[C38] New Topic: Dinghys

[les]

Hi, Jay,
	Nancy and I had an 8' for a while, and upgraded to the 10'.  We cruise
when we use the boat, and for cruising, the 10' is a bit small.  The 8'
is ridiculously small.  Both will hold a lot of weight (16 or 18 inch
tubes of air 8' long is a LOT of flotation), but the space to hold the
normal dinghy stuff, anchor, throwable, a underseat bag for the standard
stuff like flares, firstaid kit and so forth, some trash going in, or
some groceries coming back, some laundry, some fresh water for washdown
or to refill the tank, or some fuel, takes up a lot of room.  And as
some have said the flat bottom versions row like a donut with an
antisocial complex in any wind at all.  The V bottom airfloor is
certainly better in that respect.  A motor must be swung up to row or
you won't get anywhere.  Most dinghy aft seats will put the aft
passenger off to one side when the motor is raised.  This makes the ride
wetter, and also makes it hard for the aft passenger to clear the
oarsman's stroke.  These are important considerations, as motors do run
out of gas sometimes (YES, its their fault, that's my story and I'm
sticking to it), or breakdown (if it runs out of gas, it will shellac
the pump valves shut some times, especially on a hot deck during the
summer sitting for the next use).  It is nice to be able to row while
rebuilding the pump, or fixing a pin holed fuel line etc.etc.

	As someone else pointed out, a motor makes getting around much better.
Some marina's hide the public docks, and you may have to make a trip
around the marina to find where they are, and if more than one, which is
best for grocery shopping and which for pic-nic.  So either a sail or a
motor will make things nicer, and with an inflatable, other than a
tinker, there are no air dinghy's set up to sail.  

	On our 22 we had an old AVON 12' with the outboard bracket.  It was
funny to have a dinghy that was more than 2/3 the length of the boat,
but we were really spoiled by the cargo capability.  The drawbacks were
small motor, and really "floppy" feeling, which I eventually fixed by
making new better fitting floor boards (we got it second hand, and I
suspect the floorboards were from some other dinghy)and a bit more
pumping.  But it rowed like it was a cork in quiet areas and not at all
in wind.  

	The latest AVON airfloor is a vee bottom via an inflatable tube in the
bottom, and is arched up quite a bit in the bow.  This makes it dryer
but not dry and it holds its course well.  I think the hard dinghy guys
are dryer in light chop and we're all wet together in windy or choppy
conditions.  A 5 hp is not sufficient to get the 10' up on a plane, but
it sips gas.  However once you get to 8hp or better you get two or more
cylinders which makes the engine smoother running and the planing.  

	We have the 5 hp Nissan, and it weighs 69 lbs.  I was spoiled by the
feather weight of our old 2 stroke 4 hp Suziki we had before, so this
seems more like an anchor than a motor, but here the evnironmentalists
have succeeded in essentially outlawing the 2 strokes.

Thanks for the info about the kayak.  I thought that, but my wife has
once or twice asked about a kayak.

A dinghy that doesn't work for you is a total waste of money.  I suggest
that you go to one of the local yacht clubs or a dinghy broker and see
if you can get some rides to see what works best.  Storage is important,
but utility will influence what you actually use.  A good dinghy can
literally be a life saver.  Oh, and even with sails or a motor NEVER
leave the dock or the boat without oars on board.  I have pulled a
couple of folks to safety who didn't follow that advice.

A secret tip... when the dinghy has been left afloat for a while, a bit
of vinegar on a rag laid over the boat bottom will soften the grip of
the junk that grows there.  It will also even dissolve the calcium of
some of those little rubber grabbers.  We then use the blade of the oar
to scrape the dinghy bottom before completing the cleaning process.  It
works, it is rounded enough to not damage the rubber floor and it
removes the critters.

And I know I can't swim a mile any more, so I always wear a life vest.
YMMV.  there are some nice light coastal inflatables that are a
reasonable investment.  Boat US sometimes offers good specials on them.

And here where we sometimes get really bad coastal fog, a portable gps
for the dinghy is a good investment as well.  It is also a good "backup"
for the primary.

The underseat bag is from West Marine I think, and it is PVC stuff, so
it is water proof, and it has a pad on top to soften the seat plank.
Good investment for fishing days or prowling a new area.

Regards,
Les H

On Fri, 2011-01-14 at 17:46 -0800, Jay Sorensen wrote:
> OK, I'm sort of dubious about asking this question.
>  
> Now that the boat is looking good and safe the family of 4 is planning on a 10 day or so cruise to Catalina, Santa Barbara, and San Clemente Islands here in So. Cal this summer.  I have done the trip before delivering  boats to Santa Barbara, Marina del Ray, Long Beach, etc. for races and have always used the local shore boat to get ashore.
>  
> But first mate Dorothy likes the concept of instant access to the shore for her jogs, dining, etc.  And what the first mate wants, the first mate gets.  Maybe I should start calling her Admiral..............
>  
> We have a tandem kayak but that is not a stable way to leave the boat.  We've tried! 
>  
> Anyway, probably like others out there I don't want to spend a lot of $$ for something that will not be used often.
> We don't need a high power planing dinghy because the anchorages are all close to where we want to go ashore.
>  
> I'm thinking about either a 10' Haypalon inflatable with a < 10hp engine and a soft bottom or a 12' folding boat with a similar or smaller motor (after someone on the board said they used one.)  Together we all weigh apx 600lb so we are approaching the upper limit of the 12' porte-a-boat.  Used ones are less expensive here and may stow better on the raiing??  But do you get what you pay for??
>  
> We do not have davits, and will store it on the foredeck during crossings.  The ability to roll up the dinghy and not deal with floorboards seems like it would be a benifit.  But a folding boat stored across from the kayak seems like a nice balance. 
>  
> So what do you have out there and what do you think will work for our first dinghy?
>  
> Thanks!
>  
> Jay & Dorothy Sorensen
> C-38 #311 Broad Reach
> San Diego, CA
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