How much does towing a hard dinghy slow you down?

Colvic Watson said:
Crickey some horror stories! I've towed a Walker Bay 8 and 10 in the past and found them to be a nightmare, skating all over the place, shooting forward and the tubes gripping the water so that the towing drag was very noticeable. A bit like but not as bad as an inflatable which are horrible to tow.

Dylan, JD and others' stories are encouraging. Dylan what do you do when you're approaching a harbour or Marina and you need the dinghy on a much shorter tow line but you also need it to not hit the stern?

Reading Magic of the Swatchways MG towed everywhere and only lost it once - in a gale in the North Sea.

How long is your dinghy Dylan?
Click to expand...

The dinghy is just over 9 feet

it is pretty light

I think the synthetic clinker helps a bit as well.

When coming into moorings I just shorten it up a bit

some people put a funnel in the rope that apparently stops the surging - no probs with that yet either

as I say - plan B if it fills with water and goes pear shaped is just to turn the little sucker loose

it only cost me £100

I love having it there and I think a good looking dinghy takes the eye off the clunky old bucket shop centaur

D
 
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I agree, though a Centaur is far from ugly.

Thanks for that and JD. One of the biggest attractions is being able to go off sailing when the mother ship is often just a floating hotel at anchor. Tried a Walker Bay but it has all the compromises and none of the benefits, we have a great Avon solid hull RIB about 25 years old and amazingly light but no one is going to say "I feel like going for a row in the RIB" :D

The davits are rated for 100kg max and that means carrying a 12 foot wooden or plastic clinker is a no go. And I agree about clinker and how it aids directional stability.

Thanks everyone, it's given us the courage to go for it, we'll report back with photos.

BTW - obviously floating, but what sort of line do you use for towing?
 
I used a Tinker Traveller on my CW. It lifted on board easily, is a bomb-proof dinghy for runs ashore, and the sailing version has creditable performance if you have one with the later mast and sail version.


Mine is still in the shed and will be for sale fairly soon :)
 
I would echo the feelings of my fellow East Coasters.

Perhaps it's because of the short and steep stuff. The OP would know all about that but will probably be ok due to the nature of the mother ship.

It's rare to see people towing hard dinghys on the East Coast other than dog owners.
I gave up about 15 years ago but recently tried it again for a couple of days but hated it.

Everything changed for me when both suck and blow 12v pumps became cheap and available.
 
we used to tow a 10ft clinker built wooden dinghy behind a 27ft boat

it was a PITA - ramming stern etc, or would veer off if on a really long painter

we put a solid 8 or 10' s/s 10mm dia bar between dinghy bow and boat's stern, towed great after that.

never really solved the problem of water ingress tho - waves in top or leaks in bottom. i was the volunteer to bale in fairly ropey sea conditions on occasion. nowadays we would probably cut her loose. but we couldn't afford to then :-)

not sure i would like to be out in a gale towing tho. we avoided that by coastal sailing (kids on board etc, ie me!)
 
The lighter the better for towing.
This is my 7'10" Eastport Pram, 60lbs, never rams the boat, have towed through heavy weather.
38228116d71c9e06a71f277978797a02_zpsme2iyd55.jpg
 
Smaller than you're thinking of, but the 'big' Seahopper takes two adult for sailing, and sails pretty much the same as a Mirror, yet would be easy (ish) to get aboard when needed.
 
I have three points to make.
1. Before inflatables were invented everyone towed hard dinghies, with and without problems.
2. When inflatables were invented, most people began to use them.
3. The proliferation of marinas has made tenders less than necessary, and more problematic to tow.
 
Well now for No 3, it really depends where you sail.
I sailed without for a while, I sure missed having one.
Currently the convenience of an inflatable wins. I definitely preferred rowing a hard.
 
I remember back in the late 60s (as a child) towing an 8ft clinker pram behind our 22ft Dauntless, that was after the optimist my parents used as a tender filled and broke adrift in heavy weather at night off beachy head. That must have slowed us enormously, but there was no alternative then.

Seeing Dylan's picture reminded me that we kept the rig and used it on a series of dinghies for the next 30 odd years, the sail number was a bit earlier (OP 50).
 
Depends on the underwater shape... A mate has a beautiful 10' dinghy that he moulded using the shape of the old OYC tenders for the 72 footers. It weighs about 30 kg because he's a professional hi tech boat builder, and you can stand on the gunwhale (yes, even me). It has very flat sections and planes when being towed, but with the 42' cat he has, it's generally lifted out and lies upturned on the starboard foredeck
 
I recently the pleasure of going aboard a min transat yacht. The owner told me of his first sail in her on a breezy day. She quickly hit speeds in the teens when a crew said "you know we are still towing the dinghy"
It was a heavy GRP dinghy and nearly pulled the transom out.
 
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