Trinka Dinghy cradle options

Going to look at a Trinka 10' dinghy tomorrow. One of my concerns is how to stow it on the saloon roof. Currently there is a rack that consists of 2 rails for my fiberglass hulled inflatable. The Trinka hull looks to be curved bow to stern and likely won't rest on the rails except at one point. Curious what other people use for round bottom dinghies.

This isn't the boat, but it is a Trinka 10 to show the curves of the hull.



Ted

Why not to screw a hook on the dinghy bow and stern wooden part to tie it to the rail. You could even mold FB rail on the dinghy hull to make a tight fit. Just a thought

The people who build the Trinka make a set of teak chocks for the dinghy.
They line the chocks with leather. Not inexpensive (do I remember $450?) but nice!
The stainless brackets are not included...
Bruce

Good luck on picking up the Trinka 10 . We have ours at home for some paint and repair. From the pick you can see they have a lot of shape . I bet Sean could built you a cradle that would be nice a maintenance free.

Another picture

Chocks are the only satisfactory way for something with this much shape as post #3.
Not hard to make if you have the tools and the skills but will take time...if available for 4to500 then thats a fair price

stone beach said:

Chocks are the only satisfactory way for something with this much shape as post #3.
Not hard to make if you have the tools and the skills but will take time...if available for 4to500 then thats a fair price

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I will make a set for our Trinka when our boat gets home. I'm thinking that teak although pretty is not what I'll use. I do have some lovely teak I could use but...
Perhaps some nice maintenance free KingStarboard in white? I do like the stainless supports pictured in my earlier post.
Bruce

I had davits made for ours . I wish I had the option to store it on the roof as well .

Don't know how robust the Trinka hull is, but I found a set of these Weaver chocks on Craig's List for a couple hundred $. If I buy the 11-ft Bluewater Baby that I plan to look at next week, I'll store it on them.

Don't know what your stern looks like, regarding a swim platform, but I carry my 8' Trinka on the swim platform with Weaver davits.

On the subject of dinghy cradle options, do you Weaver davits users ever find the dinghy obscuring too much of your view from the cockpit? Does the convenience of easy on, easy off outweigh any impact on the view? Or lowering the dinghy back into the water virtually always part of anchoring and therefore not an issue? Seems like the best way for me someday, but I have no experience with the realities.

HeadedToTexas said:

On the subject of dinghy cradle options, do you Weaver davits users ever find the dinghy obscuring too much of your view from the cockpit? Does the convenience of easy on, easy off outweigh any impact on the view? Or lowering the dinghy back into the water virtually always part of anchoring and therefore not an issue? Seems like the best way for me someday, but I have no experience with the realities.

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I don't find the visibility issue a big deal. When at the dock or anchored, I drop the dinghy 1/2 way to improve visibility, ventilation, etc. in the cockpit. We have brackish water here so there is a cosmetic benefit to keeping it out of the water as much as possible. The convenience of the Weaver brackets far outweigh any inconvenience IMO

I like the halfway drop approach.

The only time I had a dinghy on the stern I had it on top of horizontal spars just aft of the transom and level w the sheer. Kind of an extension of the cap rail. I did it this way so as to not interfere w visability aft. I would'nt have a dinghy as Heron shows in post #12 .. because of the visability problem. Also there is reflected noise and diesel fumes asuming stern exhaust.


My dinghy is now on the cabin roof. And of course that presents it's own problems.

Re post #3 I can't belive anybody'd paind a dinghy black. I can say that as I'm fairly sure that's not a member boat.

Nomad Willy said:

I would'nt have a dinghy as Heron shows in post #12 .. because of the visability problem. Also there is reflected noise and diesel fumes asuming stern exhaust.

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I always nose in to a dock and steer from the bridge 98% of the time so, as I said, visibility is not an issue for me. No noise issues noted, and maybe a bit of fumes on start-up, but overall it's not a problem..

angus99 said:

Don't know how robust the Trinka hull is, but I found a set of these Weaver chocks on Craig's List for a couple hundred $. If I buy the 11-ft Bluewater Baby that I plan to look at next week, I'll store it on them.

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Those would work for a Trinka I would think. Don't know what Bluewater baby is but those Weaver chocks seem versatile.

Sailor of Fortune said:

Those would work for a Trinka I would think. Don't know what Bluewater baby is but those Weaver chocks seem versatile.

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Hi, Jack. Hope all's good.

A BWB is an 11-ft rigid dinghy, somewhat like a Whaler, but "lighter" (320 lbs). We're seriously considering one since fishing's a big part of our lives.

Heron said:

I always nose in to a dock and steer from the bridge 98% of the time so, as I said, visibility is not an issue for me. No noise issues noted, and maybe a bit of fumes on start-up, but overall it's not a problem..

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Did'nt mean to offend and I read that I only did slightly. Everybody's boat and situation is different. The dinghy on the swim step is very very handy and it could be said (generally speaking) it's the best for most trawlers. Now that I'm not in Alaska I'd prolly have a step and a dinghy on it. The hard dinghy I have. But I do get in a 30' slip w/o paying for overhang w my dink on the roof. Soon I'll be trying out my aluminum canoe in that role.

I like it Ian, I'm only a fan of Trinkas on the dock or other peeps boats. Pretty as a picture but oh so tender for a tender. I'm a fan of flat bottom wide skiffs that can be stepped in from the mother ship into without much fear of going overboard. Boston Whalers are a boat I grew up with, have owned several and would never own again unless I had kids who wanted to play boats. I like big, herky flat bottom tenders that are capable of carrying loads and can tough it out at the dinghy dock without fear. Larry and Lena (Hobo) can vouch for the last one I built. A pram on steroids. Like your Bluewater Baby.

HeadedToTexas said:

On the subject of dinghy cradle options, do you Weaver davits users ever find the dinghy obscuring too much of your view from the cockpit? Does the convenience of easy on, easy off outweigh any impact on the view? Or lowering the dinghy back into the water virtually always part of anchoring and therefore not an issue? Seems like the best way for me someday, but I have no experience with the realities.

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I currently have a 10' rib that can both sit on the stern with Seawise davits (similar to Weaver) as well as be lifted to the boat deck with a crane. I find that the rib on the stern doesn't hurt visibility while under way but I do admit that it can interfere with the view while at anchor. However, it is very easy to drop the dinghy down then raise it again.

I have a 10' hard shell dinghy being built now that I will put on my Seawise davits as well as put on the boat deck. I also am thinking about what type of chock would work. I would like to be able to use the same chocks for either the hard shell or the rib.

Ted, I built my own out of fiberglass....fitted the dinghy perfectly. But...forgot about the curvature of the roof! Came to fit them and had a half inch gap on both sides. Just something to consider if buying stock chocks.

People carry canoes on car tops w pads and tie down lines. I did that for several years on Willy and it worked fine. The dink never moved around and we were in quite a bit of real snotty weather. I chose and placed the pads so no part of the dinghy bottom touched the cabin top and the foam pads were dense enough for support and tall enough to keep the boat suspended above the cabin top. I installed two boards cross ways (notched) over the gunwales of the dinghy so as not to be pulling the wales inbd bending the boat. The importance of this is so I can tighten the lines quite a bit holding the dinghy securely in any weather. I fasten the lines to "D" pads screwed to the cabin top. The foam pads are blue in the pic. This method isn't as "up town" as hard cradles but works very well. And the pads never tend to come out. The black thing on the cabin eve is a PVC plastic tube cutout so it gets shoved on over the eve kind of as a clamp. It's to slide the dinghy up and down w/o damage to the cabin eve/roof.

My recently acquired trawler came with a 10'/20hp Bullfrog which live on the swim step on a SeaWise lift, which I regard as butt-ugly, but the ultimate in utility.

Wanting something more aesthetically pleasing, I bought a 9' Minto to reside on the boat deck. Initially it was lashed down on a "field expedient" consisting of two swimming pool "noodles" with a 1" dowel core.

After searching in vain for someone who would fabricate a cradle for me, I was in the yard on another project and asked the manager if he knew anyone who could do this. He said, "Don't move." Disappeared into a shed, where he did a bunch of noisy rearranging and emerged with a powder-coated aluminum cradle that looks like it was made just for me. $100!

It is actually the bow support for a 13' Whaler. My dink's front end sits in a grooved teak block, secured to a pad eye with its painter.

I know this kind of luck doesn't strike every day, but I think the lesson is that ya' never know what's out there...and keep asking.

Very nice. I am still thinking about what I am going to want to do. My wife really, really wants the boat deck/fly bridge to be clear and open, which means permanently mounting cradles would be met with severe disapprobation from that quarter.

I like your cover as well.

dhays said:

My wife really, really wants the boat deck/fly bridge to be clear and open,

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Well, I think she has a valid point. If you look at my avatar, the boat has a stepped-down after-cabin roof that just looks like it is made for a boat...two actually, I have an 8' inflatable on the port side...specifically for training grandsons.

She also wants a couple of grandkids to use as auxiliary family members. Apparently my daughter is working on one now.

dhays said:

She also wants a couple of grandkids to use as auxiliary family members. Apparently my daughter is working on one now.

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Congrats. The very best moments of my life have been spent in the company of small children.

Bill

Good deal Alaskaprof! Nice when a project comes in under the anticipated cost.