Mirror Dinghy as a Tender

[Laminar Flow]

Yes but a light weight inflatable can’t really be rowed very well can it?

True, but no worse than a smallish hard bottom with 2 or 3 people and the shopping in it. Once the transom is submerged you're effectively done with the efficient rowing part.
Our inflatable is significantly lighter, more buoyant, stable and practical than the previous model. The ancient 2-stroke covers the distance when required.

 

[Wing Mark]

The question has basically been prompted by the fact that I need a tender that can be rowed easily and dragged up a shingle beach and I don’t know of any inflatables that do row well, especially in a bit of a breeze. The tender will be left on a mooring when I sail so dragging it aboard isn’t on the list of requirements. As far as the weight of a Mirror goes, I don’t think there are many 10ft dinghies that weigh less than 45kg. GRP ones are going to weigh in at more than that. Slightly larger I know but I think an Orkney Angler 11 clocks in at something like 74kg.

In the 90s I used to sail with a few people who kept two tenders, a GRP one for getting to the boat, like you, left on the mooring, and a rubber dinghy on board for going ashore when away from home.
A lot of talk about rowing and getting fit, but Yamaha ruled the waves in reality.
There are plenty of lightly built no-name 10/11/12ft GRP tenders out there which row OK and take a 2-4HP outboard.
Mirrors are great, but the cheap ones are getting long in the tooth and were not made of great plywood in the first place.
I think there are a lot of dodgy old mirrors out there weighing a good bit more than the class minimum.
If you get a good one ,shame to drag it up the beach. If you get a mediocre one, the beach will take a severe toll on the ply and the glass tape and all that.
With a hard tender, you need to sort some good fendering. Foam pipe insulation, some old canvas or sail cloth or fire hose should sort it.

How far from beach to mooring?
Put some longer oars on a rubber boat and it's not so bad to row.
But i think I'd look for a grp dinghy of some sort.

 

[Kukri]

These are better:



This one is thirty years old. Sails nicely, too.

 

[Wing Mark]

These are better:



This one is thirty years old. Sails nicely, too.

I wouldn't want to drag that up a beach, a) because I wouldn't want to be the one fixing the paintwork and b) because it looks b'stard heavy.
And if you left it on some moorings for a weekend it would get pinched.

Tenders do a rough old job, a rough old boat is ideal.

By the way there are probably some old gopher types having a fit about your yellow plastic oar collars.

 

[Kukri]

I wouldn't want to drag that up a beach, a) because I wouldn't want to be the one fixing the paintwork and b) because it looks b'stard heavy.
And if you left it on some moorings for a weekend it would get pinched.

Tenders do a rough old job, a rough old boat is ideal.

By the way there are probably some old gopher types having a fit about your yellow plastic oar collars.

90lbs. She won’t get pinched, because, carved under the thwart in mirror writing, are the words “Stolen From…” and she is distinctive.

I take your point but rough old tenders drown more people than anything else.

 

[future_sailor]

In the 90s I used to sail with a few people who kept two tenders, a GRP one for getting to the boat, like you, left on the mooring, and a rubber dinghy on board for going ashore when away from home.
A lot of talk about rowing and getting fit, but Yamaha ruled the waves in reality.
There are plenty of lightly built no-name 10/11/12ft GRP tenders out there which row OK and take a 2-4HP outboard.
Mirrors are great, but the cheap ones are getting long in the tooth and were not made of great plywood in the first place.
I think there are a lot of dodgy old mirrors out there weighing a good bit more than the class minimum.
If you get a good one ,shame to drag it up the beach. If you get a mediocre one, the beach will take a severe toll on the ply and the glass tape and all that.
With a hard tender, you need to sort some good fendering. Foam pipe insulation, some old canvas or sail cloth or fire hose should sort it.

How far from beach to mooring?
Put some longer oars on a rubber boat and it's not so bad to row.
But i think I'd look for a grp dinghy of some sort.

I’d love a suitable GRP dinghy of some sort, it’s finding one that’s the trouble. A Leslie Marine or a Moorhen or something perhaps.

 

[James_Calvert]

I’d love a suitable GRP dinghy of some sort, it’s finding one that’s the trouble. A Leslie Marine or a Moorhen or something perhaps.

Look out for a Bonwitco 320. Quite a premium boat in its time, and there were even sailing versions of earlier single skinned versions. And it planes one up with a 4 hp.

 

[William_H]

I have always used a hard dinghy to row to boat on swing mooring. Always left on mooring. (hint very long painter makes for easy pick up on return with dinghy aft of boat when both attached)
Hard dinghy has disadvantage of being more tricky to get into and out of dinghy compared to inflatable (being more stable with weight on side)
I use an aluminium dinghy more common in Oz than I think in UK. At 12ft is quite light. However I fitted a pair of wheels on the transom facing upwards so when dinghy is tipped upside down it sits on the wheels. Much easier to pull up the beach. But I can then tow it with my "Shoprider" mobility scooter to and from home. (gets a cheer from picnickers) Quite a sight. Ali dionghy rows quite well but is pretty slow with 5 people on board.
However ali is not as tough as you might imagine and I am always chasing leaks (cracks) in front bottom of dinghy where it runs up on shore. Dinghy is old. So a mirror would need lots of reinforcing to resist rocks etc. ol'will

 

[Bajansailor]

@future_sailor how many crew does this dinghy have to be able to carry in one trip?

The Sport Yaks are fairly indestructible and row well - here is a link to the larger version which they claim can carry 3 people -
Bic Sport Yak 245 | Rigid Dinghy | Boatworld UK

Also here -
Dinghies: Best stable & ultra-durable tenders for the harbour, fishing and fun at the beach | TAHE

If you are thinking about building yourself a dinghy, this Chameleon dinghy is a wonderful design. I built myself a smaller version (7'10" long) and it rows beautifully.
Chameleon Nesting Dinghy Plans PDF

Of course Duckworks (and many other designers / suppliers) have a huge range of plans available for building dinghies.

 

[Laminar Flow]

While I cannot speak to the Sport Yack 245, I can and at some length comment on the Sport Yack 213. My Father, apparently the victim of an extraordinarily shallow learning curve, owned, in succession, a whole fleet of the wretched things.

While I am not given to conspiracy theories, I do believe the 213 is the work of the devil.
I'm not sure where the idea evolved that they are supposedly "ultra-durable". Our local cruising area features shingle beaches and rocky shores and the average life expectancy of the craft is +- two years. They are virtually irreparable once they are holed. If the 245 is, as I presume, made of the same plastic material, I very much doubt it to be any more durable.

The 213 would only row well if one were to have one's legs amputated at the knees; they do tend to get in the way. That still will not save you from getting a wet *ss in any kind of chop greater than 10cm and even then it will be touch and go.

On the upside they tow well and are unsinkable, at least until the paper-thin bottom has been sanded through on the shingle beach. Also, they are light enough to give you the false confidence you could actually pick it up to carry it up the beach or slippery ramp where you are guaranteed to fall and injure your back.

 

[Arcady]

While I cannot speak to the Sport Yack 245, I can and at some length comment on the Sport Yack 213. My Father, apparently the victim of an extraordinarily shallow learning curve, owned, in succession, a whole fleet of the wretched things.

While I am not given to conspiracy theories, I do believe the 213 is the work of the devil.
I'm not sure where the idea evolved that they are supposedly "ultra-durable". Our local cruising area features shingle beaches and rocky shores and the average life expectancy of the craft is +- two years. They are virtually irreparable once they are holed. If the 245 is, as I presume, made of the same plastic material, I very much doubt it to be any more durable.

The 213 would only row well if one were to have one's legs amputated at the knees; they do tend to get in the way. That still will not save you from getting a wet *ss in any kind of chop greater than 10cm and even then it will be touch and go.

On the upside they tow well and are unsinkable, at least until the paper-thin bottom has been sanded through on the shingle beach. Also, they are light enough to give you the false confidence you could actually pick it up to carry it up the beach or slippery ramp where you are guaranteed to fall and injure your back.

I agree wholeheartedly, an awful thing to use.

At the risk of slight thread drift, my father tells a fine anecdote of being moored in some Brittany anchorage, when out of the early morning mist appears an upright tombstone, drifting slowly towards the boat. It turned out to be a Sportyak 213, tethered by a short line to a concrete block. The tide had come in and the now vertical dinghy had drifted off … ??

 

[Stemar]

They are virtually irreparable once they are holed.

That applies to most plastic (not GRP) boats. Worse, many have double skins and fill with water between the skins when holed.

I don't think the perfect tender exists. It needs to be lightweight, but carry heavy loads and have a bombproof hull to resist rocks and beaches. It needs to row easily in strong winds, plane with a tiny outboard, and be tiny to fit on the foredeck of a small yacht while big enough to carry a family. Oh, and it needs to be capable of being towed in a F9 gale.

And cheap ?

 

[ashtead]

Having owned a variety of small craft I would suggest a small grp rowing dinghy -lots of people seem to churn them out of molds and add wooden trim -about £300 I guess secondhand? Fine for rowing to mooring or pottering there with trusty 2 stroke of choice-otherwise buy a secondhand Avon and have fun replacing the valves etc over winter nights. My tender of choice would perhaps be a Highfield if I had davits or a folding boat in sections but pricey.

 

[future_sailor]

Look out for a Bonwitco 320. Quite a premium boat in its time, and there were even sailing versions of earlier single skinned versions. And it planes one up with a 4 hp.

They're a good boat but they're heavy.

 

[future_sailor]

Having owned a variety of small craft I would suggest a small grp rowing dinghy -lots of people seem to churn them out of molds and add wooden trim -about £300 I guess secondhand? Fine for rowing to mooring or pottering there with trusty 2 stroke of choice-otherwise buy a secondhand Avon and have fun replacing the valves etc over winter nights. My tender of choice would perhaps be a Highfield if I had davits or a folding boat in sections but pricey.

I haven't been able to find a good seconhand one unfortunately.

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes but a light weight inflatable can’t really be rowed very well can it?

An Avon certainly can. I have owned 2. The first since I was 12 years old & rowed it for miles around the River Blackwater. I have rowed my current Redcrest miles.That includes down the River Tweed from Coldstream to the mouth which was fun.

 

[Daydream believer]

I haven't been able to find a good seconhand one unfortunately.

Try TCS chandlery at Grays, essex. They collected all the abandoned dinghies from Bradwell marina ( originally bound for the skip) for refurbish & resale. May have one left. You could inquire at any marina for an abandoned one & get it for a tenner. ( that is what TCS paid per dinghy)

 

[Daydream believer]

It is dead easy to make a simple launching trolley for a dinghy out of stuff recovered from broken trailers at a sailing club etc. A pair of wheels are cheap.
But if towing a mirror may I suggest that you do NOT put the centre board down. Use a close fitting flush plug only.

 

[Kelpie]

Agree with the comment that there is no perfect tender.
We have an 11ft nesting plywood dinghy. Pros: faster and more efficient under either oars or motor, good load carrying capacity, less likely to get stolen. Cons: heavy, I worry about how long it will last, need to be careful about fendering.

It was fun to build and I'm sure it will be fun to sail too, if I ever get time to finish the rig ..

 

[future_sailor]

Try TCS chandlery at Grays, essex. They collected all the abandoned dinghies from Bradwell marina ( originally bound for the skip) for refurbish & resale. May have one left. You could inquire at any marina for an abandoned one & get it for a tenner. ( that is what TCS paid per dinghy)

I’ll give both of these things a try.