Kelpie
Well-Known Member
Inverness Sea Scouts were recently selling off a couple of WB boats with tubes- don't know if they're still available and obviously a bit of a hike.
Sailing Tender Suggestions
- Thread starter SteveIOW
- Start date
TernVI
Well-Known Member
On a sailing boat, it tends to go with 'slow'.
If the boat is only going to be 9ft long and carrying an adult or two, things are stacked against it already.
James_Calvert
Well-Known Member
Are you sure it's 9 ft?
The one we had, a Monachorum Minipram, was 7'9''.
For rowing, 1 small adult or two children max useful load.
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
I don't recognise that manufacturers name but you're right it's just over 2.4m. We used it for many years as our tender for transporting skipper, crew and dog to and fro.
differentroads
Well-Known Member
I love my Seahopper folding dinghy. I bought it second hand with the mast and sails five years ago. It rows so well that I just sold the outboard engine. It sails ok, gunter rigged with a mast that breaks down into two halves for stowing inside. Tows fine but is so easy to stow on deck two handed that we usually haul it aboard.
Being foldable used to make it easy to store under cover in the winter. Being liveaboards in the Med, UV damage is now our worry, not ice!
Being foldable used to make it easy to store under cover in the winter. Being liveaboards in the Med, UV damage is now our worry, not ice!
Carib
Well-Known Member
I like Seahoppers, and I'm repeating a comment on another thread here, but I would keep it under cover.. I once sunk in a Seahopper in Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia. The rubber opened up the length of the boat and she filled up in about 5 seconds flat, the skipper left holding the oars with a bemused look on his face - it was hilarious at the time. Probably the effect of prolonged tropical UV exposure!
differentroads
Well-Known Member
Yikes!
I keep mine in a bag on deck. The bag is made of very similar material as the joints and is starting to degrade after two years in the Med. I can imagine the joints not lasting too long. Nor the plywood for that matter!
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
I have two. I was given the first one to restore, but before I got round to making new wooden gunwales (the originals were completely rotten) I found another one locally on Gumtree, which we did up as a tender over the spring. If you would like a bare Bobbin hull to work on, free, PM me. Collect from SW Scotland.
Unfortunately neither has its sailing rig, but I am working on that. The plan at the moment is to use a Mirror gunter mast as the unstayed mast, make a boom and use a Topper 4.2 training sail.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
My crew has a Heyland Swift sailing dinghy. It rows and sails very nicely so we tried it as a tender for a couple of cruises. In most respects it was great, but it is low at the stern and noses up when towed, the combination of which led to it swamping and inverting off the Mull of Kintyre. We retrieved it with very welcome help from Campbeltown lifeboat, which was on a training exercise a mile away, but we haven't use it as a tender since.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Another thought ... sorry. I seriously thought about buying a second-hand Laser Bug as a tender. My local outdoor activities centre was selling them off for £500-ish. Reasonable size, sails well, looks like a good rowing position and has a wheel built into bow and extendable handles at the transom for easy wheeling around. All that deterred me was the very modern look.
robertager1962
Well-Known Member
We have a Trinka 8ft fibreglass dinghy. It Is quite hefty, weighing in at about 70kgs but is huge fun. We keep it on davitts and have taken it from A Coruna to Gibralter so far. Rows well and is fast. Can be a bit tippy but we have used it with our 2.3hp Honda as well as rowing. The sailing rig uses a single unstayed mast that is split so that the two halves fit within the boat. Built to US standards, so very rugged. Mine does have flotation tubes but I have never put them on.
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Kukri
Well-Known Member
I have the answer in a NUTSHELL.
Not GRP but why would anyone want GRP in a tender - just unhelpful weight. Clinker ply is lighter and stronger.
I built one from Malcolm Godwin’s kit in 1990 and I have not been without one, and will not be without one, since. Rows, tows, sails and takes an outboard all really well and looks pretty.
Above, Minn, which I built from a kit, and sold with Mirelle, and below, her replacement, Bluebottle, with the mast out.
Not GRP but why would anyone want GRP in a tender - just unhelpful weight. Clinker ply is lighter and stronger.
I built one from Malcolm Godwin’s kit in 1990 and I have not been without one, and will not be without one, since. Rows, tows, sails and takes an outboard all really well and looks pretty.
Above, Minn, which I built from a kit, and sold with Mirelle, and below, her replacement, Bluebottle, with the mast out.
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geem
Well-Known Member
That looks heavy
DownWest
Well-Known Member
If glued clinker ply, then not so. The Nutshell Pram I linked to further above is quite light. Bluebottles fit out is a bit trad, so makes her look heavy.
My c/ply 15ft faering comes in at 70kg inc rudder & c/board, but without rig, and that is quite robust.
My c/ply 15ft faering comes in at 70kg inc rudder & c/board, but without rig, and that is quite robust.
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Kukri
Well-Known Member
40kg
burgundyben
Well-Known Member
Fairey Duckling?
geem
Well-Known Member
My 12’5” nesting dinghy weighs 55kg. It takes a sailing rig, rows and can by powered with an engine up to 15hp. With a 15hp it does over 20kts. Nested on deck it 7ft long. Its also cored construction and now 27years old ?
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Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
I love these designs for a diy nesting dinghy from
Wave Dancer Yacht Design - wholesale plan sales
I have no experience of working with cored ( foam sandwich) construction . I think Snowleopard of this parish built one a few years back ??
With epoxy and vacuum it would be interesting .
( I imagine?)
Geem, your cored dinghy looks amazingly tough @ 27 years dinghy use , cruising !
We have a 9 foot aluminium nesting dinghy from Penryn that I really love which I was lucky enough to buy from a contributor on here some 10 years back. Rows, sails, motors beautifully etc. I don’t tow it because it is so easy to hoik out on the windlass and put on the foredeck or dismantle ( afloat!) and stack more neatly...
Getting back to the OP, perhaps he should bite the bullet and start building this winter?
“ Everyone needs a lock down project “
Wave Dancer Yacht Design - wholesale plan sales
I have no experience of working with cored ( foam sandwich) construction . I think Snowleopard of this parish built one a few years back ??
With epoxy and vacuum it would be interesting .
( I imagine?)
Geem, your cored dinghy looks amazingly tough @ 27 years dinghy use , cruising !
We have a 9 foot aluminium nesting dinghy from Penryn that I really love which I was lucky enough to buy from a contributor on here some 10 years back. Rows, sails, motors beautifully etc. I don’t tow it because it is so easy to hoik out on the windlass and put on the foredeck or dismantle ( afloat!) and stack more neatly...
Getting back to the OP, perhaps he should bite the bullet and start building this winter?
“ Everyone needs a lock down project “
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robertager1962
Well-Known Member
Beautiful boat. Bit big for us but what a cracker!
geem
Well-Known Member
It is big but its narrow compared to a rib so takes up less space on the deck than our old 9ft rib.
We nest it on the foredeck and ratchet strap it to the toerail when on passage. It takes about 10 mins from lifting it with the rope drum on the windlass to having it nested and tied down ready for sea. We have towed it in 2.5m seas gusting over 30 kts. Up wind its fine and stays dry. We tow on a bridle. Down wind in big seas and strong wind it wants to surf even on a long bridle. To solve this we simply tow a 10mm diameter warp in a bight from the dinghies two transom cleats. The warp is about 20ft long. Doing this transforms the manners of the dinghy and we tend to forget its there!
There is so little drag from the dinghy when towing it that you can grab the tow line and pull the dinghy right up to the transom of our yacht effortlessly. Our previous tender was a 9ft rib. It was impossible to pull that dinghy in by hand. It created very noticeable drag and slowed the yacht down.
Its worth looking in to these details on anything you are considering. Good luck with your search
