The ultimate lightweight sailing dinghy?

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Sailin Dog

Sailin Dog

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Mar 24, 2013
21
Newport 33 Seattle
Hello All, I just purchased my Lancer 29 (sailboat number 6 for me), It has a sweet davit arch crane system off the stern, and the boat came with a "May-Flatable". I'm contemplating a hard dinghy with a sail rig, but small enough and light enough to hang off the crane when not in use (picture 2 medium sized adults and a dog in a ditch situation). I looked at the Portland Pudgy, which although certainly robust, is a bit of a budget buster. Any one out there have a reacommendation for a solid, not too expensive sailing dink?

Warm Winds, and Fair Seas.
 
zeehag

zeehag

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Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
i would not call wb8 the ultmate any kinda dinghy....is tender, is too light to row in 17-23 kt winds, and wont sail well....sabot is a better deal. or optimist dink. or laser. or anything except a wb8.
i have one.
 
anchorclanker

anchorclanker

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May 27, 2012
1,152
Oday 222 Beaver Lake, Arkansas
Now if that walker 8 came with water tight compartments like the pudgy, a guy could rig up a nice little life boat.
 
anchorclanker

anchorclanker

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May 27, 2012
1,152
Oday 222 Beaver Lake, Arkansas
sabot and optimist appears to be a class of boat, not a manufacturer. Do you have some manufacturers you can suggest?

while the wb8 may not sail well, I would imagine it would sail better than a life raft, no? I also cant see the pudgy sailing any better than a walker, they are too similar.

<edit> Also, most of the dinghy's I see Googling dighy, sabot, etc., are wood boats. The pudgy and walker are plastic air filled double hulls. They arent going to sink very easy.
 
Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
zeehag said:
i would not call wb8 the ultmate any kinda dinghy....is tender, is too light to row in 17-23 kt winds, and wont sail well....sabot is a better deal. or optimist dink. or laser. or anything except a wb8.
i have one.
Click to expand
Did you see his post? He wants to hang this off the transom of a 29 foot sailboat! ;^)

Could you row an Opti in 23 knts of wind??

You can get an inflatable tube-kit for the WB, makes it unsinkable and doubles the load capacity. Its designed to be a tender. Dragged up on rocks and such. And it sails pretty well.
 
T

tommays

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Oct 2, 2006
1,517
Jboat J24 commack
As someone with a similar 29' boat I am sure NOT seeing hanging 8’ + of anything off the stern in anything but the most benign conditions and keeping it very long J
Come on nothing that remotely works as a tender sails worth a darn compared to a laser or its equal J



And opti which is packed FULL with a 12 year old thats just kind of silly ?
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
make one yourself and save some bucks. The 8-Ball sailing/rowing dingy is just great. Stitch and glue construction allows you to build the hull in about two weekends. I found all the big wood parts like dagger board, rudder and mast where quite easy to make. When selecting oars go for 8' ones as the longer length makes rowing much more efficient. It will carry 3 adults and a good bit of gear easily and sails GREAT. I can cover a mile in about 5 minutes in calm conditions and have never had any trouble when the wind pipes up. It does surf down swells faster then Bardi Sea in down wind conditions so it does occasional pass us when we tow her. The only issue we have had with her is the dagger board slot needed a plug when towing so that it did not pump water into the hull. total cost, hull, sailing rig and oars/hardware was about $200. You could do it for a lot less if you did not make it a sailing dingy as most of the cost was sailing hardware.
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,469
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
Not many rowed or sailed dinks are going to go well upwind in 20 or more knots.
I love my Peanut Pram, which I built. But its a personal thing. To me it is a living entity. It is stitch and glue and believe me it is as strong as it needs to be. I have inadvertently crushed it between a piling and my boat and it sprung back without damage.
I think, as appealing as sailing is, that making a dink a sailing dink causes one to carry too much gear - centerboard, tiller, mast, boom, sails, oars - to make it practical. If you don't want to have an outboard, then I think a good rowing dink is best. The Peanut Pram is only a fair rower. To each their own.
 
Sailin Dog

Sailin Dog

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Mar 24, 2013
21
Newport 33 Seattle
Thank You All for your responses. The Walker 8 with flotation is probably the way I will go for weight vs. cost wise. I'd love to do a glue and stitch job, but dont have the room to build it, or the time. As I live in Seattle, I'm also looking at Gig Harbor Dinghys as they seem to be well built. The boat will hang on the Davits while at the dock, and on the hook. Underway I normally tow it behind the boat on a long floating tether.

Warm Winds & Fair Seas.
 
jibes138

jibes138

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Jan 27, 2008
3,086
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
How do you guys keep the dinghy from filling with water when towing it? An inflatable you can just leave the transom plug out but how do you prevent a hard dinghy from filling with water?
 
zeehag

zeehag

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Mar 26, 2009
3,198
1976 formosa 41 yankee clipper santa barbara. ca.(not there)
towed dinks disappear. davit dinks get lost in pnw and cali from pooping from following huge seas....i keep mine on bow inverted. safe and secure , kinda....
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,469
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
jibes138 said:
How do you guys keep the dinghy from filling with water when towing it? An inflatable you can just leave the transom plug out but how do you prevent a hard dinghy from filling with water?
Click to expand
Mine rarely ships any water. But it's only towed in coastal cruising. Rainwater and a completely outrageously reckless powerboat near miss were the only times it swamped. It tows extremely well. I hardly ever even look back at it anymore.
 
B

bffatcat

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Jun 8, 2004
853
Pearson 26W Marblehead
dinghies!

I stopped towing dingies after It got pooped one smokey sw afternoon on buzzards bay a long time ago. I ws towing the dinghy the way I thought was correct : Namely I had the bow cinched high up on the stern. When I got pooped most of the water drained over the dinghys stern but there was enough left too really slow me down. It was too rough to climb into the dinghy and bail it . I had to wait until I got into port. After that episode I got rid of the hard dinghy and got an inflatable. I never tow it. It either stays tied down on deck or deflated and stowed in the cabin. rows Ok too
 
Bill Roosa

Bill Roosa

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Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
I don't have any problems with the 8-Ball filling with water while under tow if I remember to put the dagger board plug in. I handle rainwater with a sunbrella cover and two bows to keep it convex up to shed the water.
She weighs around 85 lb empty.
I found a great way to store the oars, mast (two piece), boom, dagger board and rudder. Just install two screw eyes on a wall long enough to hang the mast sections/oars and then using a pendant made of light string hang them. On my 40.5 the starboard aft stateroom center bulkhead works great. out of the way till you need them then slip one of the loop on the pendants and the whole thing comes away.
 
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