I have been considering making the trip from Dana Point to Catalina on my CAT22, that's about 30 miles pretty much open ocean. While there is a considerable amount of boat traffic I wanted the added security of having a dingy along for an emergency. I was thinking of an inflatible in the 9' range and drag it behind, but would like suggestions if anyone has one. What boat, drag it or carry it (how I don't know).
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Aldo
Carry your Dinghy
D.: We have an inflatable dinghy and use it often. We use it to go to restaurants when our boat is at anchor. It's an inflatable Seyvlor, which is 9'2" long, and came with fittings attached to it so that it can take a motor bracket. I made the motor bracket for ours, but Seyvlor sells a bracket. We use a 2 HP motor on our dinghy, and my 2 sons really enjoy using it. This dinghy is light weight, and when it is deflated, we just stuff it into a sail bag, and put it into the sail compartment with the sails. We blow it up with a battery powered inflator for an air matress, that does the job in a few minutes, but we also have a hand pump that we use to make it firmer than the battery pump does. I do recommend an inflatable, because from my experience, a C-22 can't pull a dinghy without serious loss of sailing preformance. When we pull the dinghy described above, the pull on the rope is unbelievable. I have also pulled a sailboat that I previously had, and again the pull on the rope was very great. Also, the dinghy towed behind a C-22 can fill with water, and from experience I can tell you that this can ruin your day. We don't consider our dinghy a safety item. We sail on the Chesapeake, and the biggest waves that we have sailed in have been about 4 feet. I have attached a link to my son's website. At the bottom of the webpage, you can see a photo of the dinghy that I am talking about. We carry our 2 hp motor on a teak block that is mounted on the starboard end of the traveler. I know, it takes away about 3 inches of the travler, but it's worth it, and hasn't seemed to slow the boat down at all. I think that our solution to the dinghy issue has been a good one for us. We did use it extensively on the National cruise. There is a place to click on Danny's website to see photos from that cruise. We received many positive comments about our dinghy from the other sailors on the cruise. Aldo
D.: We have an inflatable dinghy and use it often. We use it to go to restaurants when our boat is at anchor. It's an inflatable Seyvlor, which is 9'2" long, and came with fittings attached to it so that it can take a motor bracket. I made the motor bracket for ours, but Seyvlor sells a bracket. We use a 2 HP motor on our dinghy, and my 2 sons really enjoy using it. This dinghy is light weight, and when it is deflated, we just stuff it into a sail bag, and put it into the sail compartment with the sails. We blow it up with a battery powered inflator for an air matress, that does the job in a few minutes, but we also have a hand pump that we use to make it firmer than the battery pump does. I do recommend an inflatable, because from my experience, a C-22 can't pull a dinghy without serious loss of sailing preformance. When we pull the dinghy described above, the pull on the rope is unbelievable. I have also pulled a sailboat that I previously had, and again the pull on the rope was very great. Also, the dinghy towed behind a C-22 can fill with water, and from experience I can tell you that this can ruin your day. We don't consider our dinghy a safety item. We sail on the Chesapeake, and the biggest waves that we have sailed in have been about 4 feet. I have attached a link to my son's website. At the bottom of the webpage, you can see a photo of the dinghy that I am talking about. We carry our 2 hp motor on a teak block that is mounted on the starboard end of the traveler. I know, it takes away about 3 inches of the travler, but it's worth it, and hasn't seemed to slow the boat down at all. I think that our solution to the dinghy issue has been a good one for us. We did use it extensively on the National cruise. There is a place to click on Danny's website to see photos from that cruise. We received many positive comments about our dinghy from the other sailors on the cruise. Aldo
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Joe McManus
Catalina 22 dinghy further info from Aldo
Aldo, The link that you included with your posting did not work. Would you please give the model number of the Sevylor inflatable that you bought?
Aldo, The link that you included with your posting did not work. Would you please give the model number of the Sevylor inflatable that you bought?
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Larry Watkins
Dink for a C22
D; Here's my ten cents. I'd stay away from the Sevylors and the other cheapies. They're are made from PVC and don't stand up well to sunlight, and without a rigid floor, they can be difficult to use, especially by Her Royal Highness the First Mate, and you won't like that. Get a small, eight foot or so, inflatable and carry it upside down on the foredeck, or deflate it, roll it up and carry it on the cabin-top. I towed mine from Long Beach to Catalina for a number of years with no problems. A small two-stroke engine can be carried almost anywhere if the carbuerator bowl is drained first. Good luck.
D; Here's my ten cents. I'd stay away from the Sevylors and the other cheapies. They're are made from PVC and don't stand up well to sunlight, and without a rigid floor, they can be difficult to use, especially by Her Royal Highness the First Mate, and you won't like that. Get a small, eight foot or so, inflatable and carry it upside down on the foredeck, or deflate it, roll it up and carry it on the cabin-top. I towed mine from Long Beach to Catalina for a number of years with no problems. A small two-stroke engine can be carried almost anywhere if the carbuerator bowl is drained first. Good luck.
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Aldo
Try this Link for my Dinghy Photo
Joe: I don't know why the link didn't work. I reviewed this with my little computer guru. Anyhow, type: http://rocketdanny.tripod.com/sailboats and go to the bottom of the page. My Seyvlor is model V-280K, Voyager. I don't know if they make it any more. My wife bought it at Sam's club for $50. I don't see an advantage to spending around $1000 instead, for a 60 lb. dinghy, instead of a 16 lb. one that stores easily in the sail compartment. Aldo
Joe: I don't know why the link didn't work. I reviewed this with my little computer guru. Anyhow, type: http://rocketdanny.tripod.com/sailboats and go to the bottom of the page. My Seyvlor is model V-280K, Voyager. I don't know if they make it any more. My wife bought it at Sam's club for $50. I don't see an advantage to spending around $1000 instead, for a 60 lb. dinghy, instead of a 16 lb. one that stores easily in the sail compartment. Aldo
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Pete
Hard Dink
We have been using a 7'9" plywood dink that we built. It weighs about 60 pounds, carries over 500 pounds, rows easlly (no need for a motor), and tows like a dream. Sailing performance suffers, but not very much. I think it probably tows way better than an inflatable and it certainly rows 100% better. On anything but very short hops an inflatable needs a motor. On a hard dink, a motor is a waste of time, effort, and money. Mine rows at walking speed with a similar amount of effort as compared to walking. I love to row around an achorage for an hour or so in the morning before the crew gets up. Sometimes that is the best part of the whole trip, getting a little light exercise while watching the sun come up. It is bit of extra effort to get the dink from the dinghy rack, row it to the slip, and juggle it while getting underway. As a result we only take it when we know we will need it when on day sails (I don't consider it a safety item). I almost always take it when on overnight or longer trips. It would be nice to carry/store it on board, but I consider space on a C22 to be too scarce a commodity for that. Personally I would recommend weighing the benefits of a lightweight cheapie inflatable, heavy duty inflatable, and a hard dinghy. Any of the above might be a good fit, depending on your needs. Pete
We have been using a 7'9" plywood dink that we built. It weighs about 60 pounds, carries over 500 pounds, rows easlly (no need for a motor), and tows like a dream. Sailing performance suffers, but not very much. I think it probably tows way better than an inflatable and it certainly rows 100% better. On anything but very short hops an inflatable needs a motor. On a hard dink, a motor is a waste of time, effort, and money. Mine rows at walking speed with a similar amount of effort as compared to walking. I love to row around an achorage for an hour or so in the morning before the crew gets up. Sometimes that is the best part of the whole trip, getting a little light exercise while watching the sun come up. It is bit of extra effort to get the dink from the dinghy rack, row it to the slip, and juggle it while getting underway. As a result we only take it when we know we will need it when on day sails (I don't consider it a safety item). I almost always take it when on overnight or longer trips. It would be nice to carry/store it on board, but I consider space on a C22 to be too scarce a commodity for that. Personally I would recommend weighing the benefits of a lightweight cheapie inflatable, heavy duty inflatable, and a hard dinghy. Any of the above might be a good fit, depending on your needs. Pete
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