how do you tow a dinghy

[boaterbaz]

I have two dinghys, a rubber dubber and a plastic tender to go to and fro to the mooring. When we go beaching in mother ship its only a short sail so tend to tow one or other of dinghies.
The plastic one we tow on a long painter and the dubber by using the two eyes on either side kept as short as possible not to foul the transom hung rudder.
Now then formanites, how do you pull yours for minimum drag maximum stability?

 

[TQA]

10 ft rib only towed in benign conditions.

I use a long tow set so the dink is on the front of the third wave behind the boat.

 

[Monique]

Much as above... but we use a floating line

 

[Medusa25]

Try it on the pulpit with the gunwale of the inflatable hanging on to it, tied on of course. no drag as not towing it and can't hold water like if it were on davits as it is on its side. Works for me any ho.

 

[Seajet]

I'm not sure if this was Medusa 25's thinkig, probably was,

but if you really have to tow, pull the inflatable bows up onto the pushpit - it wouldn't bother any aerials there or impige on MOB lifebuoys - and make it very secure - including against getting flipped over in wind - , obviously nothing left in the dinghy.

If going any distance - say over a mile, inshore - though, it's much better to deflate the thing and stow it for the journey, avoiding drag - wind & water -and snags if the wind increases against the forecast.

How many times does one see a dinghy being towed by any experienced yotties? Zero, unless it's for a very good reason.

Now I expect we'll hear from our chum Ubergeekian, he tows a dinghy but let's face it his boat is pointy at both ends so presumably he can't even decide on that crucial point, of which is the front ?!

 

[KAL]

Much as above... but we use a floating line

Definitely recommend floating line. Have used since very near miss when manoeuvring astern. No probs since.

Had to rescue a boat last weekend which had experienced a prop wrap on its dinghy painter when coming off their mooring. A great opportunity to meet new folk, but I'd prefer to do this in more conducive circumstances!

 

[lw395]

I found one of the best things about buying a bigger boat was being able to carry the AX3 on the foredeck.
Towing more than a mile or two is just a horrible thing to do. The grief of getting the thing on board if you find the weather getting up soon outweighs the convenience of not having to inflate it so often.
Even a light, empty rubberdub punishes boatspeed, particularly up wind.
We would tow it perhaps when moving from Dartmouth to Dittisham or similar, generally tight against the transom, with a couple of fenders to protect the paint. Generally off to one side to keep the engine exhaust away from it. While mooring up we would move it alongside sometimes, or give it 5m of line.

 

[Salty John]

First Caribbean cruise, 32' boat, no davits, hard dinghy so a pain to stow on deck, we towed a lot - floating line, long tether.
Second cruise, 40' boat with davits. When we did tow we used a bridle with a float on it.
Funnily enough, the only time we ever lost anything from a dinghy was when it was on davits - one of the davit falls broke and the dinghy dropped, depositing all our snorkelling gear and the dinghy pump into the drink never to be seen again.

 

[vyv_cox]

We use two painters, one attached to the centre eye, the other via a bridle to the two outer ones. With both painters kept fairly short one goes to the port cleat, the other to starboard. The dinghy tows well like this and is stable. We have towed it much of the way across the Med, rarely putting it on deck where it is a confounded nuisance on our boat. It has only ever capsized once, rounding Cape Malea in a very strong blow.

 

[johnalison]

I don't much like towing a dinghy, as much for the extra noise as anything. I would never tow a hard dinghy other than slowly for a very short distance but for my Avon I prefer to haul it up tight to the stern so that its bow is just out of the water. With my setup this works best for me, judging by the amount of pull on its painter.

 

[rivonia]

This is interesting as I have a further question; Those who tow the dinghy do you have the outboard on the dinghy? by the way we do not tow it is up on the davits.

Peter

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Outboard ... never.

Do tow occasionally though. Painter attached to all 3 towing eyes and oversized. Then adjust the painter length so it is surfing down the wake ... most of the time and certainly for long trips it goes upside down on the foredeck.

 

[Medusa25]

I'm not sure if this was Medusa 25's thinkig, probably was,

Sorry I will explain. I ment pushpit not pulpit on its side out the water with it pulled more over the pullpit. Maybe this picture will help.

 

[vyv_cox]

This is interesting as I have a further question; Those who tow the dinghy do you have the outboard on the dinghy? by the way we do not tow it is up on the davits.

Peter

No, never. Further than that, we never leave the outboard on overnight, always stow it on the pushpit before going to bed. I have seen too many capsized by unexpected blows in the small hours.

 

[Salty John]

This is interesting as I have a further question; Those who tow the dinghy do you have the outboard on the dinghy? by the way we do not tow it is up on the davits.

Peter

No, would never tow with the outboard on.

 

[onenyala]

I am on a swinging mooring and if I stowed the dinghy on deck each time I went off the mooring I (70+) would have given up long ago. I remove the engine and tow the dinghy on a shortish line to a bridle. When manoevering I shorten up even more. I have towed in this way in probably up to a 5/6 with no drama. When moored with the dinghy trailing astern and severe weather is forecast I part fill the dinghy with water to stop it flipping.

 

[boaterbaz]

Onenyala, what a simple solution. I keep the boat on a swinging mooring and have had rubber dubbers flipping over. A bit of water in the botom is free and so simple.

 

[Ruffles]

I've towed our 9' hard dinghy for years. Only once had a major problem. A following sea caused it to occasionally catch up with us. I now keep an old stretchy climbing rope aboard - which naturally I've never needed.

A good towing eye is essential; fitted low so that a sudden tug at the wrong moment lifts the bow.

 

[Greenheart]

Did anyone ever use mooring whips? Not that they'd reduce drag, but with one holding the dinghy's stern back, and the painter tied as normally, it'd keep the tender from veering about under tow, and there'd be no danger of impact damage from or to the tender.

 

[Seajet]

Did anyone ever use mooring whips? Not that they'd reduce drag, but with one holding the dinghy's stern back, and the painter tied as normally, it'd keep the tender from veering about under tow, and there'd be no danger of impact damage from or to the tender.

Dan,

well I've never seen those type of 'mooring whips' before, but I use a similar effect with plastic tubing over my rigid dinghy painter, what I call 'sproinging effect' keeping it away from the boat.

The 'whip moorings' I know are to keep small boats in a channel, with a pulley block on a sinker out in the channel, then an endless, doubled line, so one can pull the boat into the shore when tide allows, or disembark and pull the boat out into the deeper - also hopefully less yob friendly - position.