The Dinghy Thread

[DesertAlbin736]

DCatSea,

We've had pretty good luck with our tube setup, which is three 8 x 21 inch Polyform brand hole-thru-the-middle fenders per side from Go2Marine (on sale now for $38.34 each). That adds a bit over 100 lbs of flotation per side (37 lbs flotation per fender x 3 fenders, less weight of the fenders themselves). For attachment I used 1/4-20 s/s eye nuts (not eye bolts) attached via short s/s cap screws bolted from the inside, and s/s carabiner clips. Strung 3/8" braided line (left over from old sailboat halyards) through the fenders, clipped to the eye nuts at each end and between each fender with the carabiners. Easily removed, no concern about air leaks or puncture, doubles as sturdy dock fenders. I weigh over 200 lbs & can stand very near the edge of the dink & not tip enough to take on water. Could have gotten away with four 6 inch by 15 inch fenders per side @ 60 lbs of bouyancy per side.

[DCatSea]

OK - I've bitten the bullet and ordered the Seoladair 6" sponsons for our 8' dinghy. Will keep the forum posted as to ease of install and effectiveness.
If they don't work I'll have a good set of 7' fenders.

[Sunsetrider]

A few questions as I move forward into dinghydom.

DA: is your swim platform gone?
DC: how are the sponsons working out?

And most importantly: despite the dire warnings from DA I am going to go with Weaver davits for my hard shell dinghy, and in weather will try to avoid calamity by towing. But tippiness is a problem. I wonder whether I will be able to combine a flotation device with the davits, or will there be too much interference? Any insight appreciated.

[DesertAlbin736]

DA: is your swim platform gone?

No, it's still there. Very usefull indeed for boarding the dinghy. The bases of the lift davits are actually attached to the swim platform and the uprights attached to the stern rail, which is braced with a pair of extra added struts. The horizontal arms of the davits are cross-braced to each other, which makes for a rigid structure.

DA: how are the sponsons working out?

Work great so far. I weigh over 200 lbs , and can stand near the edge of the dinghy without tipping enough to ship water. The three fenders on each side add about 100 lbs of extra flotation to each side. Almost as good as an inflatable, but with more room than a comparably sized 8 foot inflatable. Rows better too. Due to our 8 ft 6 inch beam we're pretty much limited to an 8 foot or less dinghy.

I wonder whether I will be able to combine a flotation device with the davits, or will there be too much interference?

I would think it difficult to use snap davits on a hard shell dinghy with a flotation collar. If tippiness is an issue and you want to stick with snap davits, then an inflatable is your best bet. The snap davits used for inflatables are a bit different in that the latch part that's used to attach/release the dinghy is on the swim platform and the bracket it hooks to is on the dinghy (glued on), and vice versa for hard shell dinks. I would add that the snap davits worked on our boat with previous owners for better than 20 years. We just happened to get caught in rougher than expected seas and a caught a freak wave.

[Sunsetrider]

It looks like your platform is under water with the dinghy loaded up high.

I am looking at the product that DCatSea ordered. They seem to removable/deflate-able, plus I have ordered the 6-inch risers for the davit hooks. Altogether there might be a solution there. We may know the answer by the time you get to Gananoque!

[Sunsetrider]

While waiting for the report on the sponsons I have received my Weaver bits and pieces. 6-inch risers, and regular loops so I will use one of those for pulling the dinghy up. I am looking for input as per pics below for reinforcement and attaching the davits dinghy-side. I am interested in hearing from those with experience with Weavers on the hard shell Namely: how important is it - or not - to have the clippy thing extending farther outboard that otherwise? One of my other concerns about pic #1 and #3 is that while

reinforce 1.jpg

this placement results in a nice long reach for the clippy thing, it might completely prevent the sponson track from being installed. Notice that the gunwale is composed of a soft bumper all round. I assume I will need to remove this in the area where the davit gets attached, in order to have a firm base for it at the top of the gunwale. Joe Camel aka ship of the desert, aka Desert Albin invited to opine, of course! Here are the three options:

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Edit: What's that weird lump on my arm? Pre-existing condition alert!

[DesertAlbin736]

Our old dinghy (may its remains rest in peace where ever it finally ended washed up somewhere on the shore of the Sunshine Coast or on the bottom of Georgia Strait in BC) was a Canadian built Boatex 8, since once upon a time a PO previous to the folks we bought from were actually Canadians residing somewhere in Ontario province along the north shore of Lake Erie. The immediate PO before us bought our boat in 2001 from the estate of the deceased Canadian owner and imported it into the U.S. and hauled it back to their home in Idaho.

Anyway, a close up look at what our old davit arrangement looked like (click on the picture for enlarged view, then click again on an area you want to see really close up). Blocks of HDPE plastic (aka "Star Board) material were used as spacers for the latches, which is not a bad idea, since they won't rot. Looking at this photo, you can imagine how rough it had to be for a wave to catch the dinghy and actually tear out a section of the gunn'l where the rear latch was. Georgia Strait is not to be messed with! The weirdest thing was, when we went to return back to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island from Pender Harbour on the mainland, it was a calm day & smooth as glass. You just never know up there. I never was able to find a fully satisfactory solution for a boarding ladder, since the dinghy was in the way and the narrow swim platform and curved transom made a folding ladder impractical. Hence the removable rope ladder. My nice set of wooden oars were lost too, since they were tied down like in the picture, and everything happened so fast in such rough conditions that I didn't have a chance to retrieve them. The way our Gig Harbor dinghy is made you can't stow oars like we could with the Boatex, so now I have a pair of Cavness two piece oars that can break down into short sections that will fit under the center thwart.

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The latches were lost with the dinghy, but I still have the 4" loops, and also a pair of 30 inch (76 cm in metric), Weaver standoff brackets like this. These sell for over $100US for the pair. Can bring them along on our trip & make a deal, so let me know if you're interested. If you look closely at the top picture you can see them as they were attached on our boat.

weaver standoffs.jpg

[DesertAlbin736]

Joe Camel aka ship of the desert, aka Desert Albin

Ha ha, I like that!

PS, is your dinghy a Dyer Dhow? Kind of looks like one.

[Sunsetrider]

Not a Dyer Dhow - I'll look in the morning to see if there is a brand name on it. But ya, absolutely bring the stand-offs along and Let's Make a Deal!

From your pic I believe I can go ahead with inboard reinforcement, using either the thicker wood (which will receive the top screw better) or the thinner plywood piece. I think I will epoxy and glass it in place, then of course the through-bolts for the davit itself.

First major season day-trip tomorrow with son and fiancee for my birthday event. (what a dutiful son!) Dry run for the new electrics/fridge. I spend way more time improving this boat than actually using it. Until now that is. Promise to myself!

We live an hour north of the 401 so I am recommending you overnight in Gan itself. Google the Gananoque Inn.

[DesertAlbin736]

Will check on that Gananoque Inn. Should be fun.

[DCatSea]

Finally got round to fitting the Seoladair 6" sponsons to our 8-foot dinghy. Very easy to do, and Commodore reports that they don't look as nerdy as she thought they would. Finished set-up looks very capable. Simple runner bolted under the gunwhale, with a central tie down strap. inflated in about 3 minutes per side. Instructions say to use #6 screws, but I used #8 SS bolts with lock washers, at 8" centers. Note: in pix sponsons are not fully inflated (about 75%)
Actual sponsons seem sturdily built. They came on two packages, and took about 10 days to arrive.
Will put dink in the water during the week and buzz around Deale MD, reporting to AOG as appropriate.
Here are pix (if anyone can recognize the dink, please let me know - it says "Caspar" and Boaters World on the plate.

Hard dink 3.JPG

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[Sunsetrider]

Thanks a lot Doug - very helpful. I think I will go ahead and order it as well. A few questions:

- You are just attaching the track to the fiberglass skin with no backing. I suspect a screw would be inadequate. What length bolt did you use?

- I am trying to decide between a Minn Kota trolling motor - with the inconvenience and weight of a battery and battery charging complications, vs. a 2.5 hp gas motor with the inconvenience of gas and weight, hauling it on and off the dinghy, and storing it aboard. How does your dinghy perform with the Suzuki and is it difficult to heft aboard?

I look forward to the upcoming sea trials!

[DesertAlbin736]

Sunset,

I am trying to decide between a Minn Kota trolling motor - with the inconvenience and weight of a battery and battery charging complications, vs. a 2.5 hp gas motor with the inconvenience of gas and weight, hauling it on and off the dinghy, and storing it aboard.

We have both, and take one or the other depending on our plans for a particular outing. For example if we know we're not going to need the extra range of the gas motor, which in our case is an older 2 stroke Tohatsu 2.5 HP which weighs about 13 kg, we use our small electric 30 lb thrust trolling motor. I have a small 35 amp hour WKDC12-35J spill proof sealed AGM deep cycle battery for it. This size battery is small, 19cm X 12.7cm, fairly light, and good for up to about 2 hours running on a charge. I keep it in a standard plastic battery box & connect it to the motor via a quick disconnect plug & socket.

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For the gas motor, I've built a wooden bracket affair to stow it on the swim platform, as seen here (click for close up zoom in view), with the added bonus of a place to stow a 7.5 ltr plastic refill can.
The 2 stroke Tohatsu is a great little motor. Of course they're getting hard to find, since they're no longer in production, only the 4 stroke models. If I were looking to get a 4 stroke motor I'd probably go with the Honda 2HP, since it has a centrifugal clutch & is air cooled. Our Tohatsu is the direct drive version with no neutral, so it takes a little getting used to. Like when approaching a dock or coming back to the boat one has to shut the motor off a few feet before reaching the dock or boat & drift the last few feet in. Takes a little practice to get it right. Cutting the motor too soon & you stall before reaching the dock, too late & you bang into the dock or swim platform. With the motor stowed this way it's easy to stand on the swim platform, lift the motor off the stand, step into the dinghy (which is tied off to the swim platform & still has the davit falls attached), and clamp the motor onto the dinghy. If we're going to stay moored or at anchor the dinghy can be lifted up on the davits with the motor still attached, since it only adds the 13 kg in weight.

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While moored in Two Harbors on Catalina Island last month we "rescued" a neighbor's "rubber ducky" float toy that had come loose and gone adrift. This photo shows what our dinghy looks like with the gas motor attached.

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And of course, our target date to be in Gananoque is Monday, September 4th, which also happens to coincide with our US Labor Day holiday.

[DesertAlbin736]

Doug,

That dinghy of yours looks wide beamed with that wide beam & flat bottom carried all the way aft. Much like our old Boatex dink, which was wide at the stern and had a "tumblehome" curve. Yours should be quiet stable even without the float tubes. As shown here, our old one looks a lot like the one you have. We never felt the need to add flotation on the Boatex, since it was much more beamy at the stern and stable than our current Gig Harbor dink. (Now he tells me! )

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Compare that to the Gig Harbor and you can see the need to add flotation. I will say, the Gig Harbor has more of a keel and rows like a champ.

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[Sunsetrider]

I will only have one motor, and I have been busy comparing the electric vs gas online. I am coming down on the side of gas, for one main reason: if I am venturing into distant waters, experiencing varied conditions of wind, waves, tide, and current, it seems the electric may be overwhelmed in adverse conditions as compared to the gas. (Grammarly made me put the comma after "tide". Personally, I wouldn't have. I think it is called the Oxford comma.) So that is the difference between $149 and $1,000!

I am now comparing the Suzi 2.5 with the Honda 2.3. Gotta LOVE the air-cooled Honda (except for the noise) because it doesn't matter if you are in fresh or salt water. But the Suzi seems to have more oomph. Both within a few pounds of each other.

On my dinghy refit, I had a terrible choice to make: balance of the boat on the davits, or location of the oar locks. I decided it was most important that the dinghy be balanced while on the davits, so I am having to move the oarlocks toward the stern, since they happen to be located right where I need to affix one of the davit thingies. My justification to self: who wants to row when you have a motor?!

DA: hoping for a sunny calm day on the 4th, which is also our own Labour Day holiday! Looking forward to your expertise and experience.