towing tender

[deep denial]

I'm thinking of towing a plywood pram tender behind my boat when I cross the channel later this year - partly to avoid the hassle of blowing up rubber dinghies. Has anyone done this - I know they used to in the old days, but is it difficult? how do you cope with manoevering in marinas etc? any advice appreciated, thanks

 

[Impaler]

My experience with hard tenders is that they fill with water and are bu**ers to empty.

 

[tobble]

is there no chance of chucking it on the foredeck?

 

[deep denial]

No!

 

[EdWingfield]

They can also catch up with you on a wave and ram you up the ar$e.

Bad idea!

 

[Flossdog]

Years ago when inflatables were very expensive and we didn't have much money (still don't have much) we towed an eight foot grp tender everywhere. To prevent it catching up and crashing into the yacht, we put a large funnel on the painter pointing wide end to the dinghy. This worked a treat and stopped the dinghy surfing down waves into the stern. Only on one occasion did the dinghy fill up with a breaking wave and after that I vowed to stretch a cover over the dinghy but I never did. It was great to arrive in a harbour or estuary, pick up a buoy or drop anchor and immediately have a great rowing dinghy for going ashore. Happy days! Now we have an inflatable!!! Only because, I think, marinas are everywhere and a towed dinghy is therefore a pain.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Kevin,

We tow out tinnie or duck almost all the time, however if the forecast is not good we do not. there is nothing worse than a rubber duck that wants to fly or a tinnie that won't fly so decides to be submarine, complete with outboard.

If you must tow you will need some drag to prevent the thing damaging your transom in a following sea, the funnel trick, a 'small' bucket or even a rope warp will do it; also set the towing rope so the bow of the towed tender is running bow down on the front of the second wave behind you, this will reduce the drag.

Check that its towing ok on a regular basis, many have been lost or sunk because no one kept an eye on things.

When entering a harbour / marina pull the tender in on a short line to ensure no prop fouling when you reverse, alternatively drop some protection over the side and secure it alongside, use the boat hook to lift the drag device into the tender.

Andavagoodweekend......

 

[DJE]

Long thread about this on Scuttlebutt recently.

 

[Evadne]

If you find pumping up the dinghy a hassle, have you tried one of these?

It takes about 3 minutes to pump up a Redcrest (and 15 minutes to recover!)

 

[Ruffles]

I reckon to lose around a knot towing our (admittedly heavy) 8' dinghy. It helps to have the tow point on the dinghy low down 'cos, as others have said elsewhere, you're towing at more that its hull speed and the bow needs to lift. The trick with the bucket works - but you only need to do this with a following sea. So keep the bucket in the dinghy tied on ready to go.

Not sure I'd tow mine cross channel. If it cuts up rough and it sinks you may have to cut it loose. I wouldn't want to lose mine - the kids would kill me ...

 

[graham]

A friend of mine lost his dinghy in the Bristol Channel. Eventually it washed ashore and the Coast Guard became involved. They werent happy that he hadnt reported it.

 

[Chris_Robb]

I tried it years ago - It ran wild with following seas and entered the cockpit!. It later got very full of water, and became unmanagable. With the strong wind blowing and the sea state, we had to abandon it.

Don't do it - unless you can afford to cut it adrift.

 

[Marmalade]

Towed a 10 ft walker bay across the north sea to holland - no probs other than slowing us down - detailed one of the kids to watch in in marinas and locks... think I'd put a rubber one in the locker next time as we didn't actually use it much

 

[awol]

[ QUOTE ]
- partly to avoid the hassle of blowing up rubber dinghies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lidl's have a pump £4.99 on sale this week. It took a total of 140 strokes to inflate my Redcrest yesterday with one (self amalgamating tape round the largest nozzle to fit valve). Also sucks out any air to make packing the dinghy into a locker a doddle.
Certainly less hassle than watching a dinghy spin pirouettes or getting heavier and heavier as it fills up.