Mine is not an inflatable, but it tows better with the 22 pound OB on it and raised. Gives it a bit more bow up. No appreciable difference in towing drag.
Towing an Inflatable
- Thread starter RoyS
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- towing dinghy
To go off on a tangent: it takes us one hour plus more to go to our mooring on the back side of Catalina Island rather than the front side from Long Beach (CA). I am amazed at the number of people who think that's unacceptable. Being on the water is the easiest part and an hour or two is inconsequential. It takes me the better part of a day to prep the boat, set up the solar panels, remove and store the canvas, set up the dinghy with the fuels, spares, life jackets anchor, paddle, cushions and motor and then rewind all that when we get back.
Where do you attach the towing bridle? My RIB has towing eyes low enough that the bridle gives it some lift.
From the eye using two lines (separately attached to it). It does give some lift, but that's a pretty plumb shovel-shaped bow, so a bit of weight aft helps. Of course 22 pounds isn't much. This may not apply to an inflatable.
This thread reminds me I saw a boat towing a RIB dinghy with motor in Block Island Sound recently, and it was not going well
Conditions were not unusual with 15-20kt winds and 3-4 ft chop. But the dinghy was unstable about halfway awash and the gas tank had gone overboard being dragged by it’s hose. The boat was under reefed main and had too much headsail deployed, and I suspect the owner was a bit overwhelmed with confusion about what to do next because as long as I could watch he didn’t take any action to improve either situation. Even if he hove-to or dropped sail it would have been too rough to safety board the flooded dinghy or leave the mother boat. He had just come through Watch Hill Passge from (more sheltered) Fishers Island Sound, and his best bet would be to turn around and hope his dinghy stayed with him until he was in safer waters to deal with it, but he was headed to BI and as long as he was in sight he stayed the course. I don’t know how it turned out but my wife and I were concerned.
Key take away: Don’t tow dinghy with motor mounted.
Gosh I’m glad I have davits and don’t worry about towing or hoisting to the fore deck. We’re on cold night forget it’s there and fire off the propane fireplace. 3” holes are hard to patch.
Love the davits. 6:1 easy peasy
Love the davits. 6:1 easy peasy
We don’t have to wonder if it makes much difference. A 20 mile sail goes from 5 hours to 4 hours when you pick up a knot from 4 kts to 5 kts.
I tow my Avon 260 air floor without the motor on the crest of the stern wave and I have not noticed more than a .1 to .2 knot difference. I’ve towed in the GOM, Rivers and GICW. I normally keep it on the foredeck when not cruising but it restricts my visibility there so I generally tow when cruising.
If it were really rough, i’d Bring back up on deck.
If it were really rough, i’d Bring back up on deck.
It’s hard for me to generalize about towing. Different mother ship and tender combinations are different animals. I will make a few comments though.
If a RHIB has a genuine hard bottom & hard transom with a bow eye in the fiberglass, then I usually feel pretty comfortable towing it, motor, gear & all.
If the inflatable has the painter attached to points that are glued to the tubes, then I want it empty if I am going to be pulling it much farther than across the harbor.
The conditions in which you are trying to tow can be a game changer. A following sea can push the tender into your stern & make towing an unreasonable option. Heavy seas can cause obvious problems.
If you don’t like inflating a tender after storing it, try buying a small rechargeable leaf blower. It’s a game changer. I can take my roll up boat out of the bag & have it rigged with motor attached in under 6 minutes. 95% if the inflation is done with the blower. The final pressure is added with a foot pump.
If a RHIB has a genuine hard bottom & hard transom with a bow eye in the fiberglass, then I usually feel pretty comfortable towing it, motor, gear & all.
If the inflatable has the painter attached to points that are glued to the tubes, then I want it empty if I am going to be pulling it much farther than across the harbor.
The conditions in which you are trying to tow can be a game changer. A following sea can push the tender into your stern & make towing an unreasonable option. Heavy seas can cause obvious problems.
If you don’t like inflating a tender after storing it, try buying a small rechargeable leaf blower. It’s a game changer. I can take my roll up boat out of the bag & have it rigged with motor attached in under 6 minutes. 95% if the inflation is done with the blower. The final pressure is added with a foot pump.
Thank you, everyone, for your answers. Our inflatable is a small roll up with a 2.5 HP four cycle outboard. We have towed this with the motor on it for about eight years. I could certainly use another knot of speed when cruising. We always have our standard poodle on board and he needs to see a tree twice a day. Disassembling and deflating the dinghy and later reassembling and inflating to visit a tree would take longer than the time saved by not towing. Our poodle would not let this task wait until the next morning. I do haul it up onto the fore deck with a halyard, motor and all, but only when it is parked in our home marina. It cannot be on the fore deck when we are sailing or anchored as it would block vision, block the forward hatch, and make reaching the bow difficult. Interesting suggestion to tie it on the stern that I will investigate. Thanks again.
Have towed the inflatable every trip with the Mac, lots of miles, with no problems except once when trying something new.
Use the ladder as a tow bar and ...
90% of the time she is pulled up to the ladder. I also tow with a the strap that goes to the dinghy's transom. That keeps the pressure off the rings at the front. I'm sure by now I might of pulled them off.
As far as speed the Mac often sails for 6 knots for long periods towing and with the boat heavily loaded so don't think it slows it a lot. The inflatable rides on the davits on the Endeavour,
Sumner
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1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
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And will you be leaving your wife in the dinghy while you conduct this experiment?
I'd lose 1/2 knot towing a light Achilles. A RIB would be an even bigger drag.
One might want to run a continuous tow line aft on the dink, thru the rings then thru the holes in the transom. Those glued on tow rings do come off! That way when you wake up from your knap, the dink's still there!
One might want to run a continuous tow line aft on the dink, thru the rings then thru the holes in the transom. Those glued on tow rings do come off! That way when you wake up from your knap, the dink's still there!
My boats foredeck is not large enough to stow a dinghy- hard or inflatable. So I always tow- Twice across the Gulf of Mexico, twice across the Gulf Stream, all through the Bahamas, and the entire coast from Texas to Annapolis. Have had ONE problem in all that time, an that was when I didn't noticed the dink was not fully inflated. Off shore I tow very close to the transom. Photo shot way offshore in GOM
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Agree- I've always rigged my inflatables with tow lines around the sterns of the sides,, then forward
I like the way you attached your auto-tiller to the tiller. Wish I had though of that before I spend the money on the mounting bracket.
lol The reason for the lashing was that the bolt was loose in rudder head, an the seas kept knocking the autopilot loose. So I tied it in places. There's a regular pin mounting in cockpit seat for it..I like the way you attached your auto-tiller to the tiller. Wish I had though of that before I spend the money on the mounting bracket.