Mirror Dinghy as a Tender

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future_sailor

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Good morning. I’ve heard of people using Mirror dinghies as tenders because they’re light and plentiful but are they fit for purpose? Not being a sailor I’ve got no idea how long they are, what they weigh or how they row? What are people’s opinions?
 
Mirror (dinghy)
Boat
LOA3.30 m (10 ft 10 in)
LWL2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)
Beam1.39 m (4 ft 7 in)

At 45kg for the hull alone, bit big and heavy to bring on board, so you'll probably end up towing, but more fun on an anchorage than a flubber and outboard. I never rowed mine, but I reckon they'd row better than a flubber. Not as stable as an inflatable, but probably better than those little Tupperware dinghies

I know of a few long distance cruisers who use something like this, because it stows more easily Nestaway 8ft Nesting Pram Dinghy – Nestaway Boats, but a Mirror would be way cheaper.
 
They make fairly good tenders. They row well and are good load carriers and have built in bouancy.
But.
You need to add some good fendering.
They aren't very robust and tenders can receive rough treatment especially while stored ashore.
Plywood quite susceptible to rot if rainwater is allowed to collect.
 
My memory of using one as a tender many years ago - for one trip only - was that when towed at displacement speed (probably about 8 knots) it filled up with water through the dagger plate housing. I didn’t think it was particularly light, either, but I was a kid at the time :-)
 
prv said:
Having owned a Mirror as a purely sailing dinghy, I'd say they're usable as a tender but not particularly well-suited.

Pete
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+1
Too long perhaps
Too much buoyancy and not enough space for kit etc.
Very unstable if you stand on the foredeck... as my wife discovered.

A short dummy centre board will plug the cb slot
 
The Mirror dinghy is a compromise of course. It's not the most exciting sailing dinghy and it's not the best tender, but it will serve both purposes for those who want such a boat, and do so better than almost any other. I have never owned a Mirror but I enjoyed sailing a friend's briefly, even getting it to plane up and down off the Rocks. It might have been a better choice for us than the Cadet, whose mast and instability were something of a trial when we towed it around.
 
Great to have with you to sail into the sunset dream but practical nightmare for all the above reasons plus rowing with a wet Croatch is a foretaste of later life
 
DanTribe said:
They make fairly good tenders. They row well and are good load carriers and have built in bouancy.
But.
You need to add some good fendering.
They aren't very robust and tenders can receive rough treatment especially while stored ashore.
Plywood quite susceptible to rot if rainwater is allowed to collect.
Click to expand...
Yes, lots of sharp corners and the plywood ones quite fragile - lots of people have stepped through the bottom when getting into too roughly. GRP ones also quite fragile, and probably too valuable to bash as a tender.

PS. In the last have owned old plywood Mirror, heavy GRP West Eleven rip off, and nice GRP Mirror. But would never have considered using any of them as a tender. Have used inflatable Tinker Tramp briefly, which is much more suitable - but will stick to inflatable dinghy tenders.
 
As has been said, at 45kg it would be quite a handful to haul up a beach or onto deck and you will quite likely end up having to be towed.

There is another consideration however, besides weight, which is the fact that the dinghy will be towed at above displacement speeds. At these speeds certain displacement hulls become unstable and some will roll up on their chines and capsize.

I had a Sabot, which is very similar to a Mirror in hull shape and which did exactly that. Retrieving a swamped dinghy in any kind of seas is difficult and dangerous. Subsequently I carried it in davits, which is the only way I would consider carrying a Mirror.
 
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.
 
future_sailor said:
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.
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Anything that will or, due to weight, has to be dragged up a shingle beach will have a low life expectancy. We got rid of our solid dinghy in favour of a light weight inflatable one that we can carry for precisely that reason.
 
I had a ply mirror in my teens which we towed behind a Broads cruiser on holiday. It's important to make sure a backing plate has been installed behind the towing eye which needs to be done during construction.

We also made a blank for the CB case for rowing and towing.

Dad and I used to get it onto the roof rack quite easily
 
future_sailor said:
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.
Click to expand...


Well if you have one or can get one cheaply, of course it will do the job fine.

I find all rigid dinghies a bit of a pain to hold off the boat, probably better to secure it fore and aft and use conventional yacht fenders when it is alongside. On the mooring it will sit ok but you can get the odd bump when you return, it will also get a liberal coating of guano if you are away for days. I used to have a large inflatable for leaving on the mooring and flipped it upside down when going away. You could make a simple cover of 4in pea netting which helps keep birds off.

I used to have a pair of rollers like these which attached to the transom and they were very handy for beach work:

Mirror Dinghy Beach Trailer Quick Launching Sand Wheels Sailing Portable Inboard • £49.95

Failing that it would be light enough to "walk" up the beach, one end at a time, if you need to.

.
 
I still have a Mirror stored in a garage but not really certain I would want to use with a yacht unless it was just a short motor across the Solent . When somewhat younger we crewed on a Warrior35 and the owner/father towed the daughters mirror across from Portsmouth to Bembridge harbour and we would spend the week sailing with daughter around the harbour in the mirror . So good for stays around the Solent in summer eg Bembridge,Medina river or say Chi harbour but I don’t think I would venture further out of Solent with one on tow. As said needs a cut down centre board and ideally a small outboard. Mirrors bow panels can easily be stove in on beach rocks etc . I don’t know wher the OP is located but if he fancies trying there is a book called Mirror Mania which might be of interest. Personally I would look for a secondhand tinker if sailing a dinghy from the mothership was of interest unless you have davits or a large foredeck of say a 45footer plus.
 
Laminar Flow said:
Anything that will or, due to weight, has to be dragged up a shingle beach will have a low life expectancy. We got rid of our solid dinghy in favour of a light weight inflatable one that we can carry for precisely that reason.
Click to expand...

Yes but a light weight inflatable can’t really be rowed very well can it?
 
doug748 said:
Well if you have one or can get one cheaply, of course it will do the job fine.

I find all rigid dinghies a bit of a pain to hold off the boat, probably better to secure it fore and aft and use conventional yacht fenders when it is alongside. On the mooring it will sit ok but you can get the odd bump when you return, it will also get a liberal coating of guano if you are away for days. I used to have a large inflatable for leaving on the mooring and flipped it upside down when going away. You could make a simple cover of 4in pea netting which helps keep birds off.

I used to have a pair of rollers like these which attached to the transom and they were very handy for beach work:

Mirror Dinghy Beach Trailer Quick Launching Sand Wheels Sailing Portable Inboard • £49.95

Failing that it would be light enough to "walk" up the beach, one end at a time, if you need to.

.
Click to expand...

Those rollers look the part thank you.
 
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