This may be a pointless post in the age of nearly universal inflatables and stern davits but perhaps the other person still towing a rigid hull dinghy around will appreciate it.
Few things annoy me more than the dinghy knocking on the hull which it will do at least half the night when the wind is against the tide. My solution has been to tie it alongside with a fender but, in any chop, that results in rhythmic squeaking of the lines and thumping as they come tight. The fender still makes a tapping sound.
I whiled away part of yesterday afternoon, when the wind began blowing straight up the river, working out this arrangement. Now that I’ve figured it out, I can rig and un-rig it in a couple of minutes.
The key is the shock cord painter which keeps the dinghy right under the outrigger end without snubbing in wakes or rolling. The regular painter is made fast loosely to the midships cleat. The vang is just a length of quarter inch line with a loop tied in it. The forward end terminates in a bowline that is lead through the bow chock and dropped over the bow cleat. This makes length adjustment of the forward vang automatic. A clove hitch in the vang, just below the loop, is thrown around the end of the boat hook which is extended full length and the business end stuck in one of the toe rail holes.
The spinnaker halyard and shock cord painter are clipped into the loop just before the boathook is run out and the aft vang is then made fast to the jib sheet cleat.
Time for my nap.
Few things annoy me more than the dinghy knocking on the hull which it will do at least half the night when the wind is against the tide. My solution has been to tie it alongside with a fender but, in any chop, that results in rhythmic squeaking of the lines and thumping as they come tight. The fender still makes a tapping sound.
I whiled away part of yesterday afternoon, when the wind began blowing straight up the river, working out this arrangement. Now that I’ve figured it out, I can rig and un-rig it in a couple of minutes.
The key is the shock cord painter which keeps the dinghy right under the outrigger end without snubbing in wakes or rolling. The regular painter is made fast loosely to the midships cleat. The vang is just a length of quarter inch line with a loop tied in it. The forward end terminates in a bowline that is lead through the bow chock and dropped over the bow cleat. This makes length adjustment of the forward vang automatic. A clove hitch in the vang, just below the loop, is thrown around the end of the boat hook which is extended full length and the business end stuck in one of the toe rail holes.
The spinnaker halyard and shock cord painter are clipped into the loop just before the boathook is run out and the aft vang is then made fast to the jib sheet cleat.
Time for my nap.
