How far is too far in your dinghy?

RichardS

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Sailors on this forum often refer to town x being a long dinghy ride from anchorage y - but I often wonder whether my instinct about how far is too far is the same as anyone else's?

The furthest the family and I have dinghied in our small 9 ft inflatable with a 5HP outboard is about 2 miles so perhaps a 15-20 minute ride. That was across to a restaurant so we knew we would be coming back in the dark. Because we were crossing across open sea between two islands, rather than hugging the coast, I was conscious that if the engine failed it could be a long row either way and the thing doesn't row very well. This is the Med so no tide and the sea was warmish and calm although there is always the risk that 3 or 4 hours later when returning the conditions might not be quite so good.

We always take a couple of torches with us but I am not ashamed to admit that it does feel very very exposed at night with a mile to land in either direction.

Am I being a wimp here - is everyone else scooting around for miles offshore with gay abandon? Or am I being a bit reckless with even a 2 mile dinghy ride and should perhaps think again?

Not a troll - just interested! :)

Richard
 

rickym

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10-15 mins on the OB is usually far enough especially if it is blowing. Who wants to get wet and cold?

I think the shortest is from the outside pontoons at St Peter port or the unconnected HM pontoons at Dartmouth. About 4-5 strokes from the oars. Took longer to blow up the dink!
 

prv

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Would depend on the dinghy - In recent years I've only had really rubbish ones, such that I might as well try to get to the moon as cross two miles of open sea :)

Pete
 

john_morris_uk

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How long is too long surely depends on the wind and the weather and the occasion...

If its cold and wet and blowing old boots, then a moments in the dinghy is a pain in the backside. Even a few metres to get ashore is a few metres too much.

Occasionally we have been on a mooring down in Plymouth and I have motored the dinghy all the way up the Tamar to Saltash (several miles?) to go and get a spare or something, rather than take the boat back to its mooring with all the hassle that entails.

i must confess that our attitude to the dinghy has changed dramatically due to two things.

Firstly when we changed our dinghy to a bigger Avon with an air-deck floor and bigger tubes. It planes and because the tubes are bigger, you don't often get a wet backside.

Secondly when we fitted davits to the boat. It means the dinghy is always ready to drop in the water with the outboard already fitted and ready to go. Its a moments work and it makes anchoring or picking up a buoy and going ashore very easy and convenient.
 

Evadne

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I only row my dinghy (avon redcrest) and more than half an hour is getting to be long enough. Mind you, half an hour along the Beaulieu river in June is about the same as 5 minutes in the open sea in a January gale. And only if it's downwind!
 

Ruffles

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Every other year I leave the boat at Haslar for the Winter. I then use the dinghy back to Wicormarine at the top of Portsmouth harbour. So basically the full length of the harbour in a 7' displacement dinghy with a 2hp engine.

I wear a buoyancy aid rather than a life jacket so figure I can always swim to a boat on a mooring if I sink. The outboard has never failed though it rows well enough to do the whole trip with the oars. I wouldn't try it against the tide!
 

Searush

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I have done longer trips but it isn't something to undertake lightly. I once tried to explore up the Conway river by hard dinghy with the family, but had to abandon when swamped by a Dick Head in a sport boat. Not a pleasant experience with 2 small kids on board.

If I want to visit a location, I try to anchor there & sometimes get close enough to be able to walk ashore when the tide goes out. I may decide not to stay overnight if the weather or shelter doesn't suit tho'.
 

Signed Out

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How long is too long surely depends on the wind and the weather and the occasion...

Oh yes indeed...

icy1sm.jpg


Feel guilty posting this, but that reply made me think of this icebreaker I saw, going from the pontoon behind him to the slipway ahead. Not an easy journey.
 

snowleopard

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I have never yet had an inflatable that was any good under oars. I once ran out of petrol as a result of carelessness and was totally unable to make against wind and tide. On another occasion I hit the prop against a rock and lost it. On both occasions I had to have help to get back. When we were in Antigua a man was lost travelling between two boats a few hundred yards apart and his boat was found upturned 20 miles downwind.

That is the main reason for building a rigid dinghy that can be rowed in other than benign conditions and sailed as well.

In an inflatable my answer to the OP would be that I wouldn't go beyond my ability to get back under oars.
 

prv

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Be lovely to have room to carry a rigid.

The Two Paw nester is 4 foot long, 4 foot wide (max; other end is 3'4" I think) and 20" high. I think I could *just* fit one onto my foredeck, a small 24 footer. I hope so, anyway, as the plans are on their way to me :D

Assembled, it's an 8 foot pram that's supposed to row fairly well.

Pete
 

Signed Out

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Don't think I could fit that.

Always remember the designs in (Dick Everitt's?) Sketchbook that show this type of dinghy, and the ones that act as half a coachroof, or fill a cockpit. Think you'd need a Maurice Griffiths design (or similar) for something along those lines to work, at least aesthetically.
 

prv

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Don't think I could fit that.

Really? Your beam is less than four foot?

Granted, this thing will be a major embuggerance to anchoring and mooring, and I don't plan to keep it on board at all times. The idea is to put it on deck for the voyage down to Cornwall, then mostly tow it for local daysails unless it's particularly rough. Back home in the Solent, it'll stay in my shed.

Pete
 

Seajet

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There's no way I could carry a rigid dinghy.

It's perhaps missed here that as 'Hypalon', the Dupont material, is no longer produced we're stuck with either Chinese small diametre-tubed inflatables, or paying mega-bucks for decent sized tenders.

I have a Zodiac 240 with large dia' tubes; it's been a brilliant boat, but is now getting near its' sell by date; I don't know about you, but I find the replacement cost of near on £1,000 a bit steep !

I'm thinking of a lightweight ( weight is another consideration, both for the 'mother ship', and handling the thing ) inflatable for use on weekend trips, and using the Zodiac on holiday cruises.
 
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Mudisox

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10 foot rigid and I always row as the 2hp outboard is a pain to transfer and start and fuel up and lock up and .....
I find that 30 mins rowing is enough to satisfy the ego in my effort to decrease the waistline. I tend to notice also if there are other people onboard so the dog can swim.
 

Kelpie

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I found the limits of my patience/endurance last summer... in an Avon redcrest with no floor, with a couple of large passengers and two large dogs aboard... and no outboard. A twice daily half mile trip ashore was plenty, thankyouverymuch. Towards the end I started chucking the dogs overboard as soon as I thought we were close enough.
 

JayBee

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It's perhaps missed here that as 'Hypalon', the Dupont material, is no longer produced we're stuck with either Chinese small diametre-tubed inflatables, or paying mega-bucks for decent sized tenders.

Sad if true. Avon are still advertising Hypalon-Neoprene built inflatables in their 2011 catalogue. There are other manufacturers of this material (CSM), so perhaps all is not lost.

I don't mind taking my outboard driven inflatable a long way to windward of my starting point. Drifting, paddling, sailing back (golf umbrella) is usually no problem.

:D
 

SHUG

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Ahem, lets get the terminology correct shall we!!!

What you are referring to is the boat's tender , not something like a Wayfarer dinghy which has been sailed hundreds of miles.
 
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