Towing a tender

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mikehibb

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Some advice required please.

In the Med I often see boats towing their tender (inflatable 2.5m approx) Some tow with a short line some with a longer line. Some with outboard on some not. Some whilst motoring in a flat calm and some whilst sailing.

Many variables I know. Our sailing will mainly be day cruising around Aegean/Med with the intention to sail out for a couple of hours, find nice bay, use the tender to go ashore for lunch etc, and then an easy sail back. Even if no wind we will still go out and motor there and back.

We do not want to haul the tender on and off the foredeck every time.

I guess that towing it in a flat calm whilst motoring is not a problem, but when sailing, the tender might get a bit skippy on the water with possibility of wind flipping it over. I do not want to get the O/B wet.

Actually do not have an O/B yet, but will be getting a 3.3/3.5 Mariner/Tohatsu 2 stroke (we are not in EU) to put on the back of a 2.6 Plastimo inflatable (wooden deck) just to give you all an idea of what we intend to tow.

I have also been reading about snapdavits etc.

Any advice appreciated.

Mike
 
Towing in calm conditions works, but slows you down a bit. Towing in rough conditions is very chancy: a tender flying like a kite on the end of its painter and twirling round and round is not a pretty sight. Personally I would recommend fitting davits and hoisting the tender out of the water. The benefits are substantial, and IMHO outweigh the hassle of fitting the davits.
 
After a few unnerving experiences in fairly high winds (dinghy flying like a kite then flipping over and acting like a submarine, etc.) I no longer tow the dinghy. It's a pain, but I always deflate it with my trusty LVM pump and stow it on deck. A friend refuses to do this on his boat as he regards his towed dinghy as a potential liferaft. You pays your money....
 
Sorry should have added that our boat is 33ft and not really big enough for davits to haul the tender out with. Also as only 33ft the tender is OK on the foredeck only when deflated, when inflated it stops access to one side of the boat and also fouls the running rigging and foresail.
 
Could try hauling it up the transom, so only stern in water. Empty dinghy completey and O/b off definately when not using.
We use two short painters to each side of bow and two check lines to eyebolts on the transom- all 4 double up as lifting lines to hoist on deck by halliard/block on boom end again in eve.

Friend who keeps 40' in Corfu always brings dinghy inboard at night, in case it "walks".

PBO in last year or so had a page of tender towing tips from Dick Everitt on his regular page "owners sketchbook???"
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry should have added that our boat is 33ft and not really big enough for davits to haul the tender out with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, mine is 3 ft shorter, and I fitted davits!

Like most of my purchases, these were the result of trying all the alternatives first, and only then, reluctantly, parting with the cash. Mr. Plastimo's davits weren't too dear (by yotty standards) but did require some DIY to fit to the boat...
 
I just don,t do it, invariably results in problems, our boat is 32ft and we can get the small rib on the foredeck, where we carry it all the time, well lashed down, on even trans Biscays etc. It,s never a prob there and takes 5mins to stow inc taking the engine off. Bill.
 
I use snap davits mounted on a plate which in turn is mounted on the transom boarding ladder. Dinghy (actually a 2.8 RIB) is hauled up across the stern of my Southerly 100. Works fine and is quickly available in an emergency. At least I hope that it is because the situation has yet to occur
 
I tow if short trip. but stow across aft cabin (31' Westerly Pentland) if longer trip or any risk of F5+. For a proper passage (say over half day) I deflate before lashing down.

NEVER leave the O/B on it when towing. It increases the weight & therefore the drag on the boat & strain on the painter.
 
Have you though of getting a rigid tender. With modern ropes and a bit of careful chafe protection they tow fine in anything ups to at least F6, you still need to take the engine off but no problems with them flipping or flying. In the 'old days' people lost them because of a combination of poor rope and heavy wooden dingies both of which are now solved. You need about 20m line and tow it '1 wave' behind to aviod snatch. They are much more robust and easier to row than an inflatable. The limit is probably that you would not want to do an ocean crossing with it and there is the remote possibility that if caught in a gale you could be forced to abandon it but so far we have never even shipped water. I would look out for cheap second hand one and try it then if you decide on a trip where it would be impractical to tow it sell that one and buy a new one when you get there.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Take the outboard off before you tow. a flip doesnt hurt the tender, does mess up the outboard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, actually a flip can do a fair bit of damage to a rubber duck - if it is a hard tramsom model. I have twice had painter rings torn off dinghies following a flip. If you are doing 7-8kts when it flips, the transome provides a fine sea anchor. The painter will pull the bow out about a foot before the s/s ring rips thro' the glued on bow patch. It looks quite spectacular & not a little frightening & the dinghy is a pig to pick up in those conditions under sail with no painter.
 
In the Swedish archipelagoes many people tow dinghies in the calm waters. In general they look on them as liferafts.
I did see one interesting way of stowing the outboard. It was lashed to the bottom boards of the dinghy flat on its side. It would have been clear of the water if the dinghy inverted. However I suspect it would have been swamped if the yacht towing it had been moving fast when it did so.
The loere weight of the outboard should have made the dinghy more stable under tow.
 
For short summer trips in the med, I usually lift the dinghy across the transom of our 8.6m (28ft something) Dehler Duetta. Dinghy is a small 2.8m inflatable Maxxon without a rigid transom. Outboard is always removed. Lashing starts by tying a line from about the middle of the grab lines on the dinghy below the bottom step of of the bathing ladder. this secures the dinghy and allows the outboard to be removed from a resonably stable position. The line is then untied again passing below the bottom rung and made fast to the uppermost rung, a boat hook is then used to reach the other lifeline and pull the dindhy up flat against the transom where the bow and stern project about 18cm either side and at least 35 cm above the water allowing us to sail without touching the water even when heeled. I have also towed the dinghy on a long line, again without the outboard and found that getting it to sit on the forward face of of the second wave of our wake allows the dinghy to just start surfing slightly significantly reducing the drag.
 
Firstly never leave the outboard on.
If you get one with and inflatable floor rather than rigid you can put the thing away in a bag.

I would never consider towing on a line(s). It is drag and can, if inverted, damage the rib. It is also another thing to get in the way when going into a marina.

Davits are the ideal except for ocean crossing where a wave over the back will almost certainly remove rib.
If davits are not an option then, for day sailing, lift the transom out of the water and leave the pointy end to trail, and for longer, less predictable trips, put it away.
 
I towed the dink for several years in the med without incident and even I had this fancy bridle arrangement which seemed to work great. I changed my attitude last year however following a great afternoon sail down to Sami when, after rounding up to get the sails down, we looked down for the trusty dink only to find a ragged, severed painter - Doh!.
The towing bridle would have towed another yacht so it wont have just snapped under strain; I suspect we might have reversed over it and the rope cutter got it before we even left (Yes, I know what you are thinking - but Ive always been so careful to shorten the painter when manouvering - blah blah blah), My other, less likely, theory revolves around great white sharks, but maybee Ive watched Jaws too many times ...

Either way lesson learnt - I dont tow anymore. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
You could make a case for making sure the dinghy painter was a floating type of rope?
I use floating rope for the mooring lines on the buoy for my One Design, it makes picking up much easier, but I have once lost one, cut through no doubt by a yacht's rope cutter /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Not often a problem as if the yacht is not on the mooring the dinghy is and protects the ropes in the water.

One issue is that the only type I have found is the hairy "Nelson" rope, and it tends to pick up loads of floating weed when you are having your day out, so end up with mess on the foredeck. Are there smooth finished buoyant roped suitable for a dinghy painter?
 
Many thanks to all.

Looks like always take O/B off no matter what.
In light winds and short trip I will risk towing, longer trips and bigger winds it is better to haul aboard.
[ QUOTE ]
"PBO in last year or so had a page of tender towing tips from Dick Everitt on his regular page "owners sketchbook???"

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the reminder, I think that I might have that copy.
 
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