Noddy question

[Mctavish]

These are two very, very basic questions for which I apologise: what knot do you use specifically to secure a tender/dinghy to a pontoon? I have searched this and I get a long, long list of hits re methods to secure a dinghy to a yacht via davits or to secure a yacht to a pontoon. Is it the same - a round turn and 2 half hitches? I would have thought you would use a dinghy in a different way, so you'd want a different knot (slightly easier to release?)

Where do you secure the tender to the yacht while you're onboard the yacht? What knot do you use?

Obviously I can ask someone on the water but I'd like to have a headsup so I can actually practice the knot(s) and learn them.

Thank you to anybody has the patience.

 

[Tam Lin]

I just use my usual round turn and two half grannies!

 

[Mctavish]

Ok. And I cringe as I ask this but where on the boat do you tie your tender to?

 

[Avocet]

I'm sure there will be "proper" way of doing it but for me, it depends on what I'm securing it to. If there's a convenient bollard, I often make a Bowline and drop the loop over the bollard. When attaching it to the boat I usually do the same and drop the loop over a cleat. If I was securing to a ring, I guess a round turn and two half hitches would be the one to use.

 

[sarabande]

almost anything which is quick, easy, doesn't slip and tighten, and is easy to release, provides an answer. RT and 2 1/2 hitches looks good - which is also important as it confers status on the knotter.

There's not going to be much strain with a dinghy at a pontoon, but there might be more when being towed, so something with the same characteristics plus extra "undoesn't" characteristics is important. Perhaps RT and 4 or 5 1/2 hitches.

The usual OXO system round an aft cleat is fine for towing, but with a couple of half hitches, to be sure, to be sure. You will have to experiment whether dink tows best with a bridle, a single line, on the lee or windward quarter, on a short or long scope, even sometimes with the nose right up in the air by the transom.


The key with any bend or hitch (and they are different) is to make sure the knot is never stressed, i.e. does not get pulled tighter when under load, otherwise it becomes almost impossible to undo without a spike - that often entails bloody paws.

 

[nigelmercier]

If I'm only going ashore for a couple of hours I just take a bight near the dinghy, pass once through the ring, do a half hitch, then a half hitch with a loop to untie it more easily.

 

[Tam Lin]

Ok. And I cringe as I ask this but where on the boat do you tie your tender to?

She's on a swinging mooring so when coming alongside I put a couple of turns and a hitch around a mid ships stanchion while I get on the boat then let the tender drift back and wrap the painter around a cleat at the stern. I do the usual figure of eight with a locking turn then tie any remaining rope around a stanchion to make doubly sure. The tender then rides about ten feet behind the boat quite happily. My greatest fear is dropping the painter while I am repositioning it!

 

[Lakesailor]

My boat was on a mooring so the tender was alway attached to a stern cleat to prevent it bashing the boat. About 6ft of painter left it dangling nicley astern.
Usually using a loop I had tied on the end. It was a biggish loop I used for securing the tender to the ring on my mooring buoy so on a cleat I would put it over the base, twist the loop and put it over the cleat again. It is tricky to describe, but worked well.

This was the loop on the mooring buoy. You push the loop through the ring, bend it back over the ring and push it down to the base and pull on the painter so the loop over the ring locks the painter in place. Again tricky to describe but quick to do. The tape is self-amalgating tape which helps protect your topside when the boat is left on the mooring.

 

[sarabande]

do you get any abrasion to the line from the stem of the ring ? Just asking cos I have the same sort of fitting and I carefully use 2 or 3 round turns before leading the free end back to the boat's cleat.

 

[Lakesailor]

None at all. It was a floating throwing line which I boat at a boat jumble. Very tough. Very stiff.

 

[William_H]

OP should not worry too much over such things. A bowline is the most useful knot on a boat and the more practice you get the better so I always use a bowline for attaching dinghy. Mine is a hard ali dinghy so always moored far behind the boat to avoid banging. However to board or disembark I hook the painter around a mid ships cleat to hold the dinghy next to the cockpit. good luck olewill

 

[HenryEDM]

I use a bowline too either for attaching the tender to the yacht or to the mooring strops when I leave it on the mooring

 

[alahol2]

A biggish one of these... https://www.s3i.co.uk/classic-carbine-hook-with-eye.php

It will clip onto guardrails/shrouds, through a cleat and back onto the rope, onto an eye etc. If all else fails then just use the rope in an OXO.

 

[rptb1]

1. Bowline. 2. Bowline through stern cleat.

When towing a rubber dinghy, beware of tearing off the patches that hold the rings on. I don't recommend towing except for short distances in calm conditions. Get it aboard and put it away.

 

[vyv_cox]

A biggish one of these... https://www.s3i.co.uk/classic-carbine-hook-with-eye.php

It will clip onto guardrails/shrouds, through a cleat and back onto the rope, onto an eye etc. If all else fails then just use the rope in an OXO.

I have one of them on one painter. The hook is just about big enough to go over a one inch tube, which for us means stanchions, bimini frame, pushpit or whatever. When towing the dinghy I clip to the pushpit and take a couple of turns around the aft cleat. This painter attaches to the two towing points, one each side at the water line. This is a three strand nylon painter, spliced to each ring to form a bridle, then tied and seized to the towing line.

The second painter is attached to the central bow ring. I use a bowline in it as a backup towing line, also taken around an aft cleat. It is attached with a bowline at the dinghy.

 

[Daydream believer]

My boat was on a mooring so the tender was alway attached to a stern cleat to prevent it bashing the boat. About 6ft of painter left it dangling nicley astern.
Usually using a loop I had tied on the end. It was a biggish loop I used for securing the tender to the ring on my mooring buoy so on a cleat I would put it over the base, twist the loop and put it over the cleat again. It is tricky to describe, but worked well.

This was the loop on the mooring buoy. You push the loop through the ring, bend it back over the ring and push it down to the base and pull on the painter so the loop over the ring locks the painter in place. Again tricky to describe but quick to do. The tape is self-amalgating tape which helps protect your topside when the boat is left on the mooring.

So when you arrive in the boat you , presumably, tie the boat on with a line through the ring
having done so how do you get the dinghy off
Also when you leave the boat has to be released to tie the dinghy on in the way you show. How do you hold the boat whilst you are doing this?

 

[Daydream believer]

Where one might tie the dinghy depends to an extent on the dinghy
If it is the old style Avon it does not like being towed ,so one needs to lift the bow clear of the water
To do this on my last boat i tied it to the top rail of the pushpit which lifted the bow well clear when towing
In really heavy weather I tried not to tow because then the dinghy could flip over but this was not a big issue as i always either tied the oars in firmly or removed them
Nowadays the dinghy is tied to the ceiling of the garage when not in use as I have a pontoon berth.
I find that way the wife just clips the top of her head nicely on it when getting the car out

When coming alongside I always positioned the dinghy next to the shrouds so when standing up one can pull on the shroud for better stability. Plus crew are less inclined to yank on the guard rails which always annoys me
Then take the dinghy to the stern

On my squib, which sits on a mooring all season, I have a clip on the dinghy painter so i just clip the painter to the buoy ring when leaving the mooring. The clip passes through the ring & clips back on the painter

 

[Gin]

Where do you secure the tender to the yacht while you're onboard the yacht? What knot do you use?

Plenty of good advice so far, to which nothing much more need be added but I am always concerned coming alongside the yacht in a fast flowing current if the crew who had the painter wasn't experienced with securing the dinghy. So, I had one of these permanently fastened to the bitter end so that it could quickly and safely be clipped to a shroud or somesuch

https://www.s3i.co.uk/classic-carbi...hp?pid=15310&gclid=CLrMn9PZ5sYCFeHMtAodkB8FSA


It had the extra advantage that for leaving on pontoons or for towing, then after using the knot/hitch of choice the carabiner could be fastened to the standing end of the painter making sure it couldn't untie.

 

[John the kiwi]

My greatest fear is dropping the painter while I am repositioning it!

I have a nesting dinghy. Each half has its own painter. Procedure is to throw both halves overboard while holding painters, then take to stern and board the aft section of the dinghy. Joining the two halves while afloat is really simple, but here is what happens when you let go of one painter to soon!




Much amusement and bemusement for the people on the beach as I rowed half a dinghy to retrieve the other half...
I was surprised at how fast the bow section blew (sailed ) downwind with a gentle breeze behind it.
I didnt actually catch up before it reached the beach.

 

[Mctavish]

Thank you very much for all replies. Very useful.