Good deal on a Dinghy?

[beene]

To all, many thanks for all of your excellent input. Much appreciated.

I guess what I should mention is that I already have a Honda 7.5 4s 2cyl with a new gas tank. One would think I should keep that and sell my 565 Sandpiper sans motor..... hmmmmm.....



..... would certainly save me having to find out that rowing with 4 adults aboard really sucks in an x wind and rough seas.

I am also seeing from your gracious info that many of you find that 8.5' or 9.5' is more than enough for a dink. With an OB up to 10hp at the most. Good to know as some of the ones I have been looking at are 12' or more and take up to a 40 hp. Sounds like severe overkill to be sure.

So maybe a 9.5' with my 7.5hp Honda would be more than enough? Shooting for around 1000lb capacity sound about right?

I would love to rig some sort of dink lifting thingy majig for the stern. A way of lifting the thing out of the water, just enough so that it was not causing more drag and a performance hit on the already touchy Mac. It is times like this I wish I had a 225hp..... LOL.

My 7.5 weighs about 70lbs I think.... guess I should put her on the scale to find out for sure. I wonder if a kicker mount would work somewhere on the stern where other Mac owners might have not tried. I have seen other posts with great ideas..... might have to borrow an idea or 3 LOL.

Terry, thanks again for the advice.... I am taking this purchase very seriously indeed. I do not like to make a mistake and just end up buying another one later for $200 more and end up with 2 of them.

Now to figure out whether to buy from the US and pay xborder BS fees or buy local and pay more up front.

Thanks again all.

Happy new year!

G

[James V]

I should say again, buy your dinghy for your present needs. If that is keeping it out in the sun 24/7 and moving it more than your boat for over a year or just taking it out when you splash the boat.

This is 2 different things.

Enjoy. these are a lot of fun and really add to cruising in a Mac.

[Catigale]

My 75 weighs about 70lbs I think.... guess I should put her on the scale to find out for sure. I wonder if a kicker mount would work somewhere on the stern where other Mac owners might have not tried. I have seen other posts with great ideas..... might have to borrow an idea or 3 LOL.

I will venture and say that getting a 70lb kicker off a mount and onto a dinghy is not something you will enjoy, to put it mildly. Chip H might have a more succinct way of putting this and he is weightlifter compared to me.

In some waves and chop, my 27 pound motor has been a PITA to lift off and mount - I couldnt imagine a 70# beast.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

My 6 hp weighs 59 lbs and the few times I have moved it from my transom bracket to the dinghy by hand in rough conditions it was a hassel.

My new aft arch includes a simple lifting crane that makes all the difference. It's a simple stand off tube of aluminum. I then clip in my mainsheet and hoist away. The motor has a lifting sling on it. I stand in the dinghy with the transom to the mac transom. I simply lift the motor off the bracket spin it around and lower it onto the dinghy transom. It's really quick and easy.



Here is a picture of the dinghy stored on the bow. (Sorry to those purists, but it was a mastless trip before I built the motoring mast.)



By my handheld GPS we get 14 knots with 2 adults on board with the 6 hp motor wide open. It will even get up on a plane with the 5 of us on board but this requires quite a bit of leaning forward by all.

I must say I do like having the larger nearly 10' boat with a bigger motor. It get's us around to many more places than just the closest shore. We have no issues with making treks to the far side of islands in search of adventure.

The Maxxon dinghy rows well with it's inflatable keel. Our previous dinghy was a slat floor model that rolled small as well but the flat bottom was much harder to row straight. Even junior captians are able to handle the Maxxon.



Do get a good dinghy anchor so you don't come back from a beach stroll to a sight like this.



Thankfully some helpful neighbors rescued it without any salvage fees.

[NiceAft]

If I understand correctly, some who tow a dinghy which has a motor, tow the dinghy with the motor removed. They fasten it on board their Mac? What am I missing? I simply tilt my 6hp out of the water. I then tow the dinghy with the motor flipped out of the water.


Why go through the effort of removing the motor, and then reattaching it?


Ray

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Towing with the motor on the dinghy will take 1+ knot off your speed over the dinghy alone. It is quite amazing how much drag that extra weight adds. By the look of that picture you posted you are losing 2-3 knots of total boat speed with the dinghy at that extreme bow high angle.

For short distances I'll leave the motor on if I happen to have used the motor, but any passage of 10 NMiles or more, (we often cover 20- 30 Nm in a day) and it is well worth the 5 minutes it takes to remove the motor. For really long passgaes 30+ Nm I will always remove the motor and pull the dinghy.

This is one of the reasons I am interested in adapting a Dinghy Tow solution as it creates very low drag way of towing while leaving the motor attached. Even so I would expect that with a Dinghy Tow setup I would mostly tow the dinghy without the motor on it. It would stay on it's bracket where it is also a backup to the main motor. My lifting method makes taking the motor on and off quick and simple anyway.

I always start a trip with the dinghy motor off, and the dinghy deflated on the bow (we trailer with it there). Once I get to a place where I need the dinghy, sometimes I never do, it usually stays inflated and get's towed for the rest of the trip. The exception is rough weather or when we need to go fast. I'll pull the dinghy for these conditions.

For typical trips we might not even put the motor on the dinghy if all we need is to make short trips to shore from a bouy or anchorage. Rowing is good exercise and there is something calming about rowing around a pretty anchorage.

[James V]

Taking the motor off is your choice. If you encounter wind and seas big enough to flip the dinghy then the motor might be a loss or at least a big problem to clean.

I have hit bow waves big enough for my dinghy to take air.

[NiceAft]

Duane,

Thanks, I have a better understanding of "why".

I don't think I would like to attach my 40lb 6hp Merc without being the Achilles being tied to something stable, like a dock. The thought of the motor going to the bottom bothers me. I still won't remove the motor, but I now understand why you and others do.


Ray

P.S. I posted a question as to why remove a dinghy's motor on another thread. Your response answers that question too.

[beene]

I am of the opinion that I want a Dinghy, but do not want to increase the drag so as to hurt the already limited performance of my M. She is not a top performer in either power of sail. But I love her just the same.

That being said, I want:
- to keep that Dinghy inflated most if not all of the time
- keep the motor on it
- keep it out of the water until needed
- keep it somewhere where it does not block the Capt view in any direction

Do I want the impossible? Perhaps, only time will tell. But I can be quite stubborn about these kinds of things and usually end up figuring out a way to make it work.

Thanks for all the great ideas and info Duane. What you have going for you is very close to what I want.

Cheers

G

[James V]

No, just use the dinghy to tow your Mac. The dinghy does not tow well at 15 mph.

[beene]

G

[beene]

OK

Here is a question for all you experienced Dinghy towers..... how fast have you towed it? I always cruise at 20mph around 3700 rpm. Will the dinghy tow alright at that speed?

G

[NiceAft]

Geoff,

I have never towed at that speed, since I can't get there even if Nice Aft is empty , BUT, I don't think that speed would be safe for towing a dingy. I would be scared of hitting some chop and having it go airborne. Maybe flipping.

Maybe I should just keep my opinions to myself and see if anyone has actually done it, and what they think.

Never Mind
Ray

[Catigale]

Im a lot more comfortable in the 6-8 mph than the 10-12 mph range - and thats just with a Sevy 250SX - a pretty light dinghy. Towing something more substantial at 20 mph is probably asking for trouble, unless the seas are glass like...

[beene]

Not according to these guys.....



LOL

I thought a dinghy would perform even better than the 3 person tube at speed.

That Sea Doo adds a lot of drag to the Mac for sure. It does not seem to matter whether anyone is on it or either

G