Is there any advice in towing a 9ft inflatable with an air floor and a 9hp outboard? (Lake Michigan) What type of line and how long? Is there anything special that should be done when docking?
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don't do it
If you tow your dink, sooner or later it will flip. Never tow the dink with the engine mounted. Period. We have a 9'4" Zodiac (air floor) with an 83lb. 4-stroke Evinrude 8hp engine. When we're underway, the engine is on the pushpit and the dink is lashed to the foredeck. Using a 6:1 block and tackle hooked to the end of the boom, it takes us less than 5 minutes to launch or retrieve the dink, which is a lot less time than you'll lose every hour dragging the thing behind you.
If you tow your dink, sooner or later it will flip. Never tow the dink with the engine mounted. Period. We have a 9'4" Zodiac (air floor) with an 83lb. 4-stroke Evinrude 8hp engine. When we're underway, the engine is on the pushpit and the dink is lashed to the foredeck. Using a 6:1 block and tackle hooked to the end of the boom, it takes us less than 5 minutes to launch or retrieve the dink, which is a lot less time than you'll lose every hour dragging the thing behind you.
If you must
Totally agree with John about towing a dink, especially with an 8 hp outboard. In calm seas it may be ok, but if the waves pickup, or a boat wake hit you just right you could be in trouble. That said we have pulled our dink with a 9.9 4 cycle merc around LI Sound (when re realized we couldn't put the motor on the stern rail, too much weight) We used a bridel on a heavy 50' line. When you come into the harbor shorten the line up tight and don't back-up. Russell S/V Allie Kat
Totally agree with John about towing a dink, especially with an 8 hp outboard. In calm seas it may be ok, but if the waves pickup, or a boat wake hit you just right you could be in trouble. That said we have pulled our dink with a 9.9 4 cycle merc around LI Sound (when re realized we couldn't put the motor on the stern rail, too much weight) We used a bridel on a heavy 50' line. When you come into the harbor shorten the line up tight and don't back-up. Russell S/V Allie Kat
ASgree with Russell plus
Use floating line perhaps even use some of small floats they sell to go over the line. Adjsut the length of line so that your dink is in harmony with the wave action and your boat.
Use floating line perhaps even use some of small floats they sell to go over the line. Adjsut the length of line so that your dink is in harmony with the wave action and your boat.
Towing an Avon
We have towed an 9' Avon for years, this last Avon is an inflatable floor type. In tests measured over a measure half mile, I find no difference in boat speed. I tow without a motor on the inflatable. I believe because the Avon is so light it rides on the top of the waves and has little drag. I lift my 2 hp Honda (29 lbs) with a motor lift from Forespar which I like very much. It is the smaller of the two lifts (hauls up to 100 lbs) but is well made. I like it so well I leave it up all the time (I think my wife could haul me up even though I weight considerably more). I have a H380 and looked at a 340 down the dock. The Forespar lift should fit you boat and look good as well. For towing I use a floating polypro that I got from Home Depot. It is soft and braided and not a three strand which seem much more stiff. I made a bridle and then use about fifty feet for the tow line. The reason for that length is that we have a lot of rocky shores around here that I don't want to drag my dinghy on so I have a long enought line to tie it to shore. But we tow the dinghy on the top of the first wave when under power. The only reason for the second wave in the past was that we had havier dinghies and needed the slack in the tow line. Since you have the same seat arrangement in your cockpit, you might be interest in this idea. I put a cleat under each of the stern seats (WM) and tie my dinghy line to those cleats. I bring the line through the center and then over to either cleat. If I need to get the dinghy to one side or the other, I can go to these cleats directly. My wife thinks this is a great setup since she takes change of the dinghy when coming into port. We also added to short line with snap shakles on them on the port side of our dinghy. When we come up to the mother ship at the stern, we simple take these two lines and go throught the hand holds and back to the dinghy and snap them back on. This holds the dinghy tight enough to the boat that people can get on and off with ease. We leave it there when we are not using it and the cats like to sun bath in the dinghy as it gets warm. Good luck
We have towed an 9' Avon for years, this last Avon is an inflatable floor type. In tests measured over a measure half mile, I find no difference in boat speed. I tow without a motor on the inflatable. I believe because the Avon is so light it rides on the top of the waves and has little drag. I lift my 2 hp Honda (29 lbs) with a motor lift from Forespar which I like very much. It is the smaller of the two lifts (hauls up to 100 lbs) but is well made. I like it so well I leave it up all the time (I think my wife could haul me up even though I weight considerably more). I have a H380 and looked at a 340 down the dock. The Forespar lift should fit you boat and look good as well. For towing I use a floating polypro that I got from Home Depot. It is soft and braided and not a three strand which seem much more stiff. I made a bridle and then use about fifty feet for the tow line. The reason for that length is that we have a lot of rocky shores around here that I don't want to drag my dinghy on so I have a long enought line to tie it to shore. But we tow the dinghy on the top of the first wave when under power. The only reason for the second wave in the past was that we had havier dinghies and needed the slack in the tow line. Since you have the same seat arrangement in your cockpit, you might be interest in this idea. I put a cleat under each of the stern seats (WM) and tie my dinghy line to those cleats. I bring the line through the center and then over to either cleat. If I need to get the dinghy to one side or the other, I can go to these cleats directly. My wife thinks this is a great setup since she takes change of the dinghy when coming into port. We also added to short line with snap shakles on them on the port side of our dinghy. When we come up to the mother ship at the stern, we simple take these two lines and go throught the hand holds and back to the dinghy and snap them back on. This holds the dinghy tight enough to the boat that people can get on and off with ease. We leave it there when we are not using it and the cats like to sun bath in the dinghy as it gets warm. Good luck
Towing a dink ................
........ with a motor can only result in a heart attack. AS far as what length of painter to use, we measured the drag using a fish scale and found our minimum drag was with the dink about six inches behind the transom. Regards, s/v Island Hunter
........ with a motor can only result in a heart attack. AS far as what length of painter to use, we measured the drag using a fish scale and found our minimum drag was with the dink about six inches behind the transom. Regards, s/v Island Hunter
I must be an idiot...
I must be an idiot, based on the other replies, but I have been towing a hard bottom inflatable with a 50 hp behind my H31 for two years. It is a Zodiac YatchLine and we use it for buzzing around the river when we are anchored. When towing, we lose some speed, but I have not seen any reason to be concerned about flipping the dingy. I tow with a single rode attached to the stern cleat. What am I missing? Eric Steege Perfect Union, 1984 H31 Bayport, Minnesota
I must be an idiot, based on the other replies, but I have been towing a hard bottom inflatable with a 50 hp behind my H31 for two years. It is a Zodiac YatchLine and we use it for buzzing around the river when we are anchored. When towing, we lose some speed, but I have not seen any reason to be concerned about flipping the dingy. I tow with a single rode attached to the stern cleat. What am I missing? Eric Steege Perfect Union, 1984 H31 Bayport, Minnesota
Oh, Towing a Dink Isn't That Big A Deal...
I have towed them for twenty years. I run a double painter, bridle arrangement to each stern cleat. I bring it in close. In large following seas, (only a few times), I let it out about 30 feet that seems to work well. Now I use a towing bridle designed for PWC. Normally, I take off the outboard. Good luck, Rick D.
I have towed them for twenty years. I run a double painter, bridle arrangement to each stern cleat. I bring it in close. In large following seas, (only a few times), I let it out about 30 feet that seems to work well. Now I use a towing bridle designed for PWC. Normally, I take off the outboard. Good luck, Rick D.
Eric, new idiot born every day.
I too tow my hard bottom Caribe, BUT I think that most of these guys are talking about soft bottom dinks. The do tend to go airborne when the wind whips up.
I too tow my hard bottom Caribe, BUT I think that most of these guys are talking about soft bottom dinks. The do tend to go airborne when the wind whips up.
Towing
I and a good majority of sailers in Maine waters tow. I tow a 8'8" LSI Achilles with the same arrangement as Rick and have never had a problem. In fact, the Achilles tows as well as a FG dingy I use to have. In swells of about 4 or more feet I let out line to about 30-40 feet. I've tested the speed with and without the dink in tow and it was less than a kt. under power. It could be different under sail. Tom 87' 28.5
I and a good majority of sailers in Maine waters tow. I tow a 8'8" LSI Achilles with the same arrangement as Rick and have never had a problem. In fact, the Achilles tows as well as a FG dingy I use to have. In swells of about 4 or more feet I let out line to about 30-40 feet. I've tested the speed with and without the dink in tow and it was less than a kt. under power. It could be different under sail. Tom 87' 28.5
RIBS
Eric, back in my scuba instructor days I had a Zodiac/Hurricane 5.4 meter yachtline rigid inflatable boat with a hundred horses on the transom. Never worried about flipping that boat under tow. But my current Zodiac weighs about 1500 lbs. less and would just as soon fly as float. ....... A couple of months ago, over in Racoon Straight, we saw a big Chriscraft Connie pulling his dink upside down with the prop in the air. Unable to raise him on the radio, I eased into a beam reach so as to intercept his course. When we got close I signaled that he should look behind, but he flipped me off and suggested a sexual proceedure with which I would have been uncomfortable regardless of my point of sail. He then yelled that I had no rights since I was the overtaking vessel. I jibbed away, laughing. (Feeling much the same way about this current thread!)
Eric, back in my scuba instructor days I had a Zodiac/Hurricane 5.4 meter yachtline rigid inflatable boat with a hundred horses on the transom. Never worried about flipping that boat under tow. But my current Zodiac weighs about 1500 lbs. less and would just as soon fly as float. ....... A couple of months ago, over in Racoon Straight, we saw a big Chriscraft Connie pulling his dink upside down with the prop in the air. Unable to raise him on the radio, I eased into a beam reach so as to intercept his course. When we got close I signaled that he should look behind, but he flipped me off and suggested a sexual proceedure with which I would have been uncomfortable regardless of my point of sail. He then yelled that I had no rights since I was the overtaking vessel. I jibbed away, laughing. (Feeling much the same way about this current thread!)
No-Tow Camp
What convinced me that towing is something to be avoided is a time when we had our 3.15 Avon roll-up (120 lbs) on deck and the wind caught it and blew it off like it was no problem, and this is a heavy inflateable. The wind at the time was only around 20 knots and the seas were a couple feet or so with white caps. Getting the Avon back on-board was a disaster. The boat was bouncing around in the wave, and the weight of the dingy was a lot to drag over the toe rail. Naturally there was some water in it which I tried to empty out the best I could. I let some air out which was a mistake because the floor boards came loose - fortunately they're bolted in at the stern otherwise they would have been lost. The 8hp motor (58 lbs) wasn't on it or it would have been toast and the difficulty factor would have increased ten or a hundred fold. Basically I never tow the dingy because I can see how little wind it takes to flip it and also for drag and it's one more thing to look after. The dingy has been towed when going fairly short distances where the seas are fairly flat seas and with the outboard on. But with any sign if a sea and wind they come back on-board. Launching and retriving takes work but it's also good exercise. I use the main halyard with the preventer (block & tackle with snap shackles) and a four point harness for the inflatable and the boom and the preventer for the outboard and it works fairly smoothly. The preventer has a large line so it's easy on the hands. I guess one could tow a dink for many years with no problem but if something happened it could be the proverbial "trouble comes in bunches" thing and that is what you have to be very careful about, and the problems that can occur is a lot! Think line in the prop. Those that have been successful towing over the long term have either been lucky or really thought out what they were doing to avoid a problem, or both. In hind sight I probably should have got a small light-weight dingy with a small outboard. It would have been a lot cheaper and a lot easier. The one we have is a workout to launch and retrieve but once we're in it, it's great.
What convinced me that towing is something to be avoided is a time when we had our 3.15 Avon roll-up (120 lbs) on deck and the wind caught it and blew it off like it was no problem, and this is a heavy inflateable. The wind at the time was only around 20 knots and the seas were a couple feet or so with white caps. Getting the Avon back on-board was a disaster. The boat was bouncing around in the wave, and the weight of the dingy was a lot to drag over the toe rail. Naturally there was some water in it which I tried to empty out the best I could. I let some air out which was a mistake because the floor boards came loose - fortunately they're bolted in at the stern otherwise they would have been lost. The 8hp motor (58 lbs) wasn't on it or it would have been toast and the difficulty factor would have increased ten or a hundred fold. Basically I never tow the dingy because I can see how little wind it takes to flip it and also for drag and it's one more thing to look after. The dingy has been towed when going fairly short distances where the seas are fairly flat seas and with the outboard on. But with any sign if a sea and wind they come back on-board. Launching and retriving takes work but it's also good exercise. I use the main halyard with the preventer (block & tackle with snap shackles) and a four point harness for the inflatable and the boom and the preventer for the outboard and it works fairly smoothly. The preventer has a large line so it's easy on the hands. I guess one could tow a dink for many years with no problem but if something happened it could be the proverbial "trouble comes in bunches" thing and that is what you have to be very careful about, and the problems that can occur is a lot! Think line in the prop. Those that have been successful towing over the long term have either been lucky or really thought out what they were doing to avoid a problem, or both. In hind sight I probably should have got a small light-weight dingy with a small outboard. It would have been a lot cheaper and a lot easier. The one we have is a workout to launch and retrieve but once we're in it, it's great.
TOWING A SMALL QUICKSILVER
When winds are under 17-20 knots in the Chesapeake, I tow a 7.5' air floor Quicksilver 230 behind my 31H using a half-inch diameter bridle shackeled to the after ends of the toe rails. I never ever tow with the 3.5 hp outboard attached. The tow line between the motherships' bridal and the dinks' bridal is the 3/8" yellow floatable braided nylon stuff. I carry ~50 feet with large snap shackles on each end. Several snap points formed from truckers' hitchs run along he length to optimize towing distance for conditions. This dink is light enough that when winds pick up or whenever I am docking It can easily hang from its bow eye from the motherships transom. For this purpose I leave a large snap shackle tied to the thru bolted transom mounted hand hold thats above the swim ladder. When hanging from the transom, only about 3" of the after ends of the pontoons come in contact with the motherships wake but this effectively keeps the bulk of the dink just off the transom. The inflatable keel/bottom is cradled between the swim ladder standoffs. Lifting the bow of the dink with the tow line and snaping it in place for a transom carry can easily be done by hand in under 30 seconds. Backing the mothership has never been a problem with the dink secured in this position. If condition ever get bad enough to not warrent a transom carry then I believe its also getting too bad to store on deck. Op to deinflate and take below. I haul the dink up on the fore deck with my spinnaker halyard when I am off the boat during the week to keep critters from growing on the bottem.
When winds are under 17-20 knots in the Chesapeake, I tow a 7.5' air floor Quicksilver 230 behind my 31H using a half-inch diameter bridle shackeled to the after ends of the toe rails. I never ever tow with the 3.5 hp outboard attached. The tow line between the motherships' bridal and the dinks' bridal is the 3/8" yellow floatable braided nylon stuff. I carry ~50 feet with large snap shackles on each end. Several snap points formed from truckers' hitchs run along he length to optimize towing distance for conditions. This dink is light enough that when winds pick up or whenever I am docking It can easily hang from its bow eye from the motherships transom. For this purpose I leave a large snap shackle tied to the thru bolted transom mounted hand hold thats above the swim ladder. When hanging from the transom, only about 3" of the after ends of the pontoons come in contact with the motherships wake but this effectively keeps the bulk of the dink just off the transom. The inflatable keel/bottom is cradled between the swim ladder standoffs. Lifting the bow of the dink with the tow line and snaping it in place for a transom carry can easily be done by hand in under 30 seconds. Backing the mothership has never been a problem with the dink secured in this position. If condition ever get bad enough to not warrent a transom carry then I believe its also getting too bad to store on deck. Op to deinflate and take below. I haul the dink up on the fore deck with my spinnaker halyard when I am off the boat during the week to keep critters from growing on the bottem.
I tow behind my 340
I've been towing a 9 foot inflatable for 5 years behind my Huner 340 and prior to that behind my Hunter 30T. Been in heavy stuff and haven't had problems with it sailing. Always pull the engine and put it on the rail. When I race, I'll tie it athwards across the swim dock to cut the drag, or pull the nose up to the rail dragging the tail. Chartering with Moorings this year - had an inflatable in 30 plus knot winds between St. Martin and St. Barts this year . . . no problem. 9.9 horse was on the rail. Friend with a Hunter 336 has a rolling Avon which he ties just foreward of the mast . . . and over the wind shield. To each his own <grin> Jim
I've been towing a 9 foot inflatable for 5 years behind my Huner 340 and prior to that behind my Hunter 30T. Been in heavy stuff and haven't had problems with it sailing. Always pull the engine and put it on the rail. When I race, I'll tie it athwards across the swim dock to cut the drag, or pull the nose up to the rail dragging the tail. Chartering with Moorings this year - had an inflatable in 30 plus knot winds between St. Martin and St. Barts this year . . . no problem. 9.9 horse was on the rail. Friend with a Hunter 336 has a rolling Avon which he ties just foreward of the mast . . . and over the wind shield. To each his own <grin> Jim
Absolutely no problem towing!
Heck, my sailboat is smaller than most of your dinks so towing is not an option, now, being towed is. Enjoy, Ray
Heck, my sailboat is smaller than most of your dinks so towing is not an option, now, being towed is. Enjoy, Ray
Towing Bad in Big Wind
I have a light inflatable roll up model get airborn several times and land upside down (the motor was not on it) When it's windy I roll it up and put it below or put it on the foredeck for short distances. Still beats towing the RIB which I sold because it towed like a stone when the motor was on it. Barry
I have a light inflatable roll up model get airborn several times and land upside down (the motor was not on it) When it's windy I roll it up and put it below or put it on the foredeck for short distances. Still beats towing the RIB which I sold because it towed like a stone when the motor was on it. Barry
A reformed Dinghy Tower
I have been towing 12' RIB's (3 different models - Aquapros & Zodiac) with 15 HP motors attached for the last 7 years. I had the boat pass me once, but have never seen it close to flipping due to strong wind/wave action. It has bounced around pretty good a few times, however, and I don't doubt that it can happen. In spite of that, I installed davits for it this year, and I find that the speed under sail is significantly improved - and as a bonus, it's quieter. ROwen
I have been towing 12' RIB's (3 different models - Aquapros & Zodiac) with 15 HP motors attached for the last 7 years. I had the boat pass me once, but have never seen it close to flipping due to strong wind/wave action. It has bounced around pretty good a few times, however, and I don't doubt that it can happen. In spite of that, I installed davits for it this year, and I find that the speed under sail is significantly improved - and as a bonus, it's quieter. ROwen
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