Which is the best dinghy ?

I have a 34' Mainship Pilot Trawler. I believe the beam is 12'3". It has a small dive platform across the back. I am interested in any recommendation of which dinghy would work best for this boat. Any suggestions?

To some extent, it depends on how you plan to use the dinghy. How many people does it need to carry? How much stuff? Do you care how fast it can go? Do you plan to row or will you have an outboard on it?

dinghy

Will most likely have 2-3 people in general. Main use to and from shore, but also fishing and or snorkeling. I plan on using a motor.

tisho said:

I have a 34' Mainship Pilot Trawler. I believe the beam is 12'3". It has a small dive platform across the back. I am interested in any recommendation of which dinghy would work best for this boat. Any suggestions?

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My boat's beam is 14.6' and my dinghy is 10.4'. Below are a few photos that show the dinghy to boat's beam relationship. It's hard to tell from the photos what actual room I have without going beyond the beam of the mother ship. Including the motor, it aint much!

You are trying to cram an awfully onto/into a 34 foot boat. About the maximum length of a dinghy for your boat will be 10 feet of less. You want to leave some room on the swim platform for swimming, boarding, etc.

A 10 foot dink with three people on board and a motor is probably overloaded. Likewise a dinghy that small is almost impossible to get into from the water if you are snorkeling.

You might want to consider towing, it will allow you a larger dinghy.

pete

That's a good point, a lot of boats narrow some at the transom. My boat has a 14 foot beam, but it's only about 12.5 or 13 feet at deck level at the transom. Swim platform is only 11 feet wide and the waterline beam at the transom is about 11.5 feet.

For 2-3 people, you will need 10 ft rhib and 10 hp minimum to plane off.

I've got a 34 ft Californian and have a 3.3M/10'10" dink with 17" tubes and 2 bench seats in PVC from Costco for about $500, a Garhauer 150# rated lifting davit for $400, a 15 HP Merc OB and a $200 Garmin Striker4 Portable Fishfinder. A fixed transom motor mount holds the OB. My boat's width is about 12.5 ft and it all fits and functions well without building a sweat loading or unloading.

Sometimes I tow the dink in favorable conditions but it's a simple 5-10 minute job to lift the motor onto the mount and then the dink onto the swimstep. No special Weaver davits required.

At my home slip, it can sit on the transom (which can get in the way of fishing) or on its float in my covered slip. I like to keep the PVC dink out of the sun and water for long term storage but at $500, it's not expensive to replace every couple of years if needed...and still available at that price.

I'll add some pics soon to complete the picture.

High Wire said:

For 2-3 people, you will need 10 ft rhib and 10 hp minimum to plane off.

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Question to OP, do you need or want to plane it? A couple horse power motor and a 10-foot inflatable (NOT RHIB) served us and guests for years.

I believe if he wants to fish from it, he won't want to go 5 mph or less. I started with (and still have in storage) a great 2HP Honda that was easy to handle over the transom and lift to the FB by hand. Great motor, efficient and low maintenance but only 5 MPH.

Smaller dinks have smaller tubes and smaller tubes have wet rides.

I'm very impressed with the dry ride on my 17" tubes compared to my old Achilles 9.5 ft hypalon inflatable keel with 15" tubes.

Size matters.

I had a Pilot 34 with a Caribe 9' RIB with Weaver davits that worked well. There was just enough room on the starboard side for an outboard bracket that held my Tohatsu 9.9 O/B when not in use on the dinghy.

I had a multipart tackle than raised the dinghy up against the transom. I did have to drop the dinghy down if I wanted to open the transom door and get out on the swim platform.

A couple of pics are attached which shows a shot from from the side and another one with the dinghy raised up against the transom. You can just make out the O/B in the second pic to the right of the pile.

David

I had a 10'3" Avon RIB310 hanging from davits on my Mainship 34 M1, which is about 4" less beamy than the Pilot 34 IIRC. I couldn't have gone any bigger. With a 15 hp it could plane with 3 and really scoot with one. Now have a slightly smaller lighter 10'0" and it's a better fit.

We have a 10 ft Trinka fiberglass with 2 hp outboard . I added a swivel seat and platform that made a huge difference. Our trawler is 32 ft .

That looks great, Marty! A good fit.

I love having a seat instead of sitting on the edge of the tube in my 9.5 ft Achilles.

I say get the biggest dinghy that you can safely carry. You will outgrow a smaller one quickly.

When we had the 34' Mainship, we carried a 9' Livingston on the transom with Weaver Davits. With a 54" beam the catamaran would carry 3 people easy with lots of freeboard. We had an 8HP two cycle that weighed 60# and it would get up on plane with two people.

With one person, the ride was thrilling. It went fast and would "sponson walk" around corners like a three point hydro. But it felt secure and very safe.

We had that Livingston for over 20 years, transferring it to Sandpiper when we sold the Mainship.

We carry a 12' fiberglass center console with a 4 stroke 20 hp now. Not a fan of rubber boats because it's difficult to mount down riggers and pot pullers on them.

That's not me in the picture. I have less hair and am better looking.

A 10 foot RIB will handle roughly 1200 pounds, including motor. I don't know if you'll make it on a plane with 3 people and a 9.9 hp motor but I'm betting most of the time it will be you and one other and then the boat will definitely get on plane.

Sea Wise davits are pricey but you don't have to muscle a motor, a massive plus for me at age 72.

I have the manual Sea Wise but you can add an electric motor. I'm thinking I might be able to use a cordless electric drill.

A dinghy is a very personal choice. A 10 foot hypalon with a 3hp 2stroke works for me for going to shore, snorkelling and fishing. It might not suit others.

Was wondering if anyone ever has ever run with a dinghy on stern davits where the dinghy is longer than the stern is wide. I see blow boaters do this a lot since the stern of there boats seem to taper back to be pretty narrow. And other than for docking issues with overhang Which is really more of a control issue for the larger boat I can’t really see any issue why not to go longer. I’m not talking about a much bigger dingy but something maybe a foot overhang on either side Would seem pretty acceptable to me. I’m not seeing much of a downside but quite a bit on the upside. I like the idea of having maybe a 14 foot flats boat since I like fishing quite a bit and it seems a bit more versatile than a 10-12 foot rhib. Thoughts?

Jmarsh203 said:

Was wondering if anyone ever has ever run with a dinghy on stern davits where the dinghy is longer than the stern is wide. I see blow boaters do this a lot since the stern of there boats seem to taper back to be pretty narrow. And other than for docking issues with overhang Which is really more of a control issue for the larger boat I can’t really see any issue why not to go longer. I’m not talking about a much bigger dingy but something maybe a foot overhang on either side Would seem pretty acceptable to me. I’m not seeing much of a downside but quite a bit on the upside. I like the idea of having maybe a 14 foot flats boat since I like fishing quite a bit and it seems a bit more versatile than a 10-12 foot rhib. Thoughts?

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Our 10' RIB is about 1' less wide than our mothership's beam at the transom.

Yes, I could have gone to a slightly longer dinghy.

But yes, getting into 4-way slips and other tight places is often (even now) an exercise in "precision" (?) docking. It's especially noticeable when the fairway is relatively tiny, so we have to start backing into a slip before we're perfectly perpendicular to it. Getting off a face dock brings issues, too; we almost always have to back away, at least at first. How long the "at first" is would be dependent on how long the dinghy is.

A longer dinghy -- even only as long as our transom is wide -- would exacerbate all that. Going longer than the transom is wide would (IMO) just be adding too much work (for me) to the equation.

I think I remember that most (all?) of the difference between our 10' 4-pax RIB and the longer 5-pax 11' model is that the main tubes are extended further aft. In our case, we don't really need additional capacity, so the extended tubes would have been wasted on us.

-Chris

Shorter than the transom is wide so as not to catch on things. Towing, for me, is not an option. You catch the painter in the ME prop, you are dead in the water while you dive the boat to cut away the tangled line. PLUS the possibility of a collateral damage to the prop and shaft and rudder. Some folks maintain they always pull the RIB close to the swim platform. It only takes once to disable your boat for a while usually in a very inconvenient/dangerous time.
Size of motor, be reasonable. I think my 10 fiber glass bottom RIB is rated for something close to 20hp. I opted for 6.9hp Honda.... I can actually pick the motor up. Plus, me in a RIB with a 20hp, just ain’t going to happen. I’d get more speeding ticket than I can afford. LOL

Just a minor point. If we obscure the name on the transom, we are supposed to, at least, put the boats name on the bottom of the RIB or dingy or perhaps the side, so your boat can be identified.

Check out the Whaly:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s20/whaly-dinghy-19349.html

I agree it is a very personal choice. We like to use the dinghy for a lot more than just getting to shore, but as a vehicle to explore the areas around us, wherever we are docked, anchored or moored. We have used tiller-equipped RIBS and inflatables alot on our various charters, and while fun while on vacation, it would get tiresome (for us at least) for more than that.

So our personal choice in the OP's case would be tow something, and we much prefer something with a console rather than tiller. Something like a console equipped Livingston, Sturdee Boat Amesbury Dory or a small Boston Whaler. But again, if you are not particularly adventurous, or mostly marina hopping, some of the other illustrated options might likely make more sense.

Yea it defiantly seems a like a very personal choice, and size and style of dingy seems to be be very dependent on what the owners intended use will be. I’ve done plenty of fishing and exploring in smaller thins and have always been left wanting greatly in capability when I have. I was thinking of towing a larger boat when I start messing around over in the Bahamas and Caribbean with my boat, but was planning on doing the great loop first and was thinking something I can put on my davit would be more practical for that, luckily I’m not really constrained much by weight for my choices since my davits are very heavily built and are quite high considering how low the freeboard is at the stern. Seems like my biggest constraint when choosing a dingy For the davits will be length and freeboard of the boat. Also once I do pick up a more capable skiff I plan on starting to go bow into the slips when I can so I can always put in my skiff and can go fishing and exploring without having to spin my boat around.

Has anyone tried an Frib? Foldable RIB, smallest size is about 9 ft, then 10.2.

Hi Al, what kind of lifting system do you have? is there a hinged mount on the platform?
Your set up looks compact.

I too have a 34 mainship Pilot.

I have a 9' West Marine inflatable on a Weaver Davit system. I would prefer the Seawise system, but the weaver came with the boat and its fine.

I just replaced my 6 Hp outboard with a new Torqueedo. Much lighter and easier to get the dinghy up and down. Plus my wife doesn't have to worry about pull starting the OB when taking the dog to shore.

Perfect for two people and a dog, three would be just OK.

Snorkelling off it would be a challenge.

Dingy choice

Hi, my Integrity 346 ES has a 12’ integrated swim platform. I run a 10’ inflatable on custom favors and it works great!

West Marine 310 w 15 HP Honda

We have a Carver 380 with a 14' beam. I just bought the 310 RIB from West Marine last season when they had a 30% off sale. I went with the aluminum with Hypalon.


The dingy is hoisted with kato davits. I designed the mounts for them using 3D modeling and a local fab shop made them for me. I looked at the tilting option, but then you are always looking at the bottom on the dingy when you are on the back deck. Sort of ruins cocktail hours.



The 15 HP is a bit difficult to haul out of the water. Investigating a winch.



We are at the south end of Seneca Lake and use it a lot. Generally just the wife and I. When you put in the battery, fuel tank and I got a swivel seat with a back, three would be a bit cramped.


This is our second one, so just plan to get a used starter dingy.

Lots of oyster beds around Crystal River. Oysters will shred an inflatable.