best way of towing your dinghy

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dilly

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hi do you tow your dinghy or pull it on bored when out sailing if you tow what do you think is the best way .1 or 2 lines x over ,up close or use a lot of line what do you think guys thanks dilly
 
No black art. We often tow the dinghy astern. Use a single line, usually the dinghy's own painter. You can then change it from one quarter to the other when berthing. Keep the tow short when manoeuvring, veering the tow line to about 3-4 metres (usually just aft of the stern wave) when under way. Need to watch towing line very carefully when manoeuvring to ensure that it keeps clear of the propeller. Not a good idea to tow the dinghy if waves are more than about 1 metre (around wind force 5 in coastal water) although it has often been done. On the other hand I know people whose dinghy has flipped when towing and been lost.
 
Unless doing a long passage I tow our inflatable close up against the transom. I use snap shackles on a bridle to attach to towing eyes either side of the dinghy.

I did have an inflatable flip many years ago when I was hit by a sudden squall when towing an inflatable by its painter. Sadly it was also the first outing for a new outboard ... outboard survived but I'never towed with one since.
 
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These days we only tow the dinghy when making short trips in good conditions. We've had it flip over on us a couple of times in gusty conditions (luckily no motor on at the time!) and the forces placed on the transom as it caught the water were frightening. We now tend to either pull it on board and fasten it down on the coach house or hoist it at the stern and lash it to the back stays.
 
We either do short passages less then 5 miles, with dinghy towed on painter, or bring it up to transom with the rear of the tubes only in water and the dinghy tied tightly to the pushpit, if less than 10 miles and smooth seas, if slightly rough then the dinghy is brought aboard and deflated and tied on coachroof. its quite easy to end up with a submerged dinghy unable to bring back on board.

but never with the outboard still attached, ticking timebomb waiting for a submerged or lost outboard......
 
There are some who would say that the two best ways to tow a dinghy are either deflated in the locker, or on davits on the back of the boat.

We now have davits so its a moot point.

I have towed a dinghy small distances and also lost a dinghy at night when towing it across the channel. (Stupid mistake 25 years ago that I'd like to think that I'd learned from. Especially as it was someone else's boat I was sailing and therefore someone else's dinghy that I lost and had to replace... )
 
duncan99210 said:
These days we only tow the dinghy when making short trips in good conditions. We've had it flip over on us a couple of times in gusty conditions (luckily no motor on at the time!) and the forces placed on the transom as it caught the water were frightening. We now tend to either pull it on board and fasten it down on the coach house or hoist it at the stern and lash it to the back stays.
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We have found that F5 is enough to flip a rubber duck. For short passages & sheltered water I tie mine to the pushpit so that only the tail touches the water. Long painter towing is generally a no-no as teh risk of flipping is greatly increased as your speed increases & the bows are lifted over the top of the wave.

It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes to slide the dink over the guard rails onto the deck, release the valves & roll it up. It can then easily be teid between the handrails on the cabin top where it is out of the way & safe in a F9! Likewise, unrolling& reinflating on the deck & sliding it over the rail into the water ready to use is another 5 mins at the far end. I have 2 outboards, but actually haven't used either of them for a few years, I anchor close enough to the shore to row, or if the dinghy is full, 2 people paddle. Even if I have the engine it will be removed from the dink & put on the pushpit before we leave harbour.
 
When I started sailing my father had a preference for Maurice Griffiths boats and his pre-war techniques so we towed a solid wooden dinghy in all weathers, coastal and cross-channel. There was a lot of discussion and disagreement in the old books about bridles and towing lengths, towing from under the bow of the dinghy or over - they would have loved forums.

Essentially we used short lines when beating - less than a boat length - and long lines when running so always in separate troughs. Although there was always some water in the dinghy we had not real problems and after fitting a self-draining flap it was fine.

Tried it with our first fully inflatable and it just flipped on high winds so mostly towed it bumping against the stern then mostly deflated.

Currently we have a 3m rib and spend a lot of our sailing at anchor so are back to towing again for daysails and on the foredeck for overnight and longer. We tow about a boat length behind but have the old problem when running of the dinghy surging into the stern so this year (with the aid of a new spinnaker pole) will lift onto the foredeck more often.
 
RupertW said:
We tow about a boat length behind but have the old problem when running of the dinghy surging into the stern so this year (with the aid of a new spinnaker pole) will lift onto the foredeck more often.
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For shorter length tows, and when at anchor, a piece of water pipe over the painter will prevent the dinghy surging into the transom. Not practical on longer tow lines, perhaps.
 
Salty John said:
For shorter length tows, and when at anchor, a piece of water pipe over the painter will prevent the dinghy surging into the transom. Not practical on longer tow lines, perhaps.
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Interesting - not sure what stops the end of the water pipe scraping or splintering on the stern, but some kind of rigid tow sounds good.
 
You don't say what type of dinghy you are considering, but the posts so far have covered a good selection of methods for differing conditions and types. My only comment is that if you're making passage then ideally youwouldn't tow it at all. I forgot my lock one day so didn't want to leave the dink on the mooring when attending a lunchtime rally across from the Hamble on the Medina. Being lazy, I didn't deflate it but towed it (two painters, one to each quarter on the yacht). It was so embarassing being overtaken by so many smaller and slower boats! Just feel the weight on a towline to get an idea of the drag it creates.

Rob.
 
Unless it is a substantially built (inflatable) dinghy I think it is unwise to tow it at all. Towing the average lightly built inflatable is more than they are built to cope with - towing imposes considerable strain on a tender and you'll soon get sick of reattaching the reinforcing patches around the towing eyes, reattaching the bottom when it rips out having half filled with spray or replacing the entire thing when it breaks free unnoticed.

If you want to tow a tender get a hard one. If it's an average light inflatable not much more than across the harbour is a stow it on bored (sic) job imho.

If your transom is big enough Weever davits are brilliant and save a lot of hassle.
 
Our dinghy is just a round-tail Avon Redcrest, and we almost never tow it. We do however just have space on the sidedeck to stow it, fully inflated on its side, up against the deck saloon. That way, it's ready for instant use, which has been good on several occasions. The downside is that it contributes quite a lot of windage.
 
agurney said:
You obviously don't have a crew member who likes to go off collecting pebbles from a secluded bay at short (5 seconds) notice.
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If he can hold on for thirty seconds, I believe my pump may do the job. Haven't actually used it on the dinghy yet, but I'm led to believe that's the kind of time it takes. Certainly the damn thing is so powerful it has recoil when you start it up :D

(Haven't got round to fitting the 32 amp deck socket yet :) )

Pete
 
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