Towing a tender?

I would only tow a tender in sheltered waters ...... and then only on very short trips.

There are several problems.

1 an inflateable usually fills with water over time as spray tends to roll around the tubes. Solid tenders tend to be better but the risk of filling it is just too high. A flooded dinghy is a pain in the neck if you're underway.

2 Manouvreability ...... try going astern, even if you remember to shorten the rode. I did this when I had to re-anchor. The inflatable got dragged right under the water when the painter caught round the prop. Luckily the engine stalled before the dinghy was ripped.

3 If you decide that you have to get it on deck ...... isn't it better to do it on your mooring rather that at sea in a swell? We have davits for ours now .... but lifting it with a spare halyard or topping lift should be no burden.

4 I have seen tenders towed with the bows or stern on the sugar-scoop. This is probably ok with a small inflatable .... but not with a hard dinghy.

5 Don't try towing with an outboard on it. You may get away with it for a while ..... but sooner or later it will take a swim.

I have towed dinghies ...... they've always been a constant worry. I had a 18 footer once ...... I had little choice .... I would certainly look out for a little roll-up inflateable and stow it on deck if I had to do the same again.
 
Only tow an inflatable if calm & sheltered. Otherwise I roll her up on top of Lazerette. Once in F6, my dinghy lifted clean out of water & flipped several times before returning to the water upside down. The transom created so much drag (we were doing 6 knots) that the painter pulled the bow out about a foot before the steel ring pulled out of its patch. Quite a performance then to round up to pick her up & attach another painter to the rings underneath!

Getting a rubber dinghy on board is quite easy if you pull it up over the guard rail as far as you can before rocking it horizontal and then pulling it across the cockpit. Only takes a minute to deflate & roll then. I usually do it single handed & you can see from my atavar that I'm not as fit as I used to be! Similarly, unroll across cabin top or cockpit, inflate & push over (not forgetting to tie painter first!) Used this technique on a Westerly 25 which is a pretty similar sixe to an Achilles. We used to tie it in front of the mast on passages.
 
Towed my Zodiac 2.4 with my 7.8mtr Albin Cirrus for 5000nm during the last 7 years.......I have only had a couple of interesting times with it in 30kt plus winds and it is always their ready to use as a liferaft should I need it. I never notice any drop in boat speed.
Paul.
 
This seems to be a problem for bigger yachts as well, re towing their tenders.
I saw a 'biggish' (maybe about 160') motor yacht arriving here recently (at Port St Charles marina) from the north west (she had probably come from St Lucia, approx 100 miles away).

She was towing her 'tender' - or one of them rather - the others were all stowed on the deck(s).
Reason why she was towing? The tender was a sports fishing launch, probably about 40', and too big to lift on board for ocean passages.....
 
True, big boats tow. Bigger yachts in the Med often seem to be followed at some distance by an unmanned boat. Get out the bins and you see that there is a towline. The 'tender' can be anything up to one mother-ship length behind, so maybe 50 or more metres depending on size of mum and baby.
 
I have never liked towing a inflatable, for the reasons already mentioned, I've heard stories of dinghies bouncing round the crews heads. When we bought our boat, a Trident 24 in 1987 we had a Bombard AX1 which was ideal and could with a struggle go into the cockpit locker, however the trend to Transom inflatables meant it was not available when the time came to replace it. Its replacement a Compass dinghy (the yellow peril) hardly fits although can be forced into the locker with difficulty and still more getting it out again, so usually lives in the forward cabin.

I do regret the lack of choice when it comes to 2 man inflatables which pack small enough for the under 27 foot brigade. It seems to be part of the trend to bigger boats etc. etc.,
 
The way I tow my old compass 3 man inflatable is to rig a bridle through bow ring, transom and other bow ring, I usually tow it with the bow on the pushpit and just the transom and snd of tubes in the water, with the bridle led either side to guard against fliping.

The trouble is, a rigid dinghy is far safer to get in and out of and to row and sit in. this year I'm going to tow my 9ft rigid tender. To stop it over taking, tow it at least 5 dinghy lengths astern and have a coil of line tied to the transon to act as a drag line if necessary. I have seen a peice of plastic tubing threaded over the painter to stop it bumping at anchor, I'll try that.

A hard dinghy makes marina manouvering a bit of a pain but if you have a decent rigid dinghy you should be able to avoid such places.
 
Hello Richard.If you are going to tow a hard dinghy the towing eye on the dinghy needs to be as low as possible so the angle of pull lifts the bow a bit. The stern digs in then and she will follow you a bit more opbediently.

Some people recommend a bag of sand in the stern of the dinghy also helps.

You need really good fendering on the dinghy as it will charge up and attack you now and then .Use a long rope then shorten up when manouvering.

An ideal dinghy would have a false floopr above the waterline so you could leave the bungs out when towing.

My Father used to tow a wooden dinghy everywhere mostly to get rid of us kids quickly on arrival I think /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It is possible but can be a pain and extra worry in bad weather.

Heres ours on the foredeck of our 22footer. We leave a bow rope led back to the cockpit both sides as its easier than reaching under thedinghy to make it fast.
SWScan00032.jpg


Our 2.3m rubber duck fits OK fully blown up upside down forward of the mast but then you need to stand up to see over it.So its better folded in on itself half blown up.
 
If it is "nessie" The Navy must be jamming his/her GPSsystem /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif We were off pembrokeshire at the time.

(Common Dolphin)
 
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(Common Dolphin)

[/ QUOTE ]

Not very nice /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif it could be quite well spoken /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I can definately see a cheap gold fin ring so must be a dolphin , and yep , chav type it is

There was a story doing the rounds a few years back that Loch Ness was connected to the sea by an underwater tunnel , maybe Nessie moved home , got fed up of all the sonar pings
 
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