MacGregorSailors.com

Darren :
I was dragging it 5' , 10' and just short of 15' feet from the transom. ( I kept playing with it )I installed a 3/8's SS U bolt with 2"x 4" x 1/8" SS backer plate about 1 ft. above the boot stripe.... a good 2 ft. lower than the rear cleats.. was that my problem? I need to raise the attachment point and shorten the painter... I was concerned about using those cleats for 4 to 8 hours at a time. Its amazing the strain that dink puts on the line hahahaha
I wish the Mast Carrier/Arch was a Lot Stronger so I could use it , to attach to , but its not , NOT by a long shot. @#$%^&

I tow mine from an aft cleat, and my boat has the old style plastic cleats. I use a long floating ski rope connected to a webbing bridle with float that has SS snap hooks for the two side tow points. This lets me tow it back 15' to 30'. I try to position it so it is on a down slope of the wake which seems to reduce the pull so I assume it has less impact on performance.

I never tow with the motor on. I did this once and it had a major impact on performance. The motor brought down my speed 1-1/2 knots. The motor always comes off the dink onto the X's transom bracket before we get under way. The lifting arm on my arch makes this an easy thing to do.

hanging the dink short off the cleat adds about 30 lbs downward force onto the gunwhale, enough that you can feel it, but the improvement in ride, splash, bounce and hassle has been worth it.

kadet posted some pics of his stern mounted davits on this forum a while ago. Might be worth a search

waternwaves wrote:hanging the dink short off the cleat adds about 30 lbs downward force onto the gunwhale, enough that you can feel it, but the improvement in ride, splash, bounce and hassle has been worth it.

Thank You Darren:
I will try shortening the leads next trip out with the dink and attaching to the rear cleats. I have added BTW two eye bolts one on each side of the transom of my dink and now run those two lines forward and thru the bow eye on the dink, and that improved some of my problems and for sure reduced the chances or ripping anything loose on the dink. My dink is now ready for the summer season......... after having totally submerged the motor off the transom of the dink , and into the Gulf of Mexico last winter...DONT ASK!

yep,

I have a tether on my outboard when it is hanging on the motor mount or the dink. (Slow learner I suppose)

I found that towing with the motor on the dink resulted in frequently a waterlogged dink, and or a submerged motor. It is only a little 4 hp Evinrude.. and I found that after submersion in saltwater, I could get it running again in less than 45 minutes.....(but it did take a lot of gasoline to dry it out, and probably wasnt that good for the environment, and I broke the carb rich knob in the process.

But it did dry out and run in less than 45, Not much to those little engines...Thankfully, it only dropped the depth of the tether into the briny deep (or not so deep) A lot to be said for pull start and magnetor ignition.

Sometime over a cool beverage, you will have to give me the full story of the submarining.


I am interested in the double arches idea, however I still keep looking at the hunters and have trouble imagining the forward support up by the cabin. I agree tho, IT would make the canvas aspects of the deck much easier and robust. And I would absolutely kill for a nice firm rail to grab onto when I walk back down the deck and try to step into the cockpit. I do know......that someday.............I will misstep that step around the cleats, winches and enclosure and find myself swimming. I'll I know about that accident yet to happen is that when I feel it about to happen, I am jumping up and out so that my legs will be dragging in the water and not my head. I have slipped off the boat twice, both on the hard. I know it can happen.

How about an SS version of what Theric did on his Mac?

K9 How did you do that?
I mean Dude..........I clicked on the picture to enlarge it and suddenly............. The Theme Song from Miami Vice was blaring thru my speakers there's a chopper flying over my house RIGHT NOW! and No .... No way ......... Sonny Crockett just pulled into my driveway In a Black Daytona Spyder......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGkurWAXgZs

There is an excellent commercial arch available at http://www.joystickpylons.com/towers_universal.htm I have seen pics from one installed on a 26X located in southern sierras...not sure if he is a member of this board. I do have a couple pics he shared with me. Not sure about the vendor ....hard times....but their website is up....think they are in San Diego area and these may be about $1,000 or so. Jack