Show us your Dinghy!

Squidd · Jan 23, 2012

Is that for the adventure 17...? where do you plan on stowing it... or are you going to inflate/deflate every time you use it...?

MrBill_FLL · Jan 23, 2012

-I drag either a 2 or 1 man SOT -it can store on deck if I don't raise the poptop

abk · Jan 23, 2012

Hey... No Sexting!!!

Robspan · Jan 23, 2012

One of the reasons I got a Mac is that I can take it right up to the shore without need of a dinghy.

I do have an old Sevylor inflatable double kayak that my younger daughter used (abused?) for years with friends when we took my former boat to Florida for the summer. It held up very well and never leaked.

patrickfarley · Jan 24, 2012

I am trying to decide if I want to pull a canoe this summer. I plan to cruise around the west coast of Florida, Sarasota to Punta Gorda. I like to fish for seatrout and redfish from the canoe. But as I think about it I wonder if I could just raise the keel and fish from the boat. I will put the canoe on top of my Suburban no matter what but I don't know if it will be worth the trouble to tow the canoe.

Justin_NSA · Jan 25, 2012

I always thought that one of the benefits of a beachable boat was not needing a dinghy.
Than as they say; Old sailors never die, they just get a little dinghy :dance:

Sumner · Jan 25, 2012

Justin_NSA said:
I always thought that one of the benefits of a beachable boat was not needing a dinghy.
Than as they say; Old sailors never die, they just get a little dinghy :dance:

We loved it when we could, but lots of places we have been there just are no beaches.

Even Florida where you automatically think beaches....

...It is just Mangroves everywhere.

We also look at our...

...dinghy as an emergency life raft and wouldn't want anything less. It has been great for our needs where we haul a lot of stuff besides ourselves in it.

I am a little guilty of the going 'dinghy' myself

,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]

MrBill_FLL · Jan 25, 2012

patrickfarley said:
I am trying to decide if I want to pull a canoe this summer. I plan to cruise around the west coast of Florida, Sarasota to Punta Gorda. I like to fish for seatrout and redfish from the canoe. But as I think about it I wonder if I could just raise the keel and fish from the boat. I will put the canoe on top of my Suburban no matter what but I don't know if it will be worth the trouble to tow the canoe.

West coast of FLA, in the summer, probably OK...
East coast in the winter, No Way!

A lot of people that cross the gulf stream don't tow a dingy because if it flips over, it becomes a sea anchor, and it would need to be cut free, in a storm.

If I were going to tow a canoe, I'd think about some pool noodles secured to the rails, or some kind of flotation bags.

getting in and out might be the biggest trick! its always fun with the kayak

Sumner · Jan 25, 2012

patrickfarley said:
I am trying to decide if I want to pull a canoe this summer. I plan to cruise around the west coast of Florida, Sarasota to Punta Gorda...

Is it aluminum, fiberglass/ABS, or inflatable?

We have a 17 foot Aluminum canoe and I wouldn't want to try towing it at all really. Have you done this on the lake with success? I think ours would be hitting the Mac at times. The softsided dinghy is no problem, but wouldn't want our canoe hitting us.

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]

Phyrexii · Jan 25, 2012

I'm in the process of building a Bolger Nymph, but for now, I plan on using my Snark. It's light, easy to car-top, all foam (won't sink). In the past, I've borrowed my Father-in-law's 8' pram.

As far as all you wise guys out there who simply beach their boats, some of us sail in areas that have these things called *tides*! lol

patrickfarley · Jan 25, 2012

The canoe I would use is a 17' Grumman. I would have to put a cover on it and cushion around the edge. I really don't like water in the bottom of my canoe and I don't want to scratch the boat. I would be using it to go fishing. There is also a nice canoe trail on Lido/Longboat key in Sarasota. The more I think about it I think that I may just use it around Sarasota and then when I leave for Punta Gorda I will put it back on the Suburban. This will be my first cruise from place to place. I have only done overnighters in the past. I will try to keep it simple.

Sumner · Jan 25, 2012

patrickfarley said:
The canoe I would use is a 17' Grumman. I would have to put a cover on it and cushion around the edge. I really don't like water in the bottom of my canoe and I don't want to scratch the boat. I would be using it to go fishing. There is also a nice canoe trail on Lido/Longboat key in Sarasota. The more I think about it I think that I may just use it around Sarasota and then when I leave for Punta Gorda I will put it back on the Suburban. This will be my first cruise from place to place. I have only done overnighters in the past. I will try to keep it simple.

Sounds like a good idea, same canoe we have. I have some good memories with it on rivers in Wyoming/Montana.

Have you been down in that area of Florida before? Do you have a chart plotter to use down there? We would of had a hard time getting around with just paper charts, but do have them. Everything looks the same and you can be in 2 feet of water a couple miles from land. We use SeaClear (free) with the free NOAA charts on one computer and transfer the waypoints to a handheld Garmin 76S. Works very well.

We haven't been north fo Punta Gorda, but plan on that also. Will you go outside or stay on the ICW?

You will like it

,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]

HEINZIR · Jan 25, 2012

Hollyweirdos said:
We just picked up our future dinghy. We found a perfect condition Sevylor Colorado inflatable canoe on the craigslist. Actually got the canoe, pump, 2 paddles, trolling motor, battery, and charger for $160. This should be a great boat for our cause. We wanted something small and light that could be paddled instead of motored. We probably wont use the trolling motor. What are you guys using on yours?

Here's my dinghy fleet:

The El Toro and the 8' Sinbad can be rowed or sailed but neither is safe with more than two adults and a kid. The 9' Achilles w/3hp motor is for larger crews. I only use a dinghy to get to the mooring or to play around with. I don't normally tow one.

walt · Jan 26, 2012

Heinzir, nice collection!

I just bought a Sevylor Super Caravelle HR66 http://www.sevylor.com/Super-Caravelle-3-Person-Boat-Oars-Pump-P2137C40.aspx

Somewhat of a specific application - its for the upcoming Lake Havasu event and the weekend before, a bunch of sailboat are camping in a fairly large cove and I will mostly use this raft to get me, the dog, some supplies to the beach where all the social activity is (i.e., party). I only need it one night.

I set it up in my living room and it’s barely big enough but looks adequately durable. But.. it inflates fairly easily and probably only weighs about 10 pounds so after the one night of use, Ill deflate it about 90%, jam it inside the boat somewhere so for the rest of the week (in a slip), I’m not pulling around the dingy (takes away from the sailing slightly).

After inflating it one time, I have decided that I’m also going to need the 12 volt air pump - looks like about $20.. Ill probably just go buy this - but any feedback on pumping up a dingy on the boat using a 12 volt pump?

My favorite dingy is this one

Sumner · Jan 26, 2012

walt said:
After inflating it one time, I have decided that I’m also going to need the 12 volt air pump - looks like about $20.. Ill probably just go buy this - but any feedback on pumping up a dingy on the boat using a 12 volt pump?

My favorite dingy is this one

Yep I love than dinghy!

Walt we have been using one of these....

... to inflate the Zodiac and also air beds. I want to try it on blowing the ballast, but just haven't done it yet. Here is one place that sells them....

http://www.leisurepro.com/prod/AHD12P.html?gclid=COaLyNiF7q0CFQVkhwodflQ33w

....but I can't remember where we bought ours. We later bought a backup, but the first one still works fine and they move a lot of air fast.

I took a 20 foot outdoor extension cord and cut the ends off and put a female 12 volt cigarette socket on one end and clamps on the other end and we inflate the dinghy on land at the ramp using the Suburban battery. You could also put a male plug on the other end and plug it into a 12 volt socket. I worried a little about voltage drop, but it works fine on the longer cord.

I don't think we could assemble our dinghy on the boat with its hard floor. Have fun,

Sum

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Endeavour 37[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Our MacGregor S Pages[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Mac-Venture Links[/FONT]

walt · Jan 26, 2012

Good to know that .7 psi will blow up the zodiac. I saw one at .5 psi and another at 1 psi- sounds like it wont matter much.

Im also going to try it for dumping the ballast. I always keep a manual air pump on board - that I actually had to use one time to get unstuck off a sand bar that I hit at full sailing speed

walt · Jan 26, 2012

Looks like this little raft should be no problem to air fill from the boat - as long as its not windy. Fits in the V birth loosly rolled. Its small size is however just a tiny bit scary and Im not expecting the paddles to work that well.

I bought the same air pump as Sumner (in stock where I bought the raft) and it looks it should fill that raft quick - maybe under 5 minutes. The air pump uses about 10 amps completely unloaded, about 7 amps with the air resticted. Pump used just under 20 amps for a short time during start up. I think filling the raft is hardly going to be noticed by the battery.

There is some little electric motor that I can get for this raft - and I noticed that the inflatable Hollywierdos has came with the electriic motor.

Have you tried the electric motor yet? Edit - woops, I see you said you may not even use it - only paddle.

Show us your Dinghy!

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