Now that the new 33 has been out for 2 years, I have a question for other owners of this sleek sloop: where do you store your dinghy during passage making? I kept my old Zodiac from my former 27 footer, but it is too small and has no motor mount (row only). I have looked at new inflatables as well as a Walker Bay 8 (with and without tubes). My problem is that I do not want to be stuck towing either type in bad weather or a long trip. Has anybody stowed a dinghy mid-ship between the mast and dodger? Also, how do you stow the outboard motor (not a lot of straight rail on the back)? Thanks, Barry Bear Necessity H33 #128
Where to put a Dingy
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I have a 10-foot WM Zodiac high pressure floor inflatable dinghy that, when deflated, fits perfectly in the lower portion of the lazarette. I use a DeWalt 18-volt vacuume to speed up the inflation process. In a pinch the inflated dinghy will fit on deck, upside down in front of the mast. It is a real pain to get in and out of that spot and it totally blocks access to the anchor well. I tried putting it between the dodger and the mast, but the boom vang gets in the way. The port rail, just aft of the arch has enough room to hold a 9.8 Tohatsu outboard. Use a 14 inch length of stainless tubing in the motor mount block for the vertical tube and let it rest against the outside of the lower stern rail. You will need to slightly enlarge the foreward 2 inches of the hole thru the mount to allow it to go over the larger socket where the stern rail fastens to the aft part of the arch.
I have a 10-foot WM Zodiac high pressure floor inflatable dinghy that, when deflated, fits perfectly in the lower portion of the lazarette. I use a DeWalt 18-volt vacuume to speed up the inflation process. In a pinch the inflated dinghy will fit on deck, upside down in front of the mast. It is a real pain to get in and out of that spot and it totally blocks access to the anchor well. I tried putting it between the dodger and the mast, but the boom vang gets in the way. The port rail, just aft of the arch has enough room to hold a 9.8 Tohatsu outboard. Use a 14 inch length of stainless tubing in the motor mount block for the vertical tube and let it rest against the outside of the lower stern rail. You will need to slightly enlarge the foreward 2 inches of the hole thru the mount to allow it to go over the larger socket where the stern rail fastens to the aft part of the arch.
Across the stern
I fit mine across the stern with four quick release straps, two on the hand holds and two on the back rail. It is a 2.5 m Achilles with hp inlatable floor. For racing I just release it and leave it behind and for cruising she just stays there until needed at anchor in (for readers in the cold northern Hemisphere) some warm tropical anchorage off a derted island almost every weekend !
I fit mine across the stern with four quick release straps, two on the hand holds and two on the back rail. It is a 2.5 m Achilles with hp inlatable floor. For racing I just release it and leave it behind and for cruising she just stays there until needed at anchor in (for readers in the cold northern Hemisphere) some warm tropical anchorage off a derted island almost every weekend !
Photo, pls
Nick, Will you be so kind to send me (or post) a picture of your solution? Thank you so much.
Nick, Will you be so kind to send me (or post) a picture of your solution? Thank you so much.
Just like...
Larry Long I use the Dewalt portable Vacuum cleaner to do the bulk of the inflating/deflating. I then finish off the inflation with the foot pump. I have tried the across the stern approach with the dinghy but at 10 feet it was too big. I ended up with a wear spot on the dinghy that I then had to patch. For the most part we use a tow line connected to the tow rings on the bottom of the dinghy. For our Gulf of Maine passages I deflate it an stow it below. Otherwise it follows us around. I keep the 5hp four stroke engine on the starboard rail. Edson makes a stern rail mount that fits well if you trim the stern rail seat a little (see http://www.pyacht.com/online-store/scstore/h-edson_motor_mount.htm). Our problem is the weight of the engine is too much at 55lbs. This year we are getting a hoist (see http://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=41) to handle the work of getting the motor up and down.
Larry Long I use the Dewalt portable Vacuum cleaner to do the bulk of the inflating/deflating. I then finish off the inflation with the foot pump. I have tried the across the stern approach with the dinghy but at 10 feet it was too big. I ended up with a wear spot on the dinghy that I then had to patch. For the most part we use a tow line connected to the tow rings on the bottom of the dinghy. For our Gulf of Maine passages I deflate it an stow it below. Otherwise it follows us around. I keep the 5hp four stroke engine on the starboard rail. Edson makes a stern rail mount that fits well if you trim the stern rail seat a little (see http://www.pyacht.com/online-store/scstore/h-edson_motor_mount.htm). Our problem is the weight of the engine is too much at 55lbs. This year we are getting a hoist (see http://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=41) to handle the work of getting the motor up and down.
Walker Bay 8
The solution to this problem (and it is a real tough one) depends on the kind of sailing you are going to do. We have a walker Bay 8 with tubes (the RID), a 2HP Honda 4 stroke and a sail kit. When we are sailing locally among our islands it is the best solution - even though we have to tow it. It can't be beat for gunkholing as you don't have to worry about barnacle covered rocks. And sailing it can provide hours of fun on a summer afternoon. It is a pretty effective "lifeboat" for coastal fair weather emergencies. The small 4 stroke moves it along well and economically and the engine can be mounted on the curved back of the pushpit seats if you jigger one of those small plastic engine support plates slightly. It is only 28 lbs and you can lift it with one hand to get it in the dink. I tow it on a "Y" bridle. One side, connected to the port mooring cleat, ends in a shackle (at the junction of the "Y") through which the tow is passed and cleated to the starboard mooring cleat. This makes it easy to adjust the length of the tow under different conditions yet keeps the dink centred. I find it causes much less drag than an inflatable and because it has a keel it tracks true. I sacrifice about half a knot under power and a bit more under most sailing conditions. Oddly enough the drag is least when it is pulled up very close to the boat - so much for the "tow it on the second wave" theory. I would not want to tow this dinghy under severe conditions - power or sail. So we have a small roll-up inflatable that we use for longer trips and leave the RID at the dock. The RID fits on the foredeck ahead of the mast - although it would require a proper cradle for extended use there. Again I wouldn't want to have it there in bad weather, and it would make an emergency anchor drop almost impossible. Davits at the back would work. These would be better with an inflatable with straight sides - the RID has curved gunwales and makes the positioning of supports a challenge. The problem for me with this is that it obscures rear vision, makes the stern step unusable, makes the deployment of MOB pole etc more difficult and, the killer, extends the effective length of the boat when calculating overall length for mooring fees! I am happy with the 33, but if I were doing it all over again I might give more weight to the dinghy storage issue in selecting a new boat. I am not sure what you mean by "passagemaking" but for offshore work of any serious kind I would keep the small inflatable for ship to shore and get a liferaft secured properly on the foredeck for real emergencies. But then again, would you be doing that kind of voyaging in a 33?
The solution to this problem (and it is a real tough one) depends on the kind of sailing you are going to do. We have a walker Bay 8 with tubes (the RID), a 2HP Honda 4 stroke and a sail kit. When we are sailing locally among our islands it is the best solution - even though we have to tow it. It can't be beat for gunkholing as you don't have to worry about barnacle covered rocks. And sailing it can provide hours of fun on a summer afternoon. It is a pretty effective "lifeboat" for coastal fair weather emergencies. The small 4 stroke moves it along well and economically and the engine can be mounted on the curved back of the pushpit seats if you jigger one of those small plastic engine support plates slightly. It is only 28 lbs and you can lift it with one hand to get it in the dink. I tow it on a "Y" bridle. One side, connected to the port mooring cleat, ends in a shackle (at the junction of the "Y") through which the tow is passed and cleated to the starboard mooring cleat. This makes it easy to adjust the length of the tow under different conditions yet keeps the dink centred. I find it causes much less drag than an inflatable and because it has a keel it tracks true. I sacrifice about half a knot under power and a bit more under most sailing conditions. Oddly enough the drag is least when it is pulled up very close to the boat - so much for the "tow it on the second wave" theory. I would not want to tow this dinghy under severe conditions - power or sail. So we have a small roll-up inflatable that we use for longer trips and leave the RID at the dock. The RID fits on the foredeck ahead of the mast - although it would require a proper cradle for extended use there. Again I wouldn't want to have it there in bad weather, and it would make an emergency anchor drop almost impossible. Davits at the back would work. These would be better with an inflatable with straight sides - the RID has curved gunwales and makes the positioning of supports a challenge. The problem for me with this is that it obscures rear vision, makes the stern step unusable, makes the deployment of MOB pole etc more difficult and, the killer, extends the effective length of the boat when calculating overall length for mooring fees! I am happy with the 33, but if I were doing it all over again I might give more weight to the dinghy storage issue in selecting a new boat. I am not sure what you mean by "passagemaking" but for offshore work of any serious kind I would keep the small inflatable for ship to shore and get a liferaft secured properly on the foredeck for real emergencies. But then again, would you be doing that kind of voyaging in a 33?
Answers to David
David, By "passagemaking" I am referring to making crossings of the Chesapeake Bay. These can be anywhere from 30 to 50+ miles of "open" water where I do not want to be towing a dinghy due to drag and the risk of loosing it if the weather turns bad. Ideally, I like the Walker Bay 8 with tube if it could be stored between the mast and dodger for the longer trips. I don't mind towing for shorter trips to local anchorages. Am I making too much of towing a hard dink? My past experience has been with a small Zodiak tender that towed like a sea anchor. My wife also doesn't like the slatted floor - she thinks she is going to go through the bottom if she misses a slat. Our Zodiak also has no motor mount and has to be rowed. With 2 on board, this is not fun anymore. I need to buy something by spring commissioning. Thanks to all who replied so far. Conflicted in Virginia Barry
David, By "passagemaking" I am referring to making crossings of the Chesapeake Bay. These can be anywhere from 30 to 50+ miles of "open" water where I do not want to be towing a dinghy due to drag and the risk of loosing it if the weather turns bad. Ideally, I like the Walker Bay 8 with tube if it could be stored between the mast and dodger for the longer trips. I don't mind towing for shorter trips to local anchorages. Am I making too much of towing a hard dink? My past experience has been with a small Zodiak tender that towed like a sea anchor. My wife also doesn't like the slatted floor - she thinks she is going to go through the bottom if she misses a slat. Our Zodiak also has no motor mount and has to be rowed. With 2 on board, this is not fun anymore. I need to buy something by spring commissioning. Thanks to all who replied so far. Conflicted in Virginia Barry
More on the hard bottom dinghy
Barry, You write, "Am I making too much of towing a hard dink?" We have towed the WB 8 on the 15 hour trip from Bamfield to Sooke along the west coast of Vancouver Island several times. This is the renowned "graveyard of the Pacific" and in moderate weather we had no problem three miles or more offshore - avoiding the reflecting swell. We had one trip around Cape Beale in a twelve foot on-shore swell with three foot waves on top - although the wind was dropping from a gale earlier that day to less than 20 knots as we rounded the cape. The dinghy was not a problem on this occasion - although we had slowed down anyway because of the conditions. It tracked way better than a Zodiac would have done. In a full gale - especially with a following wind - things might have been very different. So it can be done, but the reason I carry the inflatable is for when we do this trip in future in anything but fair weather.
Barry, You write, "Am I making too much of towing a hard dink?" We have towed the WB 8 on the 15 hour trip from Bamfield to Sooke along the west coast of Vancouver Island several times. This is the renowned "graveyard of the Pacific" and in moderate weather we had no problem three miles or more offshore - avoiding the reflecting swell. We had one trip around Cape Beale in a twelve foot on-shore swell with three foot waves on top - although the wind was dropping from a gale earlier that day to less than 20 knots as we rounded the cape. The dinghy was not a problem on this occasion - although we had slowed down anyway because of the conditions. It tracked way better than a Zodiac would have done. In a full gale - especially with a following wind - things might have been very different. So it can be done, but the reason I carry the inflatable is for when we do this trip in future in anything but fair weather.
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