What do you want in a tender

[Poignard]

Stability is very important to me. Able to carry 2 people and gear. Easy to row. Unsinkable. Lockable stowage. Also want to be able to carry it on board a 28 footer without impeding visibility or access forward.

Did I hear someone say "you'll be lucky" .

 

[graham]

i am amazed that the majority didnt care about unsinkability.

Some actually voted for not wanting it unsinkable.

In my mind a sinkable dinghy should be cut up with Lake Sailors chainsaw or put in the garden with flowers planted in it.

 

[sighmoon]

Portability. For me, it has to fit in the boot of the car, and on deck discretely somewhere.

 

[Evadne]

I want everything!!

I like the idea of a lightweight tender, but if it's strong enough then it ain't going to be light. Unless you were planning to make it in titanium?
We only take two people, but you should see the baggage! Decent freeboard is always important.
Some watertight stowage would be an advantage, i.e. big hatches in the bouyancy compartments.
Unsinkability would be nice, but we've gone without it on the big boat for years now ... and does "unsinkable" mean it floats when swamped, or it floats with four passengers, their baggage, high out of the water enough to keep an outboard running? I don't think so. You'd be better off with a lifejacket.

Oh, and when you've finished the design, would you mind publishing the plans for the rest of us? I presume it is going to be a monohull?

 

[Talbot]

I totally agree. Stability was my first essential as my wife has some difficulty in getting out of the tender.

Weight is more important to us multihull chaps.

The wheels are very dependent on how you use your tender. I have integral wheels on the bathtub I use to get to my boat from the slipway, and my general purpose tender (a zodiac 260 FR) has bolt on wheels courtesy of pelican.

There is perhaps another issue that you may consider:

How well does the tender lay on the davits, and does it drain of water following rain if the bungs are open. This is a major drawback of the zodiac FR, it has a very deep V which is great for rowing and for use in waves, but the V is deeper by far than the bungs and will only drain properly when the stern of the dinghy is in the water, and the bows at the top of the davits.

 

[Black Sheep]

I think unsinkability depends on the circumstances.

I'm in the Thames at Gravesend - strong tide, plenty of wash from tugs, lots of chop when the wind's from NE; so unsinkable's pretty important for me!

But if you're in a quiet sheltered basin, not really an issue.

Mind you, my current tender is a canadian-style canoe - great for paddling along (once I'd got the hang of how to manoevre against wind & tide) but a little rocky side to side. And not yet unsinkable 'cause I haven't yet got around to adding the extra buoyancy!

 

[Lakesailor]

Everyone will have slightly different requirements. Mine is used from the same rocky shore all the time and I have made a launch trolley for it. It's rigid and scruffy and was a 9ft sailing dinghy of some unknown manufacture so it rows well, will take an outboard and has bouyancy built-in fore and aft.
But it isn't as stable as a dory type or inflatable and even with a 10stone person in the stern as well as me amidships rowing, we can get pooped by a heavy following chop. Doesn't bother me but the crew then have a wet arse for the rest of the sail.
I am very wary of carrying 3-up. Only for calm days. Luckily we have a jetty nearby we can use for pick-up and landings so I can bring the boat in to collect passengers.

I did rig it with my Heron gear and went for a sail, but it wasn't very stable and rather overcanvassed...

 

[claymore]

OK
My Zodiac Tender has an inflatable floor which means that we can keep our feet dry.
It also has sensible straps for carrying and holding onto.
A rigid transom is good - having used an old avon birdcage contraption for years I find this great.
A major consideration when we bought it was that it would sit in Claymore's davits. I hate it when you buy one thing that necessitates altering another!
The drawback here is that technically Claymore has 6 berths although the dinghy is only for 4 persons. This is fine in normal circumstances and we could always shuttle to and fro - but if we were faced with an emergency where we had to abandon ship - then we could have a problem. Normally there are only 2 at most 4 of us aboard so its ok for most of the time and anyway - we do coastal cruising in Scotland so no miles and miles of lonely seas to deal with.
In terms of construction it has separate sections in the inflatable tube which means that in theory if one goes soft there should be enough bouyancy to get you back to the boat.
A thwart is essential for rowing.
Things on the floor to tie things down are important too. I used to surf kayak and so am quite aware of the dangers of getting it wrong when landing on a beach in big surf. Whilst you would always choose not to, the day may come when you have no option.
The appropriate sized power unit is also important

 

[ParaHandy]

i always thought your tender was the 7th bedroom ...? a place where dear heart would point you toward when the occasion merited

i humbly offer this as an advantage o' haeing the thing oan divots ...

on ra ither paw, ah've lost mair fish than i care tae remember hauling them in oer yon monstrosity ....

 

[twisterkai]

You could well be dipping your feet into the realms of fantasy!! Having said that, i've seen one of the more expensive folding dinghies (complete with inflatable ring around gunwhales) that might just go down below on a Twister. Takes ages to put together though. Think the only on-deck option for us is an inflatable.

 

[cameronke]

Dryness is very important to me after ease of rowing I am on a relatively exposed swinging mooring and rowing into the prevailing south westerly can be rather challenging. So fit the outboard and any modest wave soaks me and my passenger.

Cameron

 

[Becky]

For me the necessary things are;-
1) That I can get the thing back on board. Bought an Avon Redcrest at a very good price once, but took it back 'cause I couldn't lift it.
2) It must be stable for boarding from pontoons, and also for hauling ones self back aboard after swimming
3)It should be able to be driven up-wind in strong breezes by an outboard that I can lift. Ours is 5hp. I had to take back the lovely 8hp one I bought first /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
4)It ideally should be good for rowing, and have strong rowlocks that the oars don't come out of too easily
5)There should be some place to keep things dry when the waves (or rain) come over the bow

 

[Evadne]

When sailing with one's wife, the crew not getting a wet bum before each sail is actually quite important, I'm told. By her. It was the main reason given for replacing our rigid tender when it started to fall apart seriously.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Proper metal rowlocks. Not bendy plastic or rubber ones. Complete with decent oars, not little jointed ally paddles. A foot block to brace against when rowing. Sliding seat would be nice too, to really make it shift!

 

[smb]

Congrats on one of the most brain exercising posts for a long while.

What about a sculling notch?

Also when you build mine can it have a 1'' wide slot cut in the transom running about 18'' into the hull, so that when inverted on the foredeck it straddles the babystay.

Delivery to the Ionian by the end of March would suit. Where do I send my £100?

Steve

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks for some really interesting feedback. Incidentally I'm basically aiming towards a rigid hull made from foam/kevlar sandwich to be ultra-light, i.e. around 25kg. It's still a toss-up between something like a Mirror and forgetting the sailing bit altogether and going for a dory-style box for max stability and carrying capacity. I do have the advantage of being able to carry up to 12ft on davits between the hulls!

 

[davebray]

Try HERE - I've just purchased a tender from them. Very helpful & very reasonable.

 

[VictorII]

When I built my own, I added a padeye (with backing plate!) in the seat to be able to lift on deck using the spinaker halyard. Suspended from this eye, the dinghy is perfectly balanced horizontally. But you probably only get this when self building.


Victor

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Who suggested a multihull tender???

I wonder

Something like a dart but smaller, two poles aft one with o/b bracket.

Rubber sheet under the net to keep crews bots dry, she might not be good to row, but would probably more stable than a mono when sculling as there would be less side to side direction problems.

You would sit on rather than in which might not appeal to many, but it could weight in at next to nothing, be very quick with a teeny o/b and break down to stow on even small yachts.

I think it might work,

 

[BurnitBlue]

I voted. But for me the most important feature would be a lockable secure dinghy difficult to steal with space for owners permanent markings and a non-saw-offable (?) eye for a chain lock.