Towing a tender at 30knots

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LadyJ

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Quick question, I have recently upgraded my boat to a 24 foot Merry Fisher 755 with an outboard and am heading to places where a mooring or anchoring is the only option and want to tow a tender rather than inflate and deflate or store on top, I've read that securing tight to the transom is the solution (away from the oitboard). Any advice?
 
LadyJ said:
Quick question, I have recently upgraded my boat to a 24 foot Merry Fisher 755 with an outboard and am heading to places where a mooring or anchoring is the only option and want to tow a tender rather than inflate and deflate or store on top, I've read that securing tight to the transom is the solution (away from the oitboard). Any advice?
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Don't know, but I have a suspicion that an inflatable tender (if such it is) might be inclined to bounce about a bit and ultimately flip over if towed at 30 knots.
 
benjenbav said:
Don't know, but I have a suspicion that an inflatable tender (if such it is) might be inclined to bounce about a bit and ultimately flip over if towed at 30 knots.
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+1. "Secured tight to transom" and towed - so OP means a very short tow line I think, but still towed. Yes, bounce/flip, whatever the length of the tow line, at 30 knots. And depending on the size of the tender, 30kts might absorb say 15hp, which could be significant
 
Flipping aside ( which I would think is highly likely, especially in any real sea) remember

a. some tenders ( jet ribs) need the exhaust valve closing pre being towed

b. if you tow it every time you enter a marina you are going to have to recover it prior to berthing which I think would loose its appeal rather quickly

You could ask more on the sail boat forums as they seem to tow tenders all of the time. Not at 30 knots of course but they will have probably more general experience of towing tenders than those on this forum and would have a view point.
 
Go the snap davit route suggested. I tried your suggestion where the bow of the tender is lifted onto the transom and not towed. You cannot tow at that distance btw. Dont even try it. If you do tow you need to tow at least 35 m behind you where the tender wont fall outside the wake in a turn and flip and much longer in anything other than slight seas or you'll rip the D rings right off the tender on the first wave at speed.

As for lashing the tender bow high onto the transom this only works at low planing speeds and if your tender is very light. Ie airdeck or similar due to stresses involved.
 
I'm not a motorboatalist but the idea of towing at 30 knots seems f-in' mental to me :D

Would a decent electric pump make inflation/deflation feasible after all?

Pete
 
Problems occur when trying to inflate the damn thing inside the cockpit. I had all sorts of fun when I only had the 20 foot cuddy and couldn't use snap davits. Now that I can stow a tender on the swim platform it's pure bliss.
 
Whitelighter said:
Would snap Davits on the two wing bathing platforms with stand off poles fixed to the coach roof at the back not be a better solution?
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I like the idea of snap davits but with the outboard I can't see this working? Not sure what you mean by the stand off poles? Accept towing not really an option from the number of comments to that affect.
 
towing tender at 30 knots

LadyJ said:
Quick question, I have recently upgraded my boat to a 24 foot Merry Fisher 755 with an outboard and am heading to places where a mooring or anchoring is the only option and want to tow a tender rather than inflate and deflate or store on top, I've read that securing tight to the transom is the solution (away from the oitboard). Any advice?
Click to expand...

Many (many) years ago we used to tow an inflatable at speeds of 25-30 knots on short trips (actually the swedish archipilago)
It must be a tender with a proper hull for this speed, and should be towed offset from the center line (you will probably have a cleat there anyway) and such a distance that it will be riding with the bow right behind the wave you will have few meters behind you. Actually the water is absolutely flat there with this speed. If the tender is towed too far behind it will at some time start dancing and ultimatively flip.
We had a 27 ft boat and a 12 ft Zodiac with 25 hp outboard.
 
LadyJ said:
Quick question, I have recently upgraded my boat to a 24 foot Merry Fisher 755 with an outboard and am heading to places where a mooring or anchoring is the only option and want to tow a tender rather than inflate and deflate or store on top, I've read that securing tight to the transom is the solution (away from the oitboard). Any advice?
Click to expand...

Like others, I wouldn't tow it behind at 30 knots - risk of flipping and too hard on the inflatable's towing points.

For what it's worth, we have a 5.4 m Shetland, so even smaller than yours, but we find that our tender sits nicely at the back of the cockpit and on the engine, tied on securely, of course, and with a piece of cloth to protect the engine from scratches. We can do between 25-30 knot like that. It does make the cockpit a little cramped, but it is only when we are underway - when we are stopped, off goes the dinghy into the water. There is a picture on our website at Equipment|Dinghy of how it looks from above.

The snap davits suggestion seems like a good idea, though.
 
paul salliss said:
Give it a whirl, let us all know how it tows at 30knts please
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It'll look like this fairly quickly I would have thought.

sam_4377_zpsjmdu32sc.jpg
 
I used to tow ours, but the boat wouldn't even plane with it attached - the increase in drag was amazing.

Admittedly we were a bit underpowered, but even so the extra drag was unbelievable.
 
I would have thought the drag effect at that speed will be enormous (I suspect it's going to be the square of the speed at not just increase linearly). The chances of snapping the peinter, tearing the cleats/rings from the tender and damaging your own boat will be pretty high. Then there will be shock loads of it bouncing through waves.

Of course, I look forward to watching the video :)
 
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