Dinghy Storage

[YVRguy]

I know this has been spoken about and I did a search on the topic but I'm still interested in your thoughts. My buddy and I just bought a Hunter 34. It was located in a semi-rual marina that is pretty casual. The previous owner stored his Walker Bay dinghy on the dock finger beside the boat. We sailed the boat to it's new home in Vancouver this past weekend and our marina in Coal Harbour is a lot more tightly controlled. You certainly can't store your dingy on the dock and they don't even want it in the water beside the boat. We have hauled it up onto the foredeck for now but it's kind of a pain and I can imagine we'll end up doing damage to the deck after a while. Any suggestions on best practices for handling/storing the dinghy? I would be tempted to get a one of those hydrostatic ones that you just throw in the water when you need it but we'd like to be able to row ashore when we're gunkholing. Maybe there's no simple answer for this but thought I'd put it out there.

On a related note, if deck storage is the best option, can anyone suggest a good method of lashing it down? Thanks in advance.

 

[Stretch]

Same rules here but we have a dinghy dock for storage. You will have to use a halyard for on and off most times, if you want a gunkhole dinghy. Otherwise, get the lightest one you can, so you can get it on and off with one person, just big enough to go get your stern tie.

 

[YVRguy]

Same rules here but we have a dinghy dock for storage. You will have to use a halyard for on and off most times, if you want a gunkhole dinghy. Otherwise, get the lightest one you can, so you can get it on and off with one person, just big enough to go get your stern tie.

I've heard a lot about using the halyard to hoist the dinghy but I'll have to fugure out how to do that. Seems like it would be stressing the tackle to have the halyard pulling so much weight far off on an angle like that.

 

[Tom J]

I use a Walker Bay 8 as a tender, and have no problem using the jib halyard to put the dinghy on the foredeck. I made a lifting bridle out of light line to lift the boat so that it stays level. My Walker Bay only ways about 71 lbs. Can't get much lighter than that. Even with the flotation collar installed, it is easy to handle.

 

[YVRguy]

I use a Walker Bay 8 as a tender, and have no problem using the jib halyard to put the dinghy on the foredeck. I made a lifting bridle out of light line to lift the boat so that it stays level. My Walker Bay only ways about 71 lbs. Can't get much lighter than that. Even with the flotation collar installed, it is easy to handle.

I don't know how to make a lifting bridle. Can I just lift it from the nose?

 

[Tom J]

I have lifted my dinghy from the bow eye. You just have to lift it a lot higher to clear the transom over the lifelines. To lift with the bridle, I installed 4 eyebolts into the corners of the seats, 2 forward and 2 aft. They came with the inflatable collar kit, and are used to hang the dinghy on davits (which I do also). Each eyebolt replaces the 1/4" bolt that secures that corner of the seat. Any good S/S eyebolt will do. I then ran 4 short lengths of light line from each eyebolt towards the middle of the boat and attached them to the halyard. A little experimenting found the right lengths so that the boat hung level. Stainless steel carabiners snap onto the eyebolts for quick on/off.

 

[onecoolair]

An old yoga mat makes good place to lay dingy on when having to sit it on fore deck.