Towing with an inflatable

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As someone new to the game, I recently tried towing a pal's yacht across the harbour, using my tender and outboard. Nothing went the direction it should have, and if anyone had a camera, we would have made it to 'you've been framed'. Thinking about it later, we would probably been better off if I'd tied the painter to the bow of the tender, and towed in reverse. It didn't help that the yacht had it's rudder removed either. Anyone tell me how it should be done?
 
The best way is to tie the tender alongside the yacht at the stern. You will then find the whole set up operates as a single unit.
 
I agree.

Years ago the Stuart Turner engine on my Hurley 22 conked out in Weymouth Bay. I tied my inflatable with 4HP Seagull alongside and made it into Weymouth Harbour without any trouble. There were two of us on board. Luckily it was calm at the time. The only slight difficulty was stopping as the engine had no neutral or reverse.
 
Yes, alongside it (nearer stern than bow) with springs and bow/stern lines works well. In this setup you normally control the speed with the outboard and the direction with the yacht's rudder. I've not tried doing this with a yacht with no rudder - it might be rather slow to turn and I guess that you would need to tie alongside as far back as possible.
 
Usually, it's done as you suggest, by towing in reverse.

However this won't work if it's a small outboard and a large tow.

In which case you have to push, far more difficult, and you have to do it as a series of short, sharp jabs, using different points on the yacht's counter to steer the yacht.

It doesn't work well at all with double-enders or with old-fashioned slim counter sterns.
 
A lot of people who have been boating for some time will not realize how fraught with problems towing one dinghy with another can be - I had been sailing a few years when asked by a couple on an adjacent boat moored at Conwy in the river if I could take them back to shore as they had no engine on their tender and the tide was running hard. I realised afterwards that they should have got into my tender that was about 11ft long and pulled their empty tender (hard wooden) to the shore tied very short to my tender or tied alongside. As it was they got into their tender and passed me the painter, as they looked more experienced than I felt I did not question this and set off. Immediately their bows started to shear about so they moved the painter attachment forward which then threatened to bury the bow of their tender. All this time the tide was so strong we were in danger of going under the bridge backwards, but overall made progress to the shore diagonally across the tide. Then we were being brought down onto a moored boat but I did not dare get beam onto the tide for danger of capsize and as we were making progress it seemed safer to carry on than go back - in the event we cleared the moored boat but their tender went under the moored boats bowsprit and they had to duck to avoid being knocked overboard. All of this in about 5-6 knots of tide. Eventually we all made the beach when we all wobbled ashore. The lady of the towed tender was white and near to tears and her husband was speechless.
If by any chance the owner of the Morecambe Bay Prawner reads this please accept my apology for a near disaster.

They say that you learn more from mistakes....which is a point of view but it has got to be much better to learn from others errors!
 
Tie up alongside just make sure that it's any point back from the bow. Sorry but towing a yacht with a tender / RIB without being tied fast with springs etc is lunacy. A tow from a tender with a 4-10hp outboard (even in reverse as described) is going to end in disaster, even with 5knots of wind the wind shear on the yacht even with all sails down will be more than such a small tender can cope with unless tied firmly alongside.
Having some 300hrs Rib time under my belt please trust me on this one!
 
Conway River is EXTREMELY dangerous. Your problem has been 99% due to that! Towing in still water would have been easy as you could have used appropriate speed, the current has forced you to go too fast.

I have rowed across that current in spate on a number of occasions, the trick is to head well upstream in the eddies & accept that you will lose ground as you traverse the stream. ALWAYS cross downstream of any bouys or moored vessels. You can make up the lost ground in the eddies on the other side of the stream.

Good luck, Conway is a lovely spot, but the river kills on a regular basis. Be especially wary when returning to your boat after a few beers when you feel invincible, and ALWAYS wear a lifejacket!
 
Recently towed a 9 ton vessel from Deganwy to Conwy.
38ft wooden mobo.
Used a Dinghy with a 5hp.
Trick was.
Timing the tide right and method of tow.
Towing alongside is the only way for close quarter control.
The Towing vessel has to have the 'drive' well aft of the Towed vessel.
Therefore the dinghy in this case was tied alongside the Towed vessel as far aft as possible.
A bow line, stern line, fore spring, aft spring, forward and aft breast lines.
Plus a further stern line from the 'outside' cleat to the 'inside cleat of the Towed vessel.
The Towing vessel needs to be 'toed in' slightly.
IE the bow pointing slightly in towards the towed vessel.
If the bows start to part under tow it creats probs!

So in other words plenty of warps in the correct places to start with.
Actually the biggest prob was Vision.
Cos the 38 footer was a dam sight taller than the dinghy.
Moving off from the pontoon in Deganwy and 2 right turns to exit was done with help from observers on the towed boat!

Similar on arrival at Conwy!

OK dead slow was the order of the day.
But even dinghy to dinghy slow but sure is best.
OK , if out at sea and time is crucial a tow behind is best.
Again the warps need to be made good.
A bridle set up on the towing vessel will aid steering and stability.
Difficult with a dinghy! but you know what I mean.
Yep it runs quite fast in the Estuary/river and as Searush says lifejackets etc.
And as He says there are eddies etc that can be used.
Like all bits of water, it's much easier when you have lived in the same bit for years and know these back eddies and quirky bits off by heart!

Ref His last PARA
I,m sure you don't have beers and go afloat do you? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Conway River is EXTREMELY dangerous. Your problem has been 99% due to that! Towing in still water would have been easy as you could have used appropriate speed, the current has forced you to go too fast.

Too right (Searush) - our problem was that our mooring was one of the nearest to the bridge so not possible to do any other than head about 45 degrees to the tide, if needing to go ashore when tide making.
Eventually decided that an accident was waiting waiting to happen for us at Conwy, not a place for dogs/kids on the river, just a matter of time so relocated to Beaumaris where I have a mooring well inshore with a max 0.5knots of tide, much more restful place to moor as we never get laid across tide and wind!
 
Then I was just outside of you. I had the yellow buoy in the gully up by the Cobb. I think the mussel dredgers' pontoon is on it now. I left 2 years ago after grand-daughter lost a slipper sitting on the aft cabin while I was refueling. She screamed & I nearly wet myself, but when I checked, her slipper was vanishing under the bridge at a great rate of knots. Ok it was only a slipper, but it could so easily have been her & there would have been little I could have done about it without serious risk to my own life as well as hers. VERY sobering (and no, Kwacker, I hadn't had anything to drink!)

One other thing to do in your situation, is change your destination to a safer one. Go with the flow, under the bridge & use the slipway just across the creek by the Castle. Quite a bit further to walk of course, but a LOT safer than struggling against that tide.
 
I think the OP problem was more one of steering the inflatable while trying to tow the big boat. If you attach the tow line to a point at the back of the inflatable the load will pull the stern so steer the inflatable with much more power than the steerable motor can cope with.

If you look at a tug boat you find that towing gear is mounted mid ships not at the stern. This means that the tug boat can rotate (steer) around the load point. You also notice that water ski boats have tall pole in the middle of the boat for towing. Again so that the load will not steer the boat.

So if there were some way you could attach the tow line in the centre of the rib (almost impossible because the tow line would foul the driver) then you could steer the rib so manage to pull the big boat in the appropriate direction.
So tow with rib lashed to the big boat. good luck olewill
 
The problem the original poster had was he was trying to tow the yacht astern of him but the yacht had no rudder ~ that was a recipe for disaster because the yachts keel would act like a rudder and any movement off-centre would have made the tow shear first one way and then the other ~ he didn't say what happened in his post, only that it was dramatic ~ I bet the yacht zig zagged (wildly) back and forth behind him.
Setting up bridles wouldn't have helped either, not towing astern and no rudder on the tow.
An alongside tow is the only way, but you must consider that a tug/tender with a very small HP outboard trying to tow a much larger vessel (without a rudder) might in itself not be prudent?

As a professional boatman and a RYA powerboat instructor I have towed more vessels than I care to think about, I have instructed both in theory and practical on "towing" and I must admit I'm more than a little surprised (and saddened) at some of the answers given here!

Peter.
 
Right - no-one has answered the question - the towed vessel had no rudder but even if it did the technique is quite simple but difficult to master - when towing in a tender if the yacht goes off to port the natural reaction of the tower is to go to starboard - don't!! go to port and the yacht will settle to follow the tender - it is the tender being pulled about its axis which is the problem, try it, it works but if the wind or tide is such that it overpowers the tender the the only remedy is to tie alongside, towards the stern. (and that in my opinion is NOT a tow) so no need to bother with lights and shapes!!!
 
Rowlocks!

In this condition the tug has literally no "control" over the towed vessel. If you constantly steer in the direction that the towed vessel wants to take you'll end up ashore somewhere ~ not of your choosing.
Peter.
 
So TheBoatman has tried it has he in an inflatable /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif! or condemmed the idea /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gifout of some misguided conception that us northeners can't tow, bah /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
I can confirm that towing in reverse works quite well. You can also tow a surprisingly large yacht with a small engine if the wind and current is light.
I towed a 50foot yacht with my tender and a 4hp outboard. The owners had gone into town and It was dragging across the anchorage. I pulled it off the beach (it had just started to touch) and towed it about 1km and tied it to the stern of my yacht. Boy the owners supprised when the returned.

03Towing1s.jpg
01Newtenders.jpg
 
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