Bajansailor
Well-Known Member
Those Nestaway dinghies are gorgeous - and probably horrendously expensive.....
Although hopefully they wouldnt be in as much demand by the dink thiefs, who absolutely love small RIBs with 5 - 15 hp on the back.
And a Nestaway dinghy would be light years better for rowing than any RIB.
I have a wee homebuilt 7'6" 2 part nesting dinghy which I plagiarised from Danny Greene's Chameleon - more about them here :
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/designs/greene/cham/index.cfm and
http://www.sailorgirl.com/s/v303_robbie.htm and
http://www.yachtvalhalla.net/gecko/gecko.html
I had mentioned the 8' AB ally RIBs earlier - yes, I think they are the business. A pal of mine lives on his Hunter 28', and he has one of these, which stows happily upside down on the foredeck (albeit with not a lot of space to get to the bow, but it is feasible) - and it is so light, it is easy to get on board even when singlehanded.
Nobody has mentioned this yet, but as soon as you have 2 people on a boat at anchor (and as Dockhead says, you will be at anchor for 99% of the time when you are not sailing) then it becomes very desirable to have a second tender.
Crew can be independent of each other, go and do their own thing without having to worry about being picked up, or worry about being stranded on the boat if somebody else goes ashore.
And then you have a back-up if anything does happen to the main tender - remember also that many dinghies disappear at night, presumed stolen, but very often it is a case of the crew have returned home from a rum drinking session ashore, and 'somebody' forgot to tie the painter on...... yes, it happens often!
Hence it would be well worthwhile having a second tender that can perhaps be rolled up easily - perhaps one of the round tail types? They are much easier to row than an inflatable with a broad transom (which generates loads of form resistance).
If cost is an issue, then forego that extra chart plotter (or some other item of equipment) in favour of a second dinghy.
In fact we have been sailing with 3 tenders on board, and all three of them have been useful - and this is with only 3 or 4 crew on board.
These were the Mini Chameleon mentioned above, an Avon Redcrest, and a wee 6' Wetline roundtail which is ideal for one person to go pottering about in under oar power (not possible to mount an O/B bracket on it).
The Redcrest can be fitted with a 2 hp O/B if the tradewinds are really blowing, or we have a long way to go. The Mini Chameleon will happily overtake (under oar power, going to windward) inflatables with 2 hp engines - and with less splashing......
And it is amazing how other cruiser's attitudes change for the better when they see you rowing through an anchorage, rather than zooming at high speed to traverse the 300 yards to shore.... if you were rowing, you would only be a few minutes later for happy hour in that beach bar, and you will have usefully burned up a few calories with some aerobic exercise that can be enjoyably replenished with rum.....
I have made friends with folk on boats simply because I was paddling along slowly, admiring boats in the anchorage, and having the odd chat along the way.
Although hopefully they wouldnt be in as much demand by the dink thiefs, who absolutely love small RIBs with 5 - 15 hp on the back.
And a Nestaway dinghy would be light years better for rowing than any RIB.
I have a wee homebuilt 7'6" 2 part nesting dinghy which I plagiarised from Danny Greene's Chameleon - more about them here :
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/designs/greene/cham/index.cfm and
http://www.sailorgirl.com/s/v303_robbie.htm and
http://www.yachtvalhalla.net/gecko/gecko.html
I had mentioned the 8' AB ally RIBs earlier - yes, I think they are the business. A pal of mine lives on his Hunter 28', and he has one of these, which stows happily upside down on the foredeck (albeit with not a lot of space to get to the bow, but it is feasible) - and it is so light, it is easy to get on board even when singlehanded.
Nobody has mentioned this yet, but as soon as you have 2 people on a boat at anchor (and as Dockhead says, you will be at anchor for 99% of the time when you are not sailing) then it becomes very desirable to have a second tender.
Crew can be independent of each other, go and do their own thing without having to worry about being picked up, or worry about being stranded on the boat if somebody else goes ashore.
And then you have a back-up if anything does happen to the main tender - remember also that many dinghies disappear at night, presumed stolen, but very often it is a case of the crew have returned home from a rum drinking session ashore, and 'somebody' forgot to tie the painter on...... yes, it happens often!
Hence it would be well worthwhile having a second tender that can perhaps be rolled up easily - perhaps one of the round tail types? They are much easier to row than an inflatable with a broad transom (which generates loads of form resistance).
If cost is an issue, then forego that extra chart plotter (or some other item of equipment) in favour of a second dinghy.
In fact we have been sailing with 3 tenders on board, and all three of them have been useful - and this is with only 3 or 4 crew on board.
These were the Mini Chameleon mentioned above, an Avon Redcrest, and a wee 6' Wetline roundtail which is ideal for one person to go pottering about in under oar power (not possible to mount an O/B bracket on it).
The Redcrest can be fitted with a 2 hp O/B if the tradewinds are really blowing, or we have a long way to go. The Mini Chameleon will happily overtake (under oar power, going to windward) inflatables with 2 hp engines - and with less splashing......
And it is amazing how other cruiser's attitudes change for the better when they see you rowing through an anchorage, rather than zooming at high speed to traverse the 300 yards to shore.... if you were rowing, you would only be a few minutes later for happy hour in that beach bar, and you will have usefully burned up a few calories with some aerobic exercise that can be enjoyably replenished with rum.....
I have made friends with folk on boats simply because I was paddling along slowly, admiring boats in the anchorage, and having the odd chat along the way.