With 14 months remaining till we retire, move on the boat and head south - we are beginning final preparations: sail upgrades, water maker, air conditioning, updating certain electronics, life raft, dinghy, outboard, etc.
I’m having a hard time figuring out how to carry a dinghy. We don’t plan to do extensive off shore sailing, but will cross the Gulf Stream and do quite a bit of island hopping. We’ll probably be purchasing a 10’ RIB. There isn’t much room to carry a dinghy on the foredeck. I’m not crazy about davits which can interfere with access to swim platform and stress stern rail. Not really thrilled with radar arch idea.
I did have a DinghyTow on my F30 years ago. Tows dinghy backwards from sailboat transom with outboard mounted and dinghy transom pulled up out of the water. Worked well - even in severe Lake Erie squalls. That said, I’m not sure how it would work in ocean.
I would appreciate hearing how people carry their dinghys and also if anyone has had any experience with DinghyTow.
Thank you,
Bob
I’ve had great success with Atkins and Hoyle davits. One of the keys to success was building a sturdy lifting cable and bracing the dinghy side to side so that it can’t move.
Whatever you do, go much larger than you expect as the forces which get generated in large seas. The A&H model at the bottom was insufficient and needed to be replaced.
Hi, now I’m not suggesting this is a perfect way to carry a tender but in most conditions im comfortable with it. Im yet to find a perfect way on a 33foot freedom. Davits like Geoffs are usually the best option in my opinion but I have a hydrovane on the back and also a lot of other weight back there and dont want to add more on my small boat that pretends she’s a big boat! I generally take the outboard of.The dinghy is very securily tired to toe rail then across the top to handrail, it really cant move.Also I have stanchion handrails ( photo 3 ) on Freeform that make this possible. On long passages when I’m unable to guarantee weather I will let dinghy down. I used to carry it upside down between mast and dodger but I like how it obstucts my view. My current way also allows me to put her in the water quickly if need be. Unless the weather was very nasty I feel she is secured quite well.
Hey, where is everyone? Hopefully not frozen in the tundra! I’m hoping for a few more responses on carrying a dinghy and outboard. Some pros and cons would be greatly appreciated. Wondering if anyone else has had experience or heard anything about Davron’s DinghyTow?
Thank you,
Bob
I have a dinghy tow on my F-30 as well (along with a bit of other “different” stuff). It seems to work well on Puget Sound. I don’t know about how it would work in the seas found in the open ocean.
Sward posted a long while back that he tried one on his F-32 and had bad luck with it,
I carry my 9 ft Achilles on the cabin top just forward of my mizzen on my F33 cat Ketch . works fine but a bit of a PITA to get it on and off even using the stsysail halyard. If I’m going on short sails I just tow it . 5 HP motor lives on aft pushpit .
Hi Bob,
I use a DinghyTow on my '97 Freedom 35. I run overnight from Massachusetts up to Penobscot Bay, Maine. It behaves beautifully. In quartering seas, the dinghy behaves like it were part of the boat. Absolutely no problems. My only complaint is that I have to listen to the sound of the water rushing around the bow of dinghy that is in the water. Well, one more issue. Don’t forget when you are at a dock, that you are now 10 feet longer and it is behind you!
We are in the process of moving the motor mount location. We use larger straps sailing. We used this configuration last year from Nova Scotia to Florida and it worked out fine. We tow it like the dinghy tow shown off the davits on short halls or in the ICW. The davits hold the radar dome, wind gen and solar.
I’ll just remind people that there’s a huge difference between sailing the boat in relatively benign conditions and when the spray is hitting the fan. Then the fixtures that you thought were sufficient start bending and twisting all over the place. If you look at the picture of the davits labeled “These were insufficient” in my post above, you can see that they have a bend in them. They’re Atkins & Hoyle model 1200 davits which are rated for 200 lbs for the pair & the dinghy which I was carrying weighed 123 lbs.
I then went to their model 2000 davits, which are rated at 350 lbs for the pair and added a brace to help absorb the shock load when you’re pounding. You’ll also note the cross bracing cables with turn buckles which hold the dinghy firmly in position to keep it from moving side to side.
Don’t underestimate the forces that get applied to the dingy in rough conditions. If you can guarantee the conditions that you’ll be moving in, then light weight options may work for you. I know that I can’t do that.
Hi all, I don’t tow the dinghy often. I’ve been caught out a couple of times by squalls and it was one more thing I had to worry about. The dinghy tow system seems awfully expensive. I agree with Geoff regarding not underestimating nature. Ive seen several davit systems not deal well with adverse weather.
Cheers Dale.
Hi
We have Freedom 30 Corydora in Belfast Maine. We installed davits but found that our Walker Bay 10 is really too heavy for them. The davits are fine and raise the dingy very high but the boat squats low in the stern because of the weight so far to the stern . The dinghy weighs 130 lbs or slightly more with minor gear on board, tho’ no outboard. We still use it on light air days even if we do look funny. I notice Simplify"s modified use of davit; maybe we will try that next. Looks quite seaworthy. I am also interested that Dinghy Tow is working well for people. Glad you started this discussion, it’s a very useful topic.
Thanks Mary. I did have the Davron Dinghy Tow on our 1987 Freedom 30. Although it is principally designed for an inflatable, we used it with a 9’ Boston Whaler Squall. It worked very well in all kinds of conditions, including a 30 minute Lake Erie squall with winds of 75 miles per hour and short period waves 12 to 16 feet.
