Advice on what tender (row boat?)

[ProDave]

Well I made a deciion and I've ordered one of the cheap and Cheerfull Intex 3 man inflatables. I'm pretty sure it came from the same seller as linked to early in the thread, but via ebay, and I got it for only £53

At this price it's cheap enough to experiment with the concept of an inflatable and see if it works for what we want, or if the hassle of inflating is too much. I will also try towing it inflated.

 

[William_H]

Dinghy

For an 18 fter this is a real problem. I know my 21fter will not tow a dinghy to windward with any success. Not so difficult for reaching or running. So if you always motor to windward not so much of a problem.
You should try a solid dingy being towed. It might suiit for the occasional picnic.
No I can't see any sort of folding dinghy fitting on deck in an 18fter.
So you are stuck with inflatable.
Now if you are willing to run really shallow to reduce dinghy distance you might be OK with a tiny inflatable.
It will need to row well as we had a couple lost a few years back when their rowed inflatable was blown out to sea at night when returning to their large yacht.

Just how deep is the draft of your boat? Have you tried running it aground (on sand I hope) then carrying child on your shoulders? You would need to watch the tide if it retreats and possibly want to anchor a little deeper. Use a stern anchor to hold stern to beach. Bow out. You will need a ladder at the stern.
Sorry this may be totally impractical but my lift keel 21fter is fine for landing ashore this way. Lots of sand here and little tide. olewill

 

[ProDave]

Now that's a whole different subject.

My boat has a lifting keel, and with the keel up she draws less than a foot of water.

So I had thought about the run aground idea. But I can see many dangers, not least of which being big problems if you tried it on a lee shore. It might work on a windward shore, knowing the wind would take you back off.

It had briefly crossed my mind to set up some form of temporary running mooring based on the anchor, so you could pull the boat in to shore, unload, then pull her out into deeper water. Repeat when you want to get back on.

I can anchor quite close in with the keel up, so the distance we need to row in an inflatable is minimal. In the picture I linked to earlier, we were in about 4 metres of water, so I could have anchore quite a bit closer

 

[prv]

I had thought about the run aground idea.

I had meant to suggest that too. Perhaps your tender could be a couple of pairs of waders

Unless it's very windy (in which case it's likely to be a bit rough to want to make contact with the bottom anyway) I wouldn't worry about being blown on shore. Just drop the anchor well out from the beach as you make your approach, then you can haul yourself off again when it's time to leave. Do make sure the anchor is set as you approach - let out some line to give it a reasonable angle, then snub the line while continuing to move forward until you feel it bite and pull, then continue to let out line freely until you're on the beach. The last thing you want to do is heave on the line to leave, and find the anchor bumping your transom - without a tender you can't go out and re-set it.

I've never tried your temporary hauloff mooring idea, but it doesn't seem unreasonable with a small boat. Will give you a bit more leeway on the tidal situation, which is what will be ruling the whole operation.

Pete

 

[ProDave]

And I'm forgetting one blindingly obvious thing here, we already have two pairs of waders that we use for launching and recovery, so walking in 4 feet of water need not be a cold horrible experience.

 

[VicS]

Well I made a deciion and I've ordered one of the cheap and Cheerfull Intex 3 man inflatables. I'm pretty sure it came from the same seller as linked to early in the thread, but via ebay, and I got it for only £53

At this price it's cheap enough to experiment with the concept of an inflatable and see if it works for what we want, or if the hassle of inflating is too much. I will also try towing it inflated.

Having pointed you in that direction I'll be interested in how you find it.
Which have you ordered the "Excursion" or the "Seahawk"

I just hope its not a total disaster.

I'd not count on finding it suitable for towing far, fast or in open water.

We never towed the Redstart but of course we could carry it inflated on a 31 footer, and did so even crossing the English Channel.

 

[ProDave]

Having pointed you in that direction I'll be interested in how you find it.
Which have you ordered the "Excursion" or the "Seahawk"

I just hope its not a total disaster.

I'd not count on finding it suitable for towing far, fast or in open water.

We never towed the Redstart but of course we could carry it inflated on a 31 footer, and did so even crossing the English Channel.

It's the Excursion 3 man, same as your link earlier.

I'm almost certain it's from the same company, but under their ebay user name (if not somebody else in Devon). Most of them they have on ebay are buy it now at a similar price, but occasionally they put them on auction, and I got lucky and got it for £53.

For that money I'm not expecting much, little more than a toy really. Thinking about what we want it for, that's little more than splashing around on the beach with it really.

I hope it should be here early in the week, in which case I'll take it to the harbour and try rowing it.

Many years now, when we lived darn sarf and didn't have a boat, we borrowed literally a beach toy blow up boat, and explored part of the River Cherwell on it. In spite of that not being a navigable river (at least for power craft) it was surprising how many row boats and kayaks we saw. They must have thought us nuts to be exploring the river in a bright red beach toy.

 

[ProDave]

Well my inflatable arrived today. 2 working days to get here is not bad for a "next day" delivery to the Highlands.

It weighs about 15Kg and packs down into a small enough space I'm sure I could find a home for it somewhere inside my boat.

It's actually categorised under the RCD as category D. I don't know why I was surprised to find it categorised, I guess anything that floats has to be these days. That rates it for sheltered coastal waters, which pretty much describes the intended use.

It took no more than 10 minutes to inflate it manually with the supplied stirrup pump. I'm not sure inflating it in the cockpit of my little boat will be logistically easy, which is why I favour the idea of trying to tow it. Though I do note the manual specifically says "never tow from any vehicle", well I'll pretend I didn't read that if I ever try it.

It can take an outboard motor up to 1.5HP but I didn't buy the optional motor bracket. This is strictly for rowing.

So tomorrow, I'm taking it to the seaside to try rowing it around the harbour. I could take it to the sea closer to home, but dion't fancy trying it without a LJ, and they live on the boat.

 

[aquaplane]

I have blown my Bombard up on the coach roof, it's a bit less floppy than across the foredeck where it's only supported by the guard wires, and then only when it's fairly well blown up.



20' boat.

I did the same on the First 18 too.

 

[prv]

I blow my dinghy up on its side, along the side-deck. You don't need a flat open area, after all they're not heavy. Main problem is if the hose on the pump is too short, but the normal cheap stirrup-pumps these days seem to have long enough hoses as standard compared to the old foot-pumps.

Pete

 

[snowleopard]

Cheapo dinghies can be hard to row because of the quality of the oars and rowlocks. If you find it doesn't work well, try a kayak paddle.

 

[ProDave]

Well I went rowing in my Intex Excursion 3 today.

Very pleased with it. It felt very stable and rowed as well as I expected, even with it's cheap little oars. I rowed out to the swing moorings and back, easilly much further than I ever intend using it in an anchoring situation.

Okay there was only me in it, so it might be different with 2 adults and a child, and it was a nice calm day with only light wind.

I then rowed back into the harbour and tied up to my boat. Transfer from tender to boat was no problem.

Finally I lifted the inflatable onto the yacht and deflated it and packed it away. That bit was not so easy, and confirms my view then when we try outings where we are likely to use the inflatable, we will inflate it first and tow it.

So now all I want is a nice warm summer day with light winds to put that plan into acton.

 

[VicS]

Very glad to hear you are pleased with it.

I like to keep a small inflatable on board. It's there if I want it. If I don't need it it stays stowed away. When I do want to use it it is not that big a job to inflate it and pack it away again afterwards.
When the ½ gets a bit bigger its his/her job!

You will find it is not so easy to row with 2½ people.

You may have to experiment a bit to find how best to tow it.

You really need an attachment point for the painter low down on the bow so that it is lifted slightly. You might find it is best towed on a very short painter.