Best way to secure a tender when going ashore

[SimonFa]

So in my second season I'm now planning on doing some overnight anchoring (as opposed to sticking to marinas) and I've just bough a tender (thanks to all those who commented on that thread).

One thing that they don't (need to) teach on the RYA courses is the best thing to do with the tender, ors and even life jackets when going ashore.

Any thoughts most appreciated. It looks like my first over-nighter will be Lulworth Cove or Sea Horse massacaring* at Studland and we plan to go ashore to eat.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

* For the SHT that's meant as a joke.

 

[Sailfree]

So in my second season I'm now planning on doing some overnight anchoring (as opposed to sticking to marinas) and I've just bough a tender (thanks to all those who commented on that thread).

One thing that they don't (need to) teach on the RYA courses is the best thing to do with the tender, ors and even life jackets when going ashore.

Any thoughts most appreciated. It looks like my first over-nighter will be Lulworth Cove or Sea Horse massacaring* at Studland and we plan to go ashore to eat.


Thanks in advance,

Simon

* For the SHT that's meant as a joke.

Be interested in answers as we hope to do more from anchor.

We came unstuck in S Brittany though with going for long meal. got back to dinghy in evening and lack of sunlight/heat it had deflated quite a bit and it was a long way from the water at low tide!

Do others take pump?

Do you padlock outboard to transom?

Do you even padlock dinghy to a pad onshore?

 

[snowleopard]

In the UK we tend to padlock the outboard to the dinghy but not the dinghy to the pontoon. In the Caribbean we did both.

Having a rigid dinghy that rows well I only take the outboard if it's a long way. I do lock the oars if leaving it anywhere other than a public place in daylight as they are so easily portable.

Another precaution is that the oars and the cowl of the outboard are painted bright green. No chance of anyone claiming they own them.

 

[NormanS]

The only precautions that I take, are to tie the oars in, and to either use an anchor, or make fast with the painter, so that the dinghy can't float away, or be blown away. We don't have potential theft problems.

 

[Leighb]

We lock the outboard to the dinghy and the lifejackets also, using a flexible cable lock, and of course secure the dinghy to the shore, or if a beach, carry it up above HWM.

 

[jac]

Outboard is always locked. Either to it's bracket on the boat or to the transom of the dinghy.
Oars are attached but only by the hole and pins.
If going any distance in the dinghy will always have the fuel can with spare fuel. Leave that in the dinghy.
We always wear lifejacket in dinghy mainly to set an example to the children. Take a small rucksack and carry life jackets in that if going to pub. I have seen them left in dinghys with a long cable (like a bike lock) but never felt the need myself.

 

[NUTMEG]

I have a retired forestay, roughly 24' long that happened to have hard eyes spliced both ends. With a good padlock it makes a good and long cable lock to deter casual tealeafs. Being long it allows the dinghy to be moved away from busy pontoons etc. just a thought. Keep it in the dinghy but never used it!

 

[Kelpie]

Reading this thread makes me feel quite lucky. Leave boots, oilies, lifejackets, outboard (on the rare occasions we use it), oars, all in or under the dinghy. Have happily done this whilst hitching a lift into the nearest village for the day, and so far everything has always been there on our return.
I suppose when we finally head south we will have to change our ways
Is there a scrote 'grazing line' on the map, and if so, where is it!?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Reading this thread makes me feel quite lucky. Leave boots, oilies, lifejackets, outboard (on the rare occasions we use it), oars, all in or under the dinghy. Have happily done this whilst hitching a lift into the nearest village for the day, and so far everything has always been there on our return.

+1

 

[Bodach na mara]

Depends on where you land I suppose. We have had no problems in lots of places up the west coast of Scotland, but within the Clyde we are more wary. We have had the dinghy set loose in Millport (twice) and got back to it with the shopping in Rothesay to find some yobs had slid it down the beach and were about to take off in it.

 

[ip485]

An interesting thread. I have thought about the same issue with regards to going further afield.

Have you seen the "proper" outboard locks. I think these are worth the investment in that they are simple to fit and remove but it would seem very difficult to cut off - albeit probably not impossible. On the other hand most other cable / chain locks are susceptible to cutters or grinders. At least that keeps the outboard and tender as one piece.

I guess there is not much for it than then to attach the tender to the "mooring" with the best cable / chain / lock you can. At least that way there is quite a lot to put the would be tea leaf off.

I did think about one of these devices that can be purchased pretty cheaply that links two objects together electronically so if you move one a few feet from the other it sets off a very loud alarm. That could be useful either in terms of leading the person to think they had / might be spotted or alerting you if you were still close by. Haven't tried one out yet but readily available on flea bay and easy to use. Could be particularly useful when tender left attached to back of boat and everyone sleeping below at night - tenders have a habit of going missing in those circumstances in the middle of the night!

 

[john_morris_uk]

I'm going to put in my regular plea that whatever you do with the dinghy and your possessions when you leave it at the dock while you go shopping etc, you leave the tender on a LONG painter. One of the most selfish acts of a cruising yachtsman is to tie their dinghy up short at the pontoon. Leave it on a long painter so that it can nudged to onside and allow others to disembark. When they leave their dinghy on a long painter then you will have room to pull your dinghy in and leave as well. The most heinous crime is when someone ties their dinghy fore and aft along a pontoon!!

If you feel you must lock the dinghy to the slip/pontoon/dock then get a long s/s flexible cable and lock it with that.

PS We always lock the outboard to the dinghy and we have a locker that goes under the seat in the dinghy for the lifejackets.

 

[NUTMEG]

I'm going to put in my regular plea that whatever you do with the dinghy and your possessions when you leave it at the dock while you go shopping etc, you leave the tender on a LONG painter. One of the most selfish acts of a cruising yachtsman is to tie their dinghy up short at the pontoon. Leave it on a long painter so that it can nudged to onside and allow others to disembark. When they leave their dinghy on a long painter then you will have room to pull your dinghy in and leave as well. The most heinous crime is when someone ties their dinghy fore and aft along a pontoon!!

If you feel you must lock the dinghy to the slip/pontoon/dock then get a long s/s flexible cable and lock it with that.

PS We always lock the outboard to the dinghy and we have a locker that goes under the seat in the dinghy for the lifejackets.

That's my thinking behind the use of an old shroud/forestay as a cable. Not impregnable but will put off the average tealeaf, who simply fancies a joyride.

 

[Jamesuk]

Get the wheels on the transom. As for securing it. In the med I just drop the stern anchor out and have a long bow line to tie to a rock.

 

[prv]

Reading this thread makes me feel quite lucky. Leave boots, oilies, lifejackets, outboard (on the rare occasions we use it), oars, all in or under the dinghy.

To be fair, we never used to lock up charter-boat dinghies and outboards in Devon and Cornwall and never had any trouble.

On our own boat, we have a padlock hanging on the outboard clamps which I sometimes do up, but usually don't have the key to hand so don't bother. In the dinghy kit there is an old mizzen shroud and a second padlock, which we could use to lock the dinghy to a pontoon if needed (as John said, you need a long wire so that you're not that ******** with a short painter). But so far I've not been ashore anywhere I felt the need to use that.

I don't think I would leave our expensive lifejackets lying around in the dinghy in most towns. Maybe somewhere like Braye, which feels quite trustworthy and the dinghy pontoon is tucked away and not front-and-centre for idle chancers. But I've sidestepped the issue anyway by buying a set of tatty-looking (but sound) old buoyancy aids which are not worth nicking, and arguably better in a dinghy dunking anyway.

Pete

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I'm going to put in my regular plea that whatever you do with the dinghy and your possessions when you leave it at the dock while you go shopping etc, you leave the tender on a LONG painter. One of the most selfish acts of a cruising yachtsman is to tie their dinghy up short at the pontoon. Leave it on a long painter so that it can nudged to onside and allow others to disembark. When they leave their dinghy on a long painter then you will have room to pull your dinghy in and leave as well. The most heinous crime is when someone ties their dinghy fore and aft along a pontoon!!

If you feel you must lock the dinghy to the slip/pontoon/dock then get a long s/s flexible cable and lock it with that.

PS We always lock the outboard to the dinghy and we have a locker that goes under the seat in the dinghy for the lifejackets.

Agreed.

I often untie the guilty dinghies and re-tie them with the painter at full stretch.
If they only have a short painter I have tied them onto boats at the back of the queue.

The other crime is to tilt the outboard so that the split pin on the propellor can puncture other inflatables.

 

[BobnLesley]

...tie their dinghy up short at the pontoon...

Or the American favourite: A short painter at the bow and a short chain to the stern/outboard so that it sits alongside the quay[pontoon; if it's a high quay, the spot of choice is athwart the ladders!

 

[Kukri]

Reading this thread makes me feel quite lucky. Leave boots, oilies, lifejackets, outboard (on the rare occasions we use it), oars, all in or under the dinghy. Have happily done this whilst hitching a lift into the nearest village for the day, and so far everything has always been there on our return.
I suppose when we finally head south we will have to change our ways
Is there a scrote 'grazing line' on the map, and if so, where is it!?

+2.

All I have ever done has been to put the rowlocks in my pocket.

 

[Robin]

Be interested in answers as we hope to do more from anchor.

We came unstuck in S Brittany though with going for long meal. got back to dinghy in evening and lack of sunlight/heat it had deflated quite a bit and it was a long way from the water at low tide!

Do others take pump?

Do you padlock outboard to transom?

Do you even padlock dinghy to a pad onshore?

One plus of many in S Brittany is that times of HW/Lw are pretty much the same along the coast so once you get used to the time of one place on one day a little mental maths will give you an idea for subsequent days, can always look at the plotter data and/or almanac for more precision. Then if going ashore on the beach as we did frequently in places like Houat we ashore woulld try and time our expedition to the store going ashore say an hour before local LW then we woul return to the dinghy roughly the same tine post LW and it should not be too far up from where it would float without a long portage. we used to go ashore in shorts and wearing Crocs with bare feet but with socks to put on when ashore. so we could wade a tad therefore if needs be, we also had an old towel in a plastic bag in the dinghy so we could rinse the sand off our feet and dry them off before re-socking and marching to the store, we never had a sock nicked if we left them in the dink and went naked footed either.

WE did not padlock the motorto the dinghy nor the dinghy to the shore, and never suffered loss ofanything including oars. Nowadays where the villains are bigger and our dinghy is a brand new RIB with a brand new motor, both pricey items to replace we do have the motor cable locked to the dinghy but still don't plan to lock the dinghy to a dock, if it is that risky there will b a better place somewhere else.. We wear lifejackets these days in the dink but have a bag locker under the center thwart to hide those in with a double zipper closure that could be closed with a lock or even simply with cable ties if we wish

In sheltered anchorages close to shore in places like Studland, Swanage , Lulworth et al, it is easier to row ashore and carry the dink up the beach on landing, park it away from any local brats that see it as a great bouncy castle opportunity (as happened to us in Castle Cove Portland) No need found to take an inflatables pump unless you have one that is known to leak, better to fix the leak methinks...

PS to OP SHT do not have a sense of humour so expect your flippant comment to surface in one of their wild accusations in a press handout to the gullible BBC

 

[Poignard]

I'm going to put in my regular plea that whatever you do with the dinghy and your possessions when you leave it at the dock while you go shopping etc, you leave the tender on a LONG painter. One of the most selfish acts of a cruising yachtsman is to tie their dinghy up short at the pontoon. Leave it on a long painter so that it can nudged to onside and allow others to disembark. When they leave their dinghy on a long painter then you will have room to pull your dinghy in and leave as well. The most heinous crime is when someone ties their dinghy fore and aft along a pontoon!!

.

Amen to that! :encouragement: