Dingy Ideas / Suggestions?

zeehag · Oct 20, 2011

why not an avon rollup or a redcrest--rolls up and doesnt have to be towed--and a small outboard--to be stashed on your stern rails......that way you have a nice way to cruie comfortably thru the marina or anchorage and not have to tow a dink behind.
sheesh--a whaler would make ye sail backwards.....

sailaway78 · Oct 20, 2011

Air Floor dinks

I have become a big fan of the air floor dinks. While not quite as stable and solid as a rigid hull, they are much superior to a slat floor, and still can be rolled up and stored on deck. They will get up on plane with out a bunch of HP, and are much cheaper than a rigid hull. There are many of them available on ebay at a pretty decent price.

dscribner · Oct 20, 2011

We had an inflatable and didn't like it. It didn't tow well and was hard to board. It was a cheap one in disrepair and we were new to the dinghy thing so it was probably us. Last year I picked up a cheap fiberglass one in disrepair (notice a pattern?). It tows pretty well. I put a small electric trolling motor on the back and we can get around OK and best of all, it's silent.

zeehag · Oct 20, 2011

only thing bad about air floors is trying to get something big, boxy and with sharp corners to boat on an anchor----seems one needs a spare floor of solid material for that purpose. otherwise air floors arent bad. stow well.

Jalepeno · Oct 20, 2011

Have a look at:

http://www.plasticboats.com/

Have one for six years now. Durable, easy to tow, easy to row and easy to lift (with halyard) onto the foredeck. They are small but work well for rowing to shore for one or two crew.

MrBill_FLL · Oct 20, 2011

sit on top kayak. its what I use. but its not dry and can't haul much.

how about a stitch and glue wood dink? (DIY). use pool noodles around the gunnels for more flotation.

dragging a dingy will be about a half knot hit.. on a C22.

and if it gets rough it can turn over, becoming a safety issue.

Bill Roosa · Oct 20, 2011

Try the wodden boat plans sites. Google "8-ball pram" These are stich and glue type construction. Mine is over 8 years old and is doing fine. Rows GREAT (make the oars 7' 10" + to get the most effect), sails GREAT ( a real treat for the kids), tows GREAT (I estimate that the pull in <1 waves going 6 knots to be no more than 25 lb), only cost around $200 for the materials (mostly the sail hardware so you could get by with a $75 rowing pram if you did not want the sailing option) and can be constructed in less thant a week with tools you already have.
She is also easy to board from the boat and the water (don't ask), drags over the rocks without any damage (some paint does scratch off though) and can haul 2 adults and supplies for about a week or 2 adults and a child or 1 adult and 2 children. she will go about 4 knots if you know how to row and get the oar length right (longer is better but don't forget you have to stow them when you go ashore and back at the boat) and draws less than a foot when loaded with two adults.

djplatt@cogeco.ca · Oct 20, 2011

I built a Devlin Polliwog. It tows and rows great. Picture of the finished product is here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djplatt/5959129377/in/photostream

here is the link to get plans

http://store.devlinboat.com/polliwog.aspx

We also use an inflatable kayak when we don't want to tow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/djplatt/5959625342/in/photostream

I really don't want to bother with another motor on a 24 ft boat.

cheers

Dave Groshong · Oct 20, 2011

I've had good results with a rowing pram, if you can find a good used one, looks like this:

http://www.woodenboatstore.com/96-Nutshell-Pram-Rowing-Kit/productinfo/605-001/

tows nicely, rows well, and rugged

Ross · Oct 20, 2011

Roger Long posted the plans for a fine pram bow dinghy made with 3 sheets of plywood.

chp · Oct 21, 2011

Need to get a tender for next year. Which tows easiest. An inflatable or a solid. Also what would be more stable towing in rough weather. I've thought about the plans to build one and kind of like that idea, but didn't know about stability. I would think that a solid boat would create less drag.

MrBill_FLL · Oct 21, 2011

for sure the inflatable will be more drag. a little less for a RIB. hard dink will have least drag.

but any of them can get turned over in a storm or rough conditions. once that happens you have a major safety issue.

especially if you leave the engine on.

AFAIK, there is no 1 single best dingy... it just depends.

(but, my SOT kayak, can't flip over and become an anchor, and its a crude life raft)

JohnS · Oct 21, 2011

CrawJac said:
I'm not thinking about a 20' center console with a motor bigger than my cars. I was thinking around the 10-12' foot range which should not cause that much trouble. A few of the sailors at my marina have similar setups and they work great.

Boston Whalers are great nearly indestructibly solid boats, but they also tend to weigh significantly more than other boats of a similar size. And they need more horsepower to plane. For a dinghy I wouldn't think you'd need that much overbuild. Do you really need a dinghy that can still float when cut in half?

Ross · Oct 21, 2011

I have a bolger/payson pram bow dinghy that was upside down on the dinghy rack at the marina during Hurricane Isabel. It was chained in and when I got down there after the flood had subsided it was right side up and half full of water.

Edit to add: Name of design is Nymph.

Dingy Ideas / Suggestions?

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