Kayak as tender

[Catigale]

Im cruising the Cape Cod area in a few weeks and am thinking of using a one person kayak as a tender for all those great bays.

I could fit it up on deck (maybe even still sail) but am wondering what peoples experiences are with towing these..

TIA Catigale

[Frank C]

Stephen, I agree w/ your thinking. In fact, I don't even have a dink yet, so it's a frequent item in mind.

The budget is close to two boatbucks for a motor plus a Walker w/donut, or that 8-ft PortaBote. Yet, the West Marine brand of two-man inflatable kayak, canvas covered, is one option that I'm partial to ... no motor req'd, only about $400 total, and probably with wet feet & butt in exchange?

There was a long thread on kayaks just recently, quoted below. You're probably thinking rigid? I think I'd mainly pull a softie kayak aboard, instead of towing it.

Well, another option added to my plethora of adaptable situations! I just nabbed a used Stearns IK-140 inflatable kayak that I intend to keep on the boat at all times. I have two hard shell yaks, but it can be a hassle to bring them on every adventure, along with three different inflatable dinks I use at different times, depending on the circumstance. I have a 14' Necky Dolphin, and a 16' Ocean Kayak Cabo. Sit-On-Tops, that are towed at various times! As I said, I never put primary dinks in the boat, I tow them, but this one will be stowed as it really has a small deflated footprint!

[Billy]

OK, I'm going to admit to my stupidity (again). 2 years ago, I decided to tow an Old Towne kayak from Florida to Bimini. I lashed a cover over the cockpit so no water could get in and tied 20' of line from the bow handle to the rear cleat of the Mac. I even tested it at fast speeds before I left to make sure there would be no problems tracking. Everything looked good so I decided to tow across the Stream that night. The Stream was like a pond--completely flat and travel speed was about 5-6 kts. Every 20 minutes or so I would pull the line in, just to make sure the kayak was still back there, and then let the line back out. About halfway across, I pulled the line in for the routine check and only had the bow T-handle. No break in the line, no wear on the factory rope that was still knotted inside the handle. Evidently the factory rope had cut (or sawed) through the molded eye of the kayak.

In hindsight, I know of several ways that would have worked better. If I ever get another one, I probably lash it to the stanchions, just to play it safe or only tow in daylight . O well, live and learn--and pass the lesson on to others.

I still have the handle and a pic of the kayak.

[Andy26M]

I have a one-man kayak that I tried as my dinghy, once. Once.

The problem was not towing. The problem was getting in and out of the thing from the Mac. Mine is a regular sit-inside, and frankly, I could not get in or out of it without either risking sprains/strains trying to keep it steady under me, or just plain going swimming. I have a 26M, but I don't see the 26X as making it any easier to get in or out of.

- AndyS

[Lloyd Franks]

I just bought a inflatable on sale at WM... With good paddles, and a 12 volt inflator/ deflator, the whole package came to about 200 bucks. I think the sale is over, and I haven't tried the yak yet, but at that price I couldn't resist. And boat inflates and deflate so quickly and easily that using it as a dinghy seemed a good idea. This is the boat, the "Classic".

http://www.sevylor.com/canoes_3.html

[Tom Root]

Billy, you did bring up a valid point, as I did modify my towing arraingement to have those ties more substantially than the nylon rings that ultimately fail! I have been replacing the eye rings with Stainless as they fail in other duties. They are that way, so they don't scratch a roof etc., when transporting. But they are nearly worthless if you ask me!

Again, as with any Dinghy being towed, devise a harness....always. It gives piece of mind, and I have never given King Neptune anything I have floated with/on! Now SCUBA, is another matter...hee, hee, I have found and lost more gear on the bottom of the briney than I care to talk about!

I have pulled both Yaks , one behind the other, with no problems yet!

As far as mounting/dismounting a yak when on another vessel, a few times at a dock at various levels, practice and finesse' makes one really proficient enough to do it off a Mac. The first time I took the Necky Dolphin out, I provided some interesting entertainment on the docks, till I got the knack of it! Fell off that sucker at least a dozen times, but now can mount/dimount like a pro, again, practice makes perfect. I have the Sit-On-tops, and have found them easier in the long run, but to each his own, as others wouldn't be caught dead in anything but a canoe like Sit-Inside type!

[Frank C]

I have a one-man kayak that I tried as my dinghy, once. Once.

The problem was not towing. The problem was getting in and out of the thing from the Mac. Mine is a regular sit-inside, and frankly, I could not get in or out of it without either risking sprains/strains trying to keep it steady under me, or just plain going swimming. I have a 26M, but I don't see the 26X as making it any easier to get in or out of.

Andy,
I've never tried to board a kayak from my 26X, and I admit it's lots easier to theorize this than execute. However, I've "pondered" this technique and I'm curious if you might have tried it from your M. I wonder if the outboard is fully raised, can the yak float sidewise under the motor, and parallel to the transom?

If so, then I'd attempt using the raised motor to steady myself while trying to settle my butt down into the kayak. Not saying this would work, but it's one thing I'd like to try before buying one of 'em.

[cbhinkel]

All of this kayak talk reminds me of an interesting episode when I was at Avalon, Catalina a couple of years ago.

I was just stepping foot onto the dinghy dock when this beautiful tan brunette and her drunk boyfriend were trying to board their inflatable Sevylor kayak there. She very awkwardly got into it first. To set the stage. she was all dolled up and wearing a short light-colored skirt, being blatantly obvious that she had NO undies on (I was damn glad my wife wasn't present!). Anyhow, as the boyfriend stupidly just stepped into the kayak, it turned turtle and dumped both people into the water. I beelined right to the damsel in distress and essentially pulled the naked woman out of the water. I paused just long enough as this was taking place to take a mental snapshot of the situation that I clearly recall to the day.

Kayaks really can be a challenge to get into and out of while in the water. Sometimes it can even threaten a relationship with your significant other as was the case with the woman I rescued. She told her boyfriend to take a hike with a few nasty explicatives mixed in and took the water taxi back to her boat. Too funny!

[Catigale]

Lloyd - how is that Sevylor working out for you as a tender? Have you tried it yet??

Im thinking about a tender for next season, and this looks like a nice way to go. They even make an electric motor for it which might be easier to deal with than another gas engine, gas, etc...

[Frank C]

One more dollop of 'yak yak ...

West Marine's store-branded inflatable canvas-covered models are on season-end close out. I think the 2-person model is down from $400 SRP to $250 on-sale.

[Rolf]

I've got the yellow 2 man ocean kayak malibu 2 which I took to Avalon once stowed on top of cabin hatch before I got my dodger. Pain in the A-- much too heavy, and difficult to board although it is one of the sturdier kayaks. I now bring along my cheapo sevyelor $100 tahiti which doubles as an emergency only tender along with my real maxxon 10 foot tender stowed fully inflated between mast and pulpit--squeezes in there perfect. We have a blast in the tahiti--weighs only 25 pounds as opposed to 80. Towing anything sucks imho, especially if motoring fast. You get a rubber neck from constant worry-I like to relax a little-- and I too have had my more expensive 10 foot inflatable "disconnect" the one time I towed it, but caught it in time to circle back and recover(there was already 3 guys in a small fishing boat circling it--vultures!). The walker bay 8 is awsome but the donut is a must or it is too unstable I've discovered. The tube is next on my"must have" list.
Rolf

[Catigale]

I scored a Sevylor Fishmaster off ebay, and my kicker motor (British Seagull ""The outboard for the whole world" should also come today

One of my age eight twins has gotten the sailing bug - it does not get better than this....we are cleaning up Grandads old 17 foot Island daysailor so she can take it out on the river.

The kicker will fit either the dingy or Abigails new boat (she named it the Cheetah) ....I knew life was good when the Admiral said "You need to go get her a decent motor for that"

Hmmmm...Admiral telling you to go buy boat stuff.......

Im impressed with the Sevylor quality - The boat has a heavy nylon cover which protects the hull from both UV and abrasion. IT seats 5 and can take a 2.5HP kicker, an electric motor,or be rowed. I confess I almost went with the electric motor for about $100 but couldnt make the battery budget work on a 5 day trip according to my calculation.

The floor is wooden slatted for stability. It inflates in 3 minutes with my Sevylor DC powered inflator. It has two wooden seats. It collapses in 3 minutes into a storage carry bag that will go on the vberth for trailer travel and sailing
Its not a boat you could leave on a mooring all season but for the trailer sailor who occasionally needs a tender, you can spend about 1/4 as much of the high end dink and kicker as far as I can see this route.

The Sevylor 325 sell for about 325-340 USD online.

You history buffs - the Seagull was an engine that pushed many of my British countryman onto Sword Beach on June 6 1944. One of the few things I got from my Uncle Stan about Sword was

"Please God, let me get shot on the beach, I dont want to go by drowning...."

Abby and I will be thinking about him when we fire it up....

[Catigale]

Follow up on my tender solution

I fabbed a motor mount to put my Seagull outboard onto my Sevylor tender..I made it out of pine to see how well it works, I will make the final version out of teak as a winter project.

It took a total of Five parts of standard lumber, and 30 minues of labour, not including varnish drying time. It needs no tools to attach to the tender.

I will post pix on the Mods forum for anyones interest.

[Catigale]

Posted in Mac Mods Page, not in Mods Forum, complete with pictures

Link here

[Frank C]

Steve - Nice looking solution.

You wrote: I bought a 1973 British Seagull 2 stroke for it, and fabbed the mount from pine ...
I'm curious about the wt of the Seagull, and the cost ?? ... pretty noisy?
(The 2-horse Honda 4-stroke is on my "someday list.")

You wrote: to make the transom height correct, which is important on a Seagull, as the back pressure on the exhaust has to be correct.
It would never have occurred to me that backpressure varies so much by changing just a few inches of water depth !!

You wrote: I will make a simple mount for the motor on the mast crutch of my X for carrying the motor while trailering or in rough weather.
Hmmm - your mast crutch is at the pedestal, right? ... why not mounting at one of the aft rails?