The Dinghy Thread

[Jay Knoll]

And this is what I row when I "really want to row" 18' long, carbon fiber hull, 100 lbs. A Heritage 18 build by Little River Marine. I usually do 6 miles three times a week, weather permitting. It was blowing a bit today and I turned around, it was dead down wind back to the launch point and the boat was almost surfing in the waves, I was concerned I was going to broach so I rowed really slow. Sorry for the pic quality a friend took it on her iPhone.

[smacksman]

I bought an Achilles inflatable and a Cruise 'n Carry 2.7hp outboard on Craiglist for $400, sight unseen, from my desk in the UK and the seller kindly transported it to Free State in North Charleston, also bought sight unseen.

The Achilles rolls up and easily fits in a deck locker along with oars that dismantle into half length. Where would you stow 10 foot oars on an Albin 27FC?



The previous owner made plywood floors and they seem to help with rowing - don't know the hydrostatic reason but they do.
The outboard pushes her along at quarter throttle - any more and spray comes aboard.



I tried to register it in South Carolina and the result was bizarre. The Achilles doesn't have to be registered because it is a rowing boat and the outboard is under 5hp so it also doesn't have to be registered. However, put the outboard on the Achilles and they both have to be registered! The Connecticut registration stickers on both was 1990 so I also didn't bother.
The cruise 'n Carry runs 'on the smell of an oil rag'. I started off my three month cruise with a gallon of gas and ended with half a tank.



At one point I stowed the Achilles part deflated on the foredeck thinking it was quicker to deploy. OK but it restricted air flow in the forehatch and in one squall it took off and covered the windscreen. More lashings required!
A scruffy dinghy is a theft deterrent.
A friend painted his a revolting shade of pink and it was never pinched.
Being unique also has advantages.
We once went ashore in Salcombe, Devon in his Avon inflatable with Mariner outboard and tied up alongside five others with the same make/combination. Pick any one from six on return!

Being able to anchor off and go ashore with the dink really saves money - a major consideration for me.

[Jay Knoll]

Smack

I don't use the Heritage 18 for my dink, the earlier picture is the dink I'll tow behind the 27FC, note that the oars stow inside.

Jay

[smacksman]

Got that Jay. Lovely skiff you have there
I was referring to an earlier post about ideal oar length for a dink.
It's a bit like a sailing dink. A gunter rig is better than bermudan because the mast/gaff is easier to stow.
Sometimes the ideal has to be modified to fit the mother ship.

[Captnickm]

We have a 8' inflatable that we used in the islands, but here in Texas I mostly tow my 17' montauk or a 13' Whaler behind. We let her back to the second stern wake and she surfs nicely. Hardly any drag and does not slow us down at all.

[JT48348]

I always thought this was a fascinating concept, except the dimensions seem a little off.

[DesertAlbin736]

Cruise 'n Carry outboards? Didn't those earn the nickname "Curse 'n Cry"?

[Beta Don]

Cruise 'n Carry outboards? Didn't those earn the nickname "Curse 'n Cry"?

The fact that ANY 25 year old small outboard is still alive and running well should say something - No?

[smacksman]

Haha! Curse 'n Cry - love it. But it starts every time; light to carry; runs 'on the smell of an oil rag'; air cooled (no clogging up the waterways with salt crystals); and actually too powerful for my Achilles - I run it at half throttle. Only improvement I can think of would be electronic ignition.
Considering I paid half the price of a new outboard for BOTH tender and outboard I'm well pleased.

[JT48348]

New Acqusition: 10' Classic Dyer Dinghy

Rescued this thing from the woodpile for a pocketful of change. Basically complete. Minus a sail rig and rudder which is fine by me. If you're not familiar with a Dyer Dinghy these are some of the lightest fiberglass dinghys I've found so far. I think this thing weighs approx 100lbs. The rubrail is off and the wood components in pieces.

I'm thinking of replacing the wood with coosa board to see how light I can get the boat. Then I will just paint it and store on the A27 hardtop

[Jeremyvmd]

Dyers are awesome. We have a dhow with a sail rig and it's amazong. We did have to replace the gunnels but other than that she's perfect

[WillieC]

JT, paint it any color as long as it's pink!

[DesertAlbin736]

New aquisition: Brand new factory fresh 8 ft Gig Harbor Nisqually, floor model picked up from the factory in Gig Harbor, WA on the way home after we lost our Boatex 8 when a wave caught it & ripped the sides out as it was on Weaver snap davits

We took delivery FOB and car topped the new boat back home. Since it's a new boat I'll have to pay AZ sales tax if I register it to be able to use the outboard motor on it. But it's a really nice boat.

We had the shop add a 2nd rowing station and install a stainless steel rub strip on the keel. This is the base model with vinyl rub rail and already had lifting eyes installed. $2,012 out the door including the above options and credit card surcharge. The really fancy version has teak gunn'ls, and there is a sailing version with dagger board trunk and mast step. This one is row and motor only. Normally these boats are made to order & takes several weeks to complete. If you're not in the Puget Sound area and able to drive to the factory they have to be shipped, which would add $100s to the cost. Having it shipped or driving back to Seattle area to pick it up, either way would be expensive. So we were lucky they were willing to part with the floor model on short notice. In the first picture the longitudinal seat is meant for rowing from the front set of oar locks to balance the boat when two people are on board. It's removable so when one person is in the boat they can row from the center thwart with oars in the rear set of oar locks.

Since everything happened so fast when we lost our dinghy we were not able to retrieve our oars, we still have to get a new set of oars (preferably 2 piece oars), oar locks, buy or make lifting slings, pay AZ sales tax to register it with Game & Fish if we want to use the outboard, plus at least as much again as the cost of the boat to upgrade our swim ladder and install lifting davits, since I don't want to go through what we went through with the snap davits again. Also eventually buy or make a cover

Anyone looking for a sail kit for an 8 ft dinghy, I have the rudder, dagger board, two piece mast, and cat rig mainsail from the Boatex dinghy that we lost at sea. Sail hardly used and is like new. Sail kits for Walker Bay 8's (rudder, board, mast, sails) sell new for over $800.

[DesertAlbin736]

JT,

Spec weight for an 8 ft Dyer Midget is 83 lbs, so 100 sounds about right for a 10 ft. The Boatex weighed 75 lbs, the Nisqually weighs in at 72 lbs. 8 ft length was our limit due to the 8 ft 6 in beam of the A25. Even then there's quite a bit of overhang past the sides of the transom.

http://www.cruisingworld.com/tenders-hard-vs-inflatable

Had a chance to pick up a 8 ft Trinka for $1,500, but it was a 1991 & for a few dollars more I got a brand new Nisqually. Trinka is also heavier at 95 lbs, and 72 is heavy enough to carry on the stern. We looked at used Ranger dinghy (Minto clone) asking $500, but what the seller thought was 8 ft was actually 9 ft, so we took a pass.

Plus, if you're interested I have the like new sail kit from the Boatex.

[JT48348]

Love the Gig Harbour, fine lines!

No sail system need for me. I've had several and never seem to use them. My plan is to strip the Dyer down to bare minimum, replace wood with the lighter composites, and see how light I can get it.

Thinking of putting rollers on the aft end of my hardtop so the dink can be shoved up on top for storage.