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Hi guys, I've searched on this but couldn't find anything; I guess the problem is that Towing tends towards pick up "towing boat with vehicle" type threads.

Anyway, I've never towed my inflatable tender but would like to try.

What concerns me is mashing up the PVC with the prop.

I'm sure there's probably a simple answer to this so I would really appreciate the collective wisdom of the forum.

You can run out enough line to keep the tender away or use a tow bar as a hard tow device, we’ve done both.

Your prop stays below the water pretty much, so content would be quite an event.

Pet peeve at dinghy dock....sailing etiquette is to leave tender motor down, so you don’t puncture other boats, on a long line so multiple layers of boats can fit

It is acceptable to detach and reattach a boat in a seamnalike manner to make layers of space at a dock.

Putting your boat on a short line is like guy who parks is corvette across three handicapped spaces

I recommend a polypropylene towline which floats. When docking, getting a mooring or anchoring, pull the dinghy tight to the transom. In my early days of sailing I had a cheap PVC dinghy. Forgot to tie the dinghy tightly to the transom, so when I backed-up during anchoring, the towline got wrapped around the prop followed by the dinghy. What a mess..... Live and learn......

Thanks guys.

So is it fair to say that it's the line used to attach the tender that is key?

ie. If the line doesn't get caught by the prop THEN the PVC tender will be safe; assuming the prop is right down?

MikeFloutier wrote:Thanks guys.

So is it fair to say that it's the line used to attach the tender that is key?

You want polypropylene that floats. Keep in mind it also rots quickly in the sun, so be prepared to replace it often.

Also, you might want to make/buy a bridle.


More reading

https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2014/fe ... ow-tow.asp

Many thanks Russ, having read the boatus link I understand why I've not towed my tender yet.

And you know what, I've decided not to tow except for short hops where we really need it and there is someone who can be trusted to manage it.

In other circumstances I'll continue to:

1. Stay onboard,
2. Take a water taxi,
3. Beach the boat,
4. Wade or swim ashore, or
5. Tie up to a shore-linked pontoon.

I guess another option that I can think about, longer term, is getting another, much smaller tender that I can keep onboard and inflate and drop in the water when needed. I did consider an inflatable kayak, but on discussing this with the Admiral I decided against it

Also, you might want to make/buy a bridle.

Isn’t there a concerted Human Rights effort to stop this practice!

Catigale said:

Also, you might want to make/buy a bridle.



Isn’t there a concerted Human Rights effort to stop this practice!

Only if you remove the "l".

here is what i do: many points mentioned before!
1. floating rope( polypropelene- it floats, is cheap, and it has a bit of stretch in it too, but does sunburn, so inspect it regulary)
2.if there is any weight in the dingy- you can tie up a bridle for the tender- kind of like a net around a fish float- so you are pulling on the actual tubes, not a 'd' ring. personally i dont like the sliding bridle to be on the tender.
if the tender is heavy, you will need a sliding bridle on the tow boat- otherwise you will struggle to turn the tow boat( but your dingy shouldnt be that heavy). you need to be towing from a position on the dingy, that lifts the bow of the dingy slightly, to prevent it from burying itself, it has lots of floatation si it wont actually bury and pitch pole, but by lifting it a bit just lowers the frontal area- and reduces resistance
3.when i tow, i let out some line, and when i am up to the speed i want, i adjust the tow line so that the tendy is actually surfing on the front face of a wave in your wake, not on the back side of a wave- this reduces the pressure on the whole towline.i usually like to be back about 30' to 60' or so, to avoid as much propwash as possible,- but wavelength will dictate that.
4. when wanting to back up, or dock, or enter a marina , or crowded mooring field- all the same procedure- i simply pull the tow line in- i dont undo it, i just shorten the line and take the line up the side of the boat( outside gunwale, if docking), and simply cleat it up snuggish on a side cleat, maybe with a few feet of scope, - and pull all excess line in the tow boat- that way i cant damage anything, and the tender is out of the way for all maneuvers.
5. always a good thing is to have a snug cover for the tender- it protects it from the sun, it keeps water out from splashing when under tow, and if by chance the dingy did flip( not likely, but possible) it will keep the boat from being a great big bucket and ripping the d rings off. it will also keep all things in the dingy nice and ship shape!

towing can add significantly to your fuel consumption, and obviously effect top speed, try to make it easier- by reducing the resistance on the dingy, keep the dingy light,keep it surfing, not dragging, keep the dingy's bow up a wee bit, and be back enough so that the dingy is not fighting the propwash right at the boat, but rather dealing with it, where it has dissapated for he most part.

towing requires paying a bit of attention to your "trailer" but its not a big deal.

with our shoal water boats , i chose an inflatable dingy, that did not have a transom, keeping the weight down, its always a short hop to just row with the tiny oars to shore, and the kids have a blast in it, and they really cant do too much damage at rowing speeds

Many thanks Wayne, that's really useful!

yer welcome, its good to ask questions, but you will get the hang of it really quickly.

another important thing to consider for towing dinks, that i forgot to mention!
is that the tenders performance needs to sort of match the tow boats performance.
in other words, if your tow boat operates at planing speeds, its better if your dingy will plane as well, like a flat bottomed inflatable, if your dingy is a displacement type hard shell ( walker bay etc) it will not plane when you are, and will squat heavily in the water- creating lots of pressure on the towline, and a big increase in fuel consumption.
if you are towing at hull speeds or slower, then the displacement type dingy will tow just beautifully.

the thing i really want to do, is build some davitts for my , but just so many other projects first

We used floating line at first but still had problems with the dinghy floating all over the place at times.



So since almost the beginning we use the boarding ladder as a tow bar and it has worked great over hundreds of miles in all kinds of conditions. The dinghy is normally pulled up tight to the tow bar so no line floating in the water and the dinghy is also not floating all over the place.



Being able to put the ladder out horizontal has also created a nice boarding platform to get in and out of the dinghy.



I also have the dinghy rigged to put almost all the towing pressure on the transom and not the tow rings at the bow of the dinghy. I'm sure that by now under some conditions they would of been ripped out. The tow strap also keeps the bow of the dinghy down when towing.

Occasionally I let out more line to try and deal with the conditions which can get bad in following seas. Here is a video showing that from the Bahama trip. In the video you will also see how the bow rings could of been pulled out of the dinghy....

https://youtu.be/lm0W3qMMbLw

More on all of this here....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... de-17.html

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

Many thanks for this Sumner, and thanks for your Bahamas marathon story; I'm about halfway through, really enjoying it.

I tried towing my tender for the first time yesterday. I decided to tether it to the side of the boat with a couple of lines. It was as far back as I could get it without it being able to interfere with the sb rudder or obm.

It all seemed to work ok, sailing or motoring (including reversing) and not too much pull to the right; mind you I wasn't going that fast, but then I never do.

Looks like it will work for the odd short trips where a tender would be helpful, eg. Isolated anchorages where there's no water taxi.

I think if I were to want something on longer trips, like your Bahamas, I'd go for something smaller I could keep on board deflated.

Thanks again!