Need advice on suitable dinghy

[waternwaves]

The manufacturer--(coleman) claims that their RamX polyethylene 17 ft canoes were unsinkable......

That does not mean that they will not flip over and completely fill with water while being towed. btw.....the cover which was bungied on, pulled loose when it flipped in the wind and waves.

Please. like many others have said before me, attach your gear securely. 4 bungies will not hold a cover on a 17 ft. canoe or a 8.5 baltik in bad weather.

Having tried....and partially gotten it onboard. The Pudgy is Not a foredeck option. something will break! look at a transom davit type system if you are going to use the pudgie.

[c130king]

Has anyone towed a dinghy with an by attaching the bow (or maybe stern) of the dinghy to the mast support arch and raising it up out of the water over the motor? Maybe have the bow attached up by the arch with the dingy stern dragging in the water behind the motor. Not even sure if it would fit this way...would it clear the motor??? Would the arch support this type of operation??? Min or max size dinghy to do this???

Just wondering.

Thanks,
Jim

[Kelly Hanson East]

Jim. I recall someone did post a towbar solution for a dinghy on an X I believe

it was transom attached iirc. I'll search the archives during breaktime this morning

[Boblee]

Well I like the look of the pudgie but it is neither artha or martha it is as heavy as my 12' aluminium dinghy and only 8' long, with a 15hp motor on our dinghy it can reach 20mph + and is capable of towing the Mac easily in an emergency so their is no competition (and it's higher and more stable ).
As for lifting the bow of the dinghy up and only dragging the stern IMHO it would be a total waste of time and achieve little except create a dangerous situation in heavy seas as well as limiting the ability to carry anything in the dinghy.
The difference in speed with or without the dinghy below 3000rpm is negligable even fully loaded and even wot it is only a few k's but for normal circumstances this does not enter the equation as most of our motoring is below 2000 rpm due to fuel economy as once you exceed hull speed the fuel usage soars.

[Rick Westlake]

Having tried....and partially gotten it onboard. The Pudgy is Not a foredeck option. something will break! look at a transom davit type system if you are going to use the pudgie.

I'm pretty sure that I would break. At 120-plus pounds without lifeboat gear, the Pudgy is far too big and heavy to hoist aboard a Mac - or any other vessel, without the appropriate mechanical aids. And I don't see putting davits on a Mac 26-"W" (for "Whatever" - M, X, D, S, you decide.)

I figure that Bossa Nova has no business doing the kind of sailing that would require a lifeboat, anyways; and from what I've read, Roger MacG would heartily concur. Our boats were not designed for heavy weather and ocean crossings, were they? (Maybe Frank Mighetto with Murrelet disagrees.)

So what do you need in a dinghy? My perception is that I need something that'll get me around the harbor when I'm anchored, and that will roll up and stow belowdecks when I'm ready to sail away. I'm okay with towing for short distances, but I'd rather not tow a dinghy all day or all voyage. My choices are best met with a small inflatable, and would have been better met with a smaller inflatable than the one I've got now.

As for those who have something else, I'm not interested in "telling you why you're wrong" because you're not. (We just have different needs and answers.) I'm much more interested in learning how you made it work for you!

Cheers,
Rick

[James V]

I hava Portland Pudgy. Towed it over 5000 miles. I have towed it at speeds over 16 mph. Gone over bow wakes and seen it take air and it has never flipped. I do recomend that you take off the motor when towing. It fits 3 people easly. You can make 2 trips. A real tough little boat. I can put it on the deck by using the 4:1 block and tackle on the main. Not easy! Tough and it fits so high that you cannot see over it and cannot get to the fordeck. I have stored it on deck but never traveled with it. It is unsinkable. I have had it flip 1 time. I was hit on Nov 23, 2009 at anchor here in Marathong Fl by a waterspout. 117+ winds and 2 full knockdowns. Otherwise it has towed like a dream. At around $ 2000. This boat will last you a lifetime if you take care of it and do not put more than a 2.5 hp on it. I have put it throu so much, Rocks, Shells, Nails, what ever that will kill an inflatable. Only does about 5 mph.

Good luck with your search. Get a hard bottom dink at the least.

[c130king]

As for lifting the bow of the dinghy up and only dragging the stern IMHO it would be a total waste of time and achieve little except create a dangerous situation in heavy seas as well as limiting the ability to carry anything in the dinghy.

Boblee,

Can you explain your thinking here a little bit...why a waste of time...why dangerous? Not trying to be argumentative ($0.50 word alert) just trying to learn a little.

I agree would probably not not be wise to carry anything in it this way. I was thinking if you attached a block (or two) to the top of the mast support arch and then ran a line down to the inflatable dinghy (I am thinking it will weigh under 75 pounds...with some of the weight supported by the floating stern) and pulled the bow up as high as you can it would be above the motor and the stern of the dinghy would be floating 3-4 feet behind the motor. Could even do this with the dinghy upside-down to keep it from catching/holding any water. This would limit the drag when motoring (or sailing) and I think it would limit the stress on the dinghy attachment points (less stress than if fully towing).

Not sure if it would interfere with the rudders in the up position when motoring.

I was hoping maybe somebody had done or tried this and could give some feedback. I think I would like to get a dinghy next Summer when (hopefully) I will start doing bigger/longer cruises and will need a dinghy for when using mooring balls or anchoring. I have no problems with beaching...but as mentioned it is not always available. Don't think I want to pull a dinghy up on my foredeck (can you sail this way with a Genoa?). And don't think I want a hard dinghy either. Too much trouble to trailer and store IMHO.

Thanks,
Jim

P.S. I am on a 2-day trip to RAF Lakenheath...got F-15s taking off in full afterburner shaking the walls of my room..."Jet Noise...the sound of Freedom"!

[Kelly Hanson East]

Curtiss - FWIW

Watertender 9.4
450 USD stolen from WM - I think it sells for 600 USD discounted.
Takes 5HP motor
Indestructible Poly plastic
Rows well
weight?? but I cartop it single handed onto VW Eurovan
My girls take it ashore themselves and bang it into rocks, shells, barnacles, dead bodies...all without fear...

[ROAD Soldier]

When do you need a dingy for a Mac 26 something that can go anywhere and can float when swamped? Is the question that should be asked here? I can answer this question because I do have a dingy that I rarely carry on the bow of my when I do carry it. You shouldn't need a dingy for a life raft, the Macgregor floats when swamped, even though it might give you piece of mind knowing you have one just in case. You don’t need a dingy to explore shallow water in far away places because the Macgregor does that. The only times you need a dingy is if you have a severe anchor stuck problem, you need to get to your Mac that is moored on a buoy instead of at a slip, and lastly when you want to be lazy or are too drunk to tighten or loosen you anchor line on shore to keep it from getting beached because you are on a time schedule that doesn’t match up with the tide like I was at Pirate Sail at Cape Lookout in North Carolina. The one time I needed my dingy and didn't bring it. Lucky other people had theirs and gave me and my wife a ride out to our when the tide was high. My dingy is a little inflatable with wood board floors and can take a 2HP engine which I don’t have. I just row it. It is rated for 3 people in weight but is comfortable with 2 for its size. It is light enough for me to lift out of the water with a rope with my bare hands from the bow of my . I use the front dock lines of my 26X to secure it to the bow by criss-crossing them to the stations and back again. It is made out of the same material White Water Rafts are so it is not going puncher, tear, or get eaten by a shark easily. Best of all it came with my from previous owner so it was free. However if you had to buy one I bet it would cost more then $300. Also you can deflate it and fold it up and store it below when really not needed which is 98% of the time. Or you can forget it at home and get some else to give you a ride to you Mac.

[waternwaves]

and another condition requires a dinghy

you like to boat away from others......but you have an animal you boat with that needs to hit the beach frequently....
as others on this board will attest. Some animals are a little too big for a cat litter box......

[cmeperform]

There are lots of reasons to have a dingy.More than not..I love fishing from a small boat for one.I have a 2 horse honda & don't have a dingy , two.Packing a tent & gear to transport to island shore, three.A dingy would be nice in an emergency .If your E-tec
broke down one could fix it his/herself.Yes,Thumbs up on the dingy for my mac

[Boblee]

Well I posted earlier on this but it seems to be lost soooo try again.
Jim
My comment was made re the Pudgy and the amount of drag still on the water as well as the movement and extra worry in rough seas especially following seas when not if it moved but when and caused interference, also as I stated you would be limited as to how much could be stored in the dinghy ie much easier to tow and no worries with a heavier boat.
We need our dinghy for so many purposes but especially for fishing as it is just too messy to fish from the Mac but also even while the Mac is good for exploring clean, sandy, shallow areas there are still many places I have wanted to get to that the dinghy can't access.
With some gunkholing streams it is just too much worry to take the Mac up without running up and plotting on the handheld first and even just to do a prelim scout up to 20 miles along a creek in the dinghy is easy with a 15 hp and real fishing dinghy especially with overhanging branches etc etc.
I have seen some yachties travelling long distances with tiny dinghies with and without motors in horror conditions but it is not for me and definitely not for my wife thank you.
The Mac gets us into fishing spots and pristine areas in comfort that other boaties just dream about but a sturdy dinghy makes those places so much more enjoyable.
Probably should put some photo's from our last trip on a different thread but here are a couple, the first is of the dinghy loaded which even a 63 yr old (4th dec) can load and unload easily with all relative gear inside and on trailer ready(motor is hardest at 42 kg).

[Boblee]

And why do I like the dinghy?

[curtis from carlsbad]

Yeah I checked out the plywood Dory daisy skiff 12.5 ' and the 8 ' garcia/sabot shaped dinghys the gentleman here in Carlsbad makes.They are very light and beautiful to look at but I dont think they will suit my needs.I still am severely hung up on the Big Mable towable idea because it would make a large open relatively flat place to augment the space on the Mac while at anchor off either Carlsbad or Catalina. I understand that I probably 99.9 % of the time wouldn't need a liferaft and that fire is a minute possibility on the Mac given prudent galley practices( single burner alcohol stove ) and frequent checks of the rubber fuel lines and squeeze bulb for cracks. An idea is that I could have a very partially inflated Big Mabel ( just enough to float )with attached emergency drybag/ditchbag rolled up or bunched up on foredeck . If a fire occured that couldn't be put out, crew could jump overboard (lifejackets on if above deck underway)and could cling to floating "package" and work together taking turns to fully inflate Big Mable(Maybe a Co2 cannister exists-I will find out).The water is very warm during these months( remember, I won't be going in winter/early spring) and it would take a long while for hypothermia to set in. Crew would have plenty of time to further inflate Big Mable, remove necessary items from drybag, shoot off some flares, transmit on handheld VHF, dry off with towels from drybag, etc.... For a tender I could try Big Mable with the two people paddling ( just a couple of times here in Oceanside Harbor or slightly offshore Carlsbad as a test ) on a windy day to see if substantial progress paddling could be made. If it didn't paddle well enough, I could still keep it as my floating lounge or emergency "throw package"and have maybe (3)- two man inflatable kayaks below decks under the V- berth. I am also more open minded to the idea of an inflatable Zodiac syle dink with outboard motor that could store on foredeck . The Big Mable/3 kayak idea still sounds the most appealing so far though. The walker bay also interests me either on foredeck or towed. This is going to take time to figure out.I probably won't get Alzheimers because I am constantly thinking about Mac,dink sailing etc. I'm using my brain constantly. I also think about my wife and kids once in awhile too! Thanks to all for the great ideas . Is it possible to inflate or deflate something as large as Big Mable on the foredeck with the inflatable partially in the water( using high capacity 12 volt pump ) ?

[curtis from carlsbad]

A picture is worth a thousand words. You aint talkin no fish stories, you are real deal - nice fish !