How
- Thread starter pumpkinpie
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I have a 10'-6" zodiac. I use a two line bridle with both lines run through the center of bow handle. I have the bridle length set so that I can pull the loop up and over a small cleat on the stern. This lifts the bow of the boat about 12" out of the water so that only the last foot or so of each tube is in the water. The towing force is about 1/2 what it is when towing on the painter and I have no line in the water to back over.
There are lots of threads on this topic, and lots of answers to your question. We pulled our inflatable up on the reverse transom of our 1983 H31, accomplishing the same thing as HaydenWatson wrote about above.
If you are only towing short distances in relatively calm water, I don't think it matters how far back you tow. Use more than one line, and incorporate the dinghy, the lines and the attachment points at both ends into your periodic 360-degree scan. If you are in high traffic areas, shorter tow lines will reduce the possibility that someone not paying attention will drive between your transom and the dinghy.
If you are only towing short distances in relatively calm water, I don't think it matters how far back you tow. Use more than one line, and incorporate the dinghy, the lines and the attachment points at both ends into your periodic 360-degree scan. If you are in high traffic areas, shorter tow lines will reduce the possibility that someone not paying attention will drive between your transom and the dinghy.
We use a 2 point dinghy bridle with ~30 feet of Dinghy tow line We will add a third safety line this year.
Typically the dinghy is towed at the top of the second bow wave, except when we are in close quarters, like a marina or when anchoring. In these situations, we bring the dinghy up very close to the transom to reduce the chances of the tow line being sucked up by the prop. Tow the dinghy on the opposite side of the boat from the exhaust port.
Typically the dinghy is towed at the top of the second bow wave, except when we are in close quarters, like a marina or when anchoring. In these situations, we bring the dinghy up very close to the transom to reduce the chances of the tow line being sucked up by the prop. Tow the dinghy on the opposite side of the boat from the exhaust port.
In following seas your dinghy may slide down a wave and strike your stern if you have a short tow line. In that case just let out more line. When docking, or picking up a mooring pull it in tight as Dave stated above to keep the tow line out of your prop. The floating line is good but in reverse with a long enough lead you will wrap your tow line around your prop. Ask me how I know this. I tow with my outboard attached to the dinghy without problems and have done so in all conditions for years without mishap. My tow line has stainless loops attached close to the bow of the dinghy with snap clips fastened to both front side tubes. The loops attach to the clips when the dinghy is free and either rowed or motored keep the tow line away from the outboard prop. You may want to put floats on the tow line near the dinghy. I leave a small mushroom anchor (maybe 8 pounds) on the dinghy for securing it on an island beach. Just let out about 40 feet of tow line and drop the mushroom on the beach with the dinghy in the water just off shore. While in a mooring field keep the dinghy up tight to your stern or tie it to one side if necessary to leave room for other boats maneuvering around the field.
I made this bridle. I have one of those 8' WM dincs.
You can see in the pic where I wrapped the line through the eyes of a bumper to float the line. If I should probably replace the line with polypropylene so it would float on its own.
You can see in the pic where I wrapped the line through the eyes of a bumper to float the line. If I should probably replace the line with polypropylene so it would float on its own.
I splice my own 3 strand nylon with plastic thimbles (quieter than stainless ones) into a bridle between the starboard and port D rings on a 10.5' inflatable, then tow from the center of that bridle on a painter... also 3 strand nylon. I have an 8-to-10 foot painter that I use for tying up at docks, and I add another 20(ish) foot painter end-to-end for a total of around 30 feet. That gets cleated at the transom of our sailboat, and shortened to less than 5 feet when navigating crowded harbors, or docking, etc... to reduce chances of fouling that line. Also always shorten while anchoring or any time using REVERSE (I have a Gori "Overdrive" prop that requires a burst of reverse to engage). 95% of my sailing is a couple hours, and within a mile or two of shore with the family in fairly calm seas... In those cases, I leave the outboard on (but tilted up). On the rare occasion where I anticipate sailing in seas more than 2-4 feet, or winds over 20kts, or when I'm sailing solo, and don't want another thing to "keep an eye on", I take the (6hp) outboard off, and hang it from my stern rail. The dinghy sits nice and high in the water with no outboard, so even when the painter goes slack and the dink yaws 90 degrees on a wave, it straightens out perfectly and without much strain if the motor is off. Ideally I'd take it off every time, but... it's heavy and I don't have any davits/crane/help rigged to help lift it, so I do it only when it SEEMS likely to be a worthwhile use of my energy. Some swear by floating painters, but as long as you are careful never to back up with the painter out there, nylon has some really nice traits that I like (stretch, cost, ease of splicing, UV resistant).
On my inflatable I made loops that went around the tubes back aft, ran thru the rings eweach side and thru the handle. That way any strain was shared by the entire side tubes. Seen those tow rings ripped out before. Offshore I tend to keep the bow right at the stern of the boat when it's any kind of rough.
Picture shows inflatable being towed offshore- about 75 miles or so out in the Gulf of Mexico
And in the ICW
When i had a hard dink, I used two lines from the bow, run to each stern cleat. Here's a very short (under a minute) video of the hard dinghy offshore in GOM
I've always towed my dinghys- no room on my 25 footer for them on deck, Coming onto 12,000 miles now
Picture shows inflatable being towed offshore- about 75 miles or so out in the Gulf of Mexico
And in the ICW
When i had a hard dink, I used two lines from the bow, run to each stern cleat. Here's a very short (under a minute) video of the hard dinghy offshore in GOM
I've always towed my dinghys- no room on my 25 footer for them on deck, Coming onto 12,000 miles now
Yep, some of us swear by floating painters/tow lines. Especially those of us who have had to cut the painter off of the prop at some inopportune time and place. Just sayin'.
All good ideas as far as bridles go .
To determine the best distance to tow, you really want to get high teck here. First, let the dink out a ways and then set your "normal" cruising speed in normal weather. Next, find a beat up old fish scale and insert it into the painter and measure the force required to haul the dinghy. Experiment with several towing distances to see where the least force is required to tow the dinghy.
With our 8' Walker Bay, it's about 8' back for minimum load. This is important to us as our H-310 is well underpowered.
To determine the best distance to tow, you really want to get high teck here. First, let the dink out a ways and then set your "normal" cruising speed in normal weather. Next, find a beat up old fish scale and insert it into the painter and measure the force required to haul the dinghy. Experiment with several towing distances to see where the least force is required to tow the dinghy.
With our 8' Walker Bay, it's about 8' back for minimum load. This is important to us as our H-310 is well underpowered.
with a metal snap on it polypropylene line won't be bouyant enough without a float. Also, Ive used the type of snap hook you show for many years and stopped using them after multiple snaps had failures of the guard spring. Once the guard can come open on its own you can easily lose the connection (when it goes slack or if the line whips around in the water). I have switched all critical gated snap hooks to the type that has the gate-as-spring. More reliable. Example below.
Dislike the idea of towing the dink. Instead I prefer to carry it out of the water where there is less chance of something going wrong.
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Hunter 42 Owner Modifications and Upgrades
Hunter 42 Owner Modifications and Upgrades
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Would if I could. When I was living on my Cross 35 tri, I kept it on the nets up front. Current boat simply can't doDislike the idea of towing the dink. Instead I prefer to carry it out of the water where there is less chance of something going wrong.
Hunter 42 Owner Modifications and Upgrades
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We tow our backwards that is we haul the tender with the back hauls riding on the propane lockers and tied to the aft cleats. Got the idea from this photo.
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ha... while I'm not signing up for that scientific study... It is certainly worth doing a quick gedanken experiment (less hassle than a "real" experiment). Assuming all else equal... and no personal preferences or additional risk... at what point is it "worth it" to lift the dinghy to get back those fractions of a knot. Obviously if you're sailing 100 yards, it isn't worth hauling your dinghy up be more efficient. On the flip side, if you're sailing 10,000 miles at a slower rate, the dinghy would add days or weeks to the journey... so spending a fair amount of time to haul it is worth it.
For me, nearly all of my sailing is somewhere on the order of 3 hours sailing before needing the dinghy again to go ashore. hypothetically, If I lose 1/2 knot and sail 6 knots instead of 6.5 (just under 10% of my speed), I'm going to add 18 minutes to my 3 hour trip. If hauling the dinghy took only seconds, it would be worth it... but for me, it involves way more than 8-10 minutes of effort on each end... So I'm enjoying my destination sooner by towing it. Unless the dinghy is costing me multiple full knots of boat speed (which I'm sure it is not), there's no way it is worth it for me. Of course other factors in the real world (waves, risk to dinghy, space on deck, cost of hardware to lift it, lower back pain, etc.) are at play and very important here. But for me, towing is OFTEN, but not necessarily ALWAYS a reasonable option. It just depends on the "kind" of journey you're heading out for. If I took longer sails, or had room on deck to stow it, or had davits set up, or had a lighter dinghy, or bigger crew... maybe I'd think differently.
I estimate we lose about a half knot of speed. An easier way to measure the speed loss is note your speed when motoring at specific RPM without the dinghy and then again with it. When sailing the speed loss will be greater in light air because there is less power in light air.