Dinghy Suggestions

svsouthwind · Aug 10, 2008

I'm looking for ideas for a dinghy for my 35-2. I don't want to have to carry gasoline as well as diesel on board so my thoughts point toward a sail/row type with a capacity in the 500+ pounds range.
I'd appreciate any ideas or tales of experience from other members.
Al

Skip Jim · Aug 10, 2008

I have a great 10.2 achilles inflatable. It has an 8 hp Suzuki, but you could row and leave the motor home. It is an 1988, but has been inside most of its life, except when it has been on trips to Catalina, so it is in very good condition, no leaks. It has a solid wood transom, a wooden floor, one wooden seat and one inflatable seat. With the 8 hp motor it can plane with 2 people on board. It is very easy to tow or can be tied to the forward deck. I used it on a 35 11. I am asking $975 for the motor and boat, cheap enough for you to use while you figure out what else might work for you.

gareth harris · Aug 10, 2008

After a discussion of this in a thread in 'Cruising and Racing' a couple of years back, I have had my eye on one of these:

http://www.klepper.com/en/faltboote_besegelung.php

I have not bought/used one yet, but they look like a blast, and something that would fit inside the boat. For more information on the subject, look at:

http://www.foldingkayaks.org/

If you are after the traditional dinghy, there have been other threads discussing inflatables, but all of them would take a lot of space in the E35. I am planning to convert the space over my fuel tank into storage, but even so, the boat was not designed with much space for bulky items.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

u079721 · Aug 12, 2008

Porta-Bote

If you don't want to be encumbered with an outboard, then an inflatable is almost out of the question, as they just don't row worth a damn.

In that case I would suggest a folding Porta-Bote ( http://www.porta-bote.com/ ). The 10 footer would give you enough capacity, be easy to stow, and still be usable without an outboard. Of course any good fiberglass rowing dink would work as well, but that would be a lot to get aboard, and a pain to tow.

tenders · Aug 12, 2008

Row if you like, but of all the durability/portability/buoyancy/towability/propulsion compromises one must make when deciding about dinghys, in my opinion FWIW the easiest one to make would be having a jerrycan of gas lashed to the deck and a small outboard on a mount on the pushpit.

I can't imagine anything worse than being becalmed in a current and wanting to get to (or off of) the mothership!

treilley · Aug 12, 2008

I have a Cape Dory 10 which is excellent for rowing, sails nicely and looks classic. Unfortunately it is tough for the dog to get in and out of so I bought a Mercury rib with a 4hp Johnson twin.

Lew Decker · Aug 13, 2008

I feel like there are some misguided souls out there regarding the dinghy issue. I can legally say that because I don't know of anyone more misguided than me

.

A long time ago when I took off for the sunset, I had two dinghies; a 10' Zodiac inflatable, and a 7'11" sabot.

The Zodiac was an impossible beast. It was heavy and unwieldy when it wasn't inflated, and a load for two men to launch over the side when it was. I could row the SOB but it was an adventure in direction finding and wouldn't maintain way, even in a flat calm. Any chop at all and it would stop dead in its tracks. The Zodiac, bless its outrageously expensive little heart, stayed buried below because no one aboard wanted to fool with pumping that thing up, launching it over the side, and then fighting the fat turkey all the way to the beach.

The sabot, on the other hand, stored nicely out of the way on the forward section of the cabin top, weighed about half of the Zodiac, and would fairly fly into the water when it was launched. It rowed straight and true, carried its way like a racing shell, and would hold - I'm not making this up - four adults without shipping a drop - if we were careful :egrin:

. It was fun to sail in those beautiful Caribbean coves, would tow obediently behind the boat at some unbelievable speeds, never leaked a drop, and was easy to haul aboard and stow. It only cost me 100 super-inflated 1975 U. S. dollars.

I don't remember what I paid for that Zodiac but I wished 100 times over that I could somehow wrangle a refund for that fat, overweight, rotundancy of an inflatable.

Caveat time - I didn't want to carry an outboard and the gas containers, oil cans, spark plugs, etc. I wasn't really a barebones cruiser. I just didn't want to frog around with all that stuff. I rowed competitively in school so I looked forward to seeing what I could do with a dinghy.

Ever water skiied behind a sabot??? :egrin:

So...I know inflatables have come a long way since 1975, and I know most cruisers would opt for the outboard/gas can/spark plug stuff, but my point here is this: don't forget that a whole world of cruisers got along just fine out there with good, hard dinghies and proper sets of oars before someone ever pumped up a tractor inner tube and slapped "Zodiac" on the side.

I also have to add the following: in 3 years of cruising Mexico, Central America, and nearly all of the Caribbean, not once - ever, as in never - did we have to anchor beyond a short rowing distance to the beach or a dock.

Maybe a few of you who plan to go cruising might rethink what it is that makes us want to cast off in the first place. I wanted a simple life and one that would afford me the opportunity to experience other cultures, other landscapes. I didn't want to drag along anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. I'm not a Type A personality. I don't like working on systems. I didn't want to learn to swear at an outboard. I liked rowing that sabot ashore. It fit my cruise-mode personality and became part of a sailing ritual that I can look back on and think, "Holy smokes, that was fun."

That was cruising for me. I loved it.

I sold the Zodiac in Key West for $125, but I felt a little bit of guilt. I couldn't tell the buyer that I would have paid him $125 to take the royal piece of corpulence out of my life.

Let's go sailing.

rwthomas1 · Aug 13, 2008

This is a tough call. I currently use a 10ft 1986 vintage Achilles with wood floor/air keel and a 1986 Mariner 8hp, mainly I use it as a water taxi to and from the mooring. I have loaded the bejeezus out of it with gear, and had 7 people in it on one occasion. Powerful enough to plane easy with two people and I have used that a few times when anchor 1/2+mile from the dock. Can be fun solo too when you just want to blast around. Very stable when loading/unloading compared to my friends nutshell pram.

The negatives are stated above. Heavy but can go on the foredeck and tows reasonably. 8hp is a bear to get to the pushpit mount. Need to get that lift installed..... Rows like crap, swimming would be faster. Also annoying to pump out the water that ends up under the floorboards from rain.

I was given a 95% completed 9'6" nutshell pram including sails, etc. If we ever get the paint done I am hoping that it will be a better alternative to the Achilles. I know it will row better. I have a 3hp motor for it and also look forward to sailing around anchorages with it. Should tow better too. Time will tell.

RT

u079721 · Aug 13, 2008

Lew Decker said:
I feel like there are some misguided souls out there regarding the dinghy issue. I can legally say that because I don't know of anyone more misguided than me.

A long time ago when I took off for the sunset, I had two dinghies; a 10' Zodiac inflatable, and a 7'11" sabot.

The Zodiac was an impossible beast. It was heavy and unwieldy when it wasn't inflated, and a load for two men to launch over the side when it was. I could row the SOB but it was an adventure in direction finding and wouldn't maintain way, even in a flat calm. Any chop at all and it would stop dead in its tracks. The Zodiac, bless its outrageously expensive little heart, stayed buried below because no one aboard wanted to fool with pumping that thing up, launching it over the side, and then fighting the fat turkey all the way to the beach.

The sabot, on the other hand, stored nicely out of the way on the forward section of the cabin top, weighed about half of the Zodiac, and would fairly fly into the water when it was launched. It rowed straight and true, carried its way like a racing shell, and would hold - I'm not making this up - four adults without shipping a drop - if we were careful. It was fun to sail in those beautiful Caribbean coves, would tow obediently behind the boat at some unbelievable speeds, never leaked a drop, and was easy to haul aboard and stow. It only cost me 100 super-inflated 1975 U. S. dollars.

I don't remember what I paid for that Zodiac but I wished 100 times over that I could somehow wrangle a refund for that fat, overweight, rotundancy of an inflatable.

Caveat time - I didn't want to carry an outboard and the gas containers, oil cans, spark plugs, etc. I wasn't really a barebones cruiser. I just didn't want to frog around with all that stuff. I rowed competitively in school so I looked forward to seeing what I could do with a dinghy.

Ever water skiied behind a sabot???

So...I know inflatables have come a long way since 1975, and I know most cruisers would opt for the outboard/gas can/spark plug stuff, but my point here is this: don't forget that a whole world of cruisers got along just fine out there with good, hard dinghies and proper sets of oars before someone ever pumped up a tractor inner tube and slapped "Zodiac" on the side.

I also have to add the following: in 3 years of cruising Mexico, Central America, and nearly all of the Caribbean, not once - ever, as in never - did we have to anchor beyond a short rowing distance to the beach or a dock.

Maybe a few of you who plan to go cruising might rethink what it is that makes us want to cast off in the first place. I wanted a simple life and one that would afford me the opportunity to experience other cultures, other landscapes. I didn't want to drag along anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. I'm not a Type A personality. I don't like working on systems. I didn't want to learn to swear at an outboard. I liked rowing that sabot ashore. It fit my cruise-mode personality and became part of a sailing ritual that I can look back on and think, "Holy smokes, that was fun."

That was cruising for me. I loved it.

I sold the Zodiac in Key West for $125, but I felt a little bit of guilt. I couldn't tell the buyer that I would have paid him $125 to take the royal piece of corpulence out of my life.

Let's go sailing.

Well to start with Lew is definitely going to hell for questioning the common wisdom that an inflatable is the only way to go. (grin)

The really interesting thing about dinghies is that what works for you may well not work for someone else. In fact, what works for you today may not work in five years.

When we started cruising we bought an 8' Porta-Bote, and loved it. It rowed as easily as a kayak, and was a snap to fold and store on the side deck, which we preferred to towing. Rowing was fun, and we mostly used it just to get to shore in the anchorages, though we did row as much as 5 or 6 nm a few days of exploring. Many of our friends use kayaks as dinghies for this type of use.

But after a few years we wished to be able to explore a bit further from the boat, even spend the day exploring nearby anchorages. So we bought a new Porta-Bote that could take a small outboard, as we really didn't want to have to deal with an inflatable. The outboard was a Honda 2 HP 4 cycle, just 28 lbs, so it was easy to lift off the rail and mount. We loved it, and went exploring up to 20 nm a day around the anchorages. The outboard was no trouble, and the gas can lived in the propane well (we had CNG) so there was no gas can underfoot or tied to the rail.

But about the time we sold our Ericson we sort of began to get itchy again. Our friends with their big outboards and inflatables could go even further and faster, even into town for milk or bread. If I had a boat with davits to hold the inflatable maybe it wouldn't be that much of a hassle?

Anyway, all of this just shows how what worked for us changed over the years as our cruising style changed. As we wanted to do more we were willing to put up with more inconvenience with motors and gas and towing to do it. If all you want to do is get 100 yards to shore, an inflatable with a 15 hp outboard might be overkill. If you want to go around the island for dinner, maybe not.

dwigle · Aug 13, 2008

A type of boat not yet mentioned is a nesting dinghy which in made for rowing, but takes up a lot less room on deck than a conventional dinghy. If I was going to carry a rigid dinghy, a nesting dinghy would be my first choice.
We occasionally use an inflatable kayak which rows well, but might not have the carrying capacity you're looking for. For longer trips we still use an Achilles with an outboard, which allows us to carry more as well as take friends.

Gareth, you'd probably enjoy the Klepper, but if you plan to use it with the Ericson make sure you can assemble it onboard. We also have a tandem Folbot which is more fun than the inflatable kayak, but very difficult to assemble on the foredeck.

Don Wigle
Wiggle Room
E38 #8

svsouthwind · Aug 20, 2008

Thanks to all of you for your input. I'm still not sure what I'll end up with when I leave port next year. The idea of the gas can in with the propane is one I hadn't thought of. It may turn out to be the answer after all.
Thanks
Al

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Dinghy Suggestions

svsouthwind

New Member

Skip Jim

Member II

gareth harris

Sustaining Member

u079721

Contributing Partner

tenders

Innocent Bystander

treilley

Sustaining Partner

Lew Decker

Member III

rwthomas1