - 12 foot range regardless of dinghy type.

What are your thoughts about towing the tender?

TheWolf21957 said:

What are your thoughts about towing the tender?

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It can be done, but most will try to avoid it. There are plenty of ways towing can go wrong, especially in less than perfect weather. And it can be a headache when docking or in other situations.

Thank you for your input it is very appreciated.

For ship to shore a 9 foot inflatable has served well. 4 people no problem for the short distances and a smaller OB can be used.

As for towing. I borrowed a 14 foot inflatable which had to tow. After that trip never again as extra fuel consumption was noticed due to the drag.

Thanks, what in your opinio6is a good quality tender brand?

I see a lot of boats towing tenders up north - not so much for the run from the San Juan’s north until they get to desolation etc.

Be careful though going through tidal rapids like Dodd Narrows, as there are YouTube videos of tenders getting flipped etc.

I have a good quality one made in china and locally called Great Pacific, my second one. (first one sold with previous boat).
I suspect it is a copy of name brands construction.
I have owned zodiac, friends had other name brands and so far except for a lower price they all seam to last around 10 years.
https://gpboats.com/boats/

TheWolf21957 said:

Hello all, I'm new to the group and cruising. I would like to know what everyone thinks about a four person tender to get to dock or shore from anchorage? Brands,engines, combos.

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You might search through earlier threads -- here and on cruisersforum.com (sister site) for ideas.

Lots will depend on how you'll carry it, inflatable or not versus RIB, how you'll power it (rowing/paddling might count), how'll you'll launch and recover it (including mounting and dismounting motor if you need to do that), how many pax, whether you want to plane or not), your climate and cover/or not (PVC versus hypalon)...

IOW, it's not just a "buy a dinghy" project; there lots of influencing factors.

Answer some of those and you'll get better input. But much has also been addressed in earlier threads, too... so reviewing those might help you focus your questions even better.

-Chris

Thanks to everyone for all the input. Looks like I need more research.

Engine: I have used 2-cycle engines on my tenders due to lightness. I started with a 2.5 HP Nissan which served well for many years in a 10-foot inflatable keel inflatable boat from West Marine. After I got a lightweight RHIB that could plane, I got a 9.8 HP Nissan 2-cycle. It ran like a scalded cat with just me aboard.

Boat: Inflatable with fiberglass or AL hull would be my choise.

Alaskans love aluminum Ribs. there is a reason for it.

For that size boat, I recommend a 9' to 10' aluminum or fiberglass RIB with at least 9.9HP. I do not care for inflatable-hull boats after using one for a year. If you are in a sunny climate, Hypalon would be a better choice than PVC for the tubes.



There are a few big brands out there like Highfield, AB, Zodiac, Achilles, Mercury, etc. that are all fine boats. There are also many smaller local brands around the US that are all probably made in the same factory in China. Look around a local marina or two and see what's popular near you.



Around here, North Atlantic Inflatables seems to be really popular as a smaller, local, Chinese-made brand. I have one and I like the boat. I also like that I worked directly with the company owner when I bought it and the price was excellent.



I power my 2020 10'6" aluminum RIB with a 2004 9.9HP, short shaft, Mercury, two stroke OB that I converted to 15HP with a carburetor upgrade (<$250 and perhaps an hour of labor at most). It scoots right along with up to 400 lbs of people on board, but won't plane with more than that. I wish I had 20HP, but not enough to spend the money. For just my wife and I, it's a great little boat to explore with. We do much more than just transport back and forth to our anchored boat with it, and we routinely take it for 10-15 mile jaunts.

Thanks for your input you make some good points to consider.

Good information above. Would think about this as follows.
How do you intend to use it? Dinghy exploring or fishing all day? Long runs carrying stores and people? In heavy surf? If so electric is out as is getting smaller and low HP petrol or human powered.
They would be fine and perhaps preferred if your intentions are short runs from a nearby anchorage or mooring field. Lighter, smaller and less expensive to buy and operate.
Size is determined by boat size. Never heard anyone complain their dinghy was to large except when it came to storage. Ease of storage depends on size of mothership. Putting a 24’ regulator on a Feadship is a nonissue but doubt but for most here it would be practical.
Personally never regretted having MORE POWER nor as big a dinghy as I could easily store on the boat. Pulling a dinghy is a total non starter. Way too limiting in where you can go and when.
Lin and Larry went RTW with a 8’ oared rigid lapstrake dinghy as full time live aboards. Seraffin was <30’. Much appeal to KISS. But it’s limiting in what you can do, see and when.

As others are pointing out, put some thought into exploring. Think about how likely you are to explore a significant distance in the dinghy vs moving the big boat closer first (unless exploring somewhere the big boat can't go).

For us

A "good" dingy must be :
rigid
unsinkable
one or better two post for roaring

able to fix a small outboard say 4hp
sails for use in nice anchorage

some watertight compartment where store some equipment just in case


One look "perfect" for us it is the "Topper Cruzz ketch"


We had one another interesting boat but not able to use sail and to low freeboard for ...my wife (no she is not heavy !!!:lol but you can see with only the dog it was already loaded was from a mold made for "rescue on the Poland beach"
Annexe ou/et survie !? - Trawler long-cours

Everyone has different expectations of what they will be doing with their dink.

Some want to explore , some to water ski.

For is its going ashore or carrying out an anchor as needed.
Aluminum is robust to beach..

Davits on the stern have the most advantages for us.

Hard for the dink to get stolen , ready for use in 30 seconds ,oars get us to the usually loaded dink dock , and boats with locked oars seldom get borrowed.
Use a keyed lock, numbers are hard to set after dark.
https://edsonmarine.com/edson-oar-loc/

As we prefer to anchor our (23 years of liveaboard in a marina) the need for fuel requires a stop every 5-7 ICW days , so the dink provides storage for rubbish for the week.

Like many cruisers we stop at mid week,mid day ,for fuel, water, pump out , rubbish dump a trip to the grocery and perhaps the use of the washer dryer.

We can do it all in about 2 hours , so don't block the dock for the overnight marina to marina customers. $10.00 to the dock boy (sorry not PC) is far better than $50 a night for a week.


Our dink is a Grumman 9 ft sailing model so exploring a harbor is done in silence at 4-5K instead if 20-40k.

FF said:

Everyone has different expectations of what they will be doing with their dink.

Some want to explore , some to water ski.

For is its going ashore or carrying out an anchor as needed.
Aluminum is robust to beach..

Davits on the stern have the most advantages for us.

Hard for the dink to get stolen , ready for use in 30 seconds ,oars get us to the usually loaded dink dock , and boats with locked oars seldom get borrowed.
Use a keyed lock, numbers are hard to set after dark.
https://edsonmarine.com/edson-oar-loc/

As we prefer to anchor our (23 years of liveaboard in a marina) the need for fuel requires a stop every 5-7 ICW days , so the dink provides storage for rubbish for the week.

Like many cruisers we stop at mid week,mid day ,for fuel, water, pump out , rubbish dump a trip to the grocery and perhaps the use of the washer dryer.

We can do it all in about 2 hours , so don't block the dock for the overnight marina to marina customers. $10.00 to the dock boy (sorry not PC) is far better than $50 a night for a week.


Our dink is a Grumman 9 ft sailing model so exploring a harbor is done in silence at 4-5K instead if 20-40k.

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We went with the aluminum option as well, but an old 12 foot Starcraft in our case. Figuring out davits for it will be this year's project. We haven't used it a ton, but so far, it's done the job well. Not too ugly (better looking than an inflatable, but not as pretty as some of the classic fiberglass hard dinghies). Rows well enough, carries a decent amount of weight, big enough to not be crowded even fully loaded.

So far we've also been rowing, but I'm at least looking at outboards for it, mostly so I can decide how much outboard weight to account for when picking out davits. Being a basic utility skiff, it'll be plenty fast if we do add an outboard. It's rated for 15hp, but realistically, anything more than a 9.9 would be too heavy in a modern 4 stroke (even the lighter ones of those are as heavy as the 15hp 2 strokes it was designed for). Plus, a 15 would be faster than I care to go in something that small, most likely. Even a 6hp will plane it (but not quickly) with 1, probably with 2. A 10 will move it along plenty fast.

rslifkin said:

It's rated for 15hp, but realistically, anything more than a 9.9 would be too heavy in a modern 4 stroke (even the lighter ones of those are as heavy as the 15hp 2 strokes it was designed for). Plus, a 15 would be faster than I care to go in something that small, most likely. Even a 6hp will plane it (but not quickly) with 1, probably with 2. A 10 will move it along plenty fast.

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These days, it's common for 9.9/15/20 hp 4-strokes to all be built on the same platform... so same weight.

-Chris

ranger42c said:

These days, it's common for 9.9/15/20 hp 4-strokes to all be built on the same platform... so same weight.

-Chris

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Yeah, it depends on the brand. Some are small 9.9s (shared platform with an 8hp), others are big 9.9s (shared with a 15 and sometimes 20). Tohatsu makes both, for example. The 9.8 is shared with the 8 and weighs about 82 lbs, while the 9.9 is shared with the 15/20 and weighs about 95 lbs.



For comparison, plenty of late 60s / early 70s 2 stroke 15hp outboards were in the 75 - 80 lb range from what I can find (my dinghy is a 1968 model, so that's about what it would have been designed for).

Look at the max safe weight.
If I understand the topic...... if you are toting 4+200# people is not the same as 4 light weights and a small dog.
Things get crowded when everyone is wearing a standard PFD.
Better to make 2 safe trips than one perilous trip.
One trip into shore, load groceries and one or two people, trip back to the boat, unload, return with one person, load up the other 2 folks and the small dog, return to boat, unload the 2 people and small dog and helmsman, stow the dingy.

I like the center console tenders. 9hp 2-stroke is sufficient but 15 to 25 hp is better for a bigger 4 person ones. We have a 9' good for 2ppl

My 10 foot Zodiac with a little 3hp 2 stoke suit me well, but everyone has their own preference. I like it because it's a lightweight package that I can lift on the cabin roof when needed, but can still carry four in calm water.

I wouldn't recommend towing an inflatable dinghy unless you are assured the water will be dead flat. A bit of wave action will put a lot of strain on the tow rope and attachment points. I lost a dingy while towing it in not much more than 2 foot waves, but was lucky enough to find it a few weeks later.

Yep, very much a matter of individual preference and how it's used. A rigid or aluminum sure would be nice, but wouldn't work for us. We have a 10' inflatable with a Yamaha 4hp, in part because we lug ours up and over the rail and carry it forward on the bow for long runs. Works well for us but it can't get any bigger or it wouldn't fit on the bow, and it can't get any heavier or we couldn't easily lift it over the rail. And a 6 or 8 hp would be nice too, but any heavier and the motor gets too heavy to easily take on and off and store on its bracket on the aft deck rail. It does give us a very wet ride in rough chop, thats annoying, but on balance, the whole setup works for us.

To each his own.

kthoennes said:

Yep, very much a matter of individual preference and how it's used. A rigid or aluminum sure would be nice, but wouldn't work for us. We have a 10' inflatable with a Yamaha 4hp, in part because we lug ours up and over the rail and carry it forward on the bow for long runs. Works well for us but it can't get any bigger or it wouldn't fit on the bow, and it can't get any heavier or we couldn't easily lift it over the rail. And a 6 or 8 hp would be nice too, but any heavier and the motor gets too heavy to easily take on and off and store on its bracket on the aft deck rail. It does give us a very wet ride in rough chop, thats annoying, but on balance, the whole setup works for us.

To each his own.

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Check on the weight of your 4hp vs the 6. You might be able to go up to a 6, as the 4 and 5hp outboards are often just a de-tuned 6 (at least for the newer 4 strokes) and weigh the same. It's the 2 - 3.5 hp stuff that's usually lighter. And anything bigger than a 6 will be heavier.

Currently have a Rigid with a 40hp on the back. A different world than prior RIBs with nothing bigger than a 20hp on the back. Rigids look like RIBs but no tubes as they’re all grp. So it all depends upon usage. My concern was range, speed and payload weight. Now can carry just about anything even batteries or other heavy stuff. Fish or explore all day. Leave the mothership where is when we find a good place to throw the hook. Not a marina or even mooring field fan. Your dinghy is your daily driver. Bigger is better.
On prior boat we had davits. Still put deflated dinghy lashed down on foredeck for passage and engine in lazerette. But coastal don’t think you need to go to that extreme. Even for a small boat if a all possible would budget in davits or some form lift and a engine lift. We’ve used a simple block and tackle. Often the bride was off the the boat for weeks so having a easy way was important being by myself. So rather go with a used dinghy and engine to have the kitty to be able to go bigger and have davits or equivalent.