Towing a dinghy...

[garjowan]

Towing behind a cruiser with twins... Anyone doing it?
I find alot of info on towing, but it is mostly from blow-boaters.

Davits are out of the question right now and am thinking of towing approximately 15 miles through some relatively calm waters... (hopefully)
I need to get through Boston Harbor, but after that it's pretty calm usually.

I am looking for photos of the "systems" yuo use... the line types, lengths, tie-ups...
I am towing a Avon 3.10 FG bottom with a 15hp 4-stroke...
I don't have any eyes other than the bow eye up front, so a bridle is not gonna work.
I have 2 lifting rings on the transom and was thinking off tying off to those and running the lines through the bow eye and then to the cleats on the boat...

Thoughts and images are what i'm looking for.

Thanks,
Gary

 

[mrsrobinson]

I see folks w/cruisers doing it around here, thought of doing it myself as lifting the dingh out of water is a pain. Perhaps remove the motor to reduce the weight/drag.

 

[Sublimetime]

I tow dink all the time. Just make sure you are far enough back so the dink rides in the "v" of the wake well behind the prop wash. Be sure to use floating line and dont forget bto pull in tight to boatwhen reversing and maneuvering. Passing the line thru the bow eye then to stern is good as this will put most of the pull to transom.Check the dink after a short while to be sure it isn't filling up with any splashed water as this can put a much larger load on your tow line. Good luck and happy trails

 

[garjowan]

Thanks guys... I might try it out on the river tomorrow night and play with distances and stuff... go from there.
Sublimetime, any pics of you towing and your line setup?
mrsrobinson, if I wanted to pull the motor I would just buy weavers and tilt the dink out on my platform... the idea of towing is to avoid pulling the motor it weighs 116lbs...LOL!!! Too much for my old back...!!!

I was thinking of the Hurley type system where the boat is cradled horizontal... kinda pricey though.

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Can be done but, go slow (off plane) and use a long line to get it out of the rooster tail. I was towing a friends Zodiac Projet and its book says six knots max. Its a 40kt dink?
I sometimes tow my inflatable on very short trips. I bet you invest in a davit for the next time.
Let us know how it works out,
Mark.

 

[Still LauCo]

I towed with a dinghy bridle- a line connected to each stern eye, then a "float", then a floating line to the bow eye. Set the line so the front of the dink rides "up" the back of the wake...
You can do it, but it's difficult. (I towed with my 10 horse 4 stroke on the back)
Then I bought the Hurley Davits, and life has been MUCH MUCH better.
We love bringing the dink with us, and it's pretty effortless...

 

[Hampton]

I tow mine on occassion. Now, I'll only tow it a couple of miles. The engine bounces up and down (in the locked-up position). We lost a seat once ($110). Our economy while cruising is adversely affected - more than I thought it would be (10%?). The dinghy takes a beating.

Also, the "secured" gas tank tipped over once.

Try it once, then decide.

 

[garjowan]

Well, if the rain holds off tonight, I am gonna cruise up the river and see how it goes... will let ya'll know how it turns out

 

[Henry Boyd]

If you don't have rings mounted on the lower side of the tubes where they start to vee, then you should instal them. Easy to do, they glue on. What you use depends on the the type of inflatable you have PVC or hypalon.

Floating line and a float on the line is necessary. Also keep a long line out while running, and shorten up when going slow/mooring areas. You do not want to eat a tow line.
If it is at all possible to drag it up onto the swim platform you will be better off, as towing runs the risk of losing the dinghy and motor.

Henry

 

[NorCal Boater]

I have an '89 340 DA and experienced the same challenges as you except the dink has D rings that allow me to use a bridle. Your express rides a bit better than my DA with the engines in back but I found I needed about 50-60 feet of line to get it to ride the best. I've tried it with the motor on and off but my old Evinrude only weighs 78 lbs.

The best thing I did was to put on a bigger platform from Swim Platforms, Inc. www.swimplatforms.com

The platforms on the mid to late 80's 340s were a joke. The original was 22" and the new one is 39". Our dink is not a hard bottom and has an inflatable keel. Now I just deflate the keel and drag it on the platform....motor and all. Tie it down and away we go. I don't even need the Hurleys.

 

[SEEG]

We tow our 12.5 foot Zodiac w/ a 40 HP Honda all the time. It does effect your efficiency and we had to re-prop to obtain rated rpm. We use a floating line available here:

http://www.mooringlines.com/tow_lines.htm

If conditions are flat we tow with the motor up and if the water is expected to kick up we lower the motor. Lowering the motor also stops any side to side movement. We tie down the steering wheel and experimented some to get the right length on the tow bridle. As others have mentioned you want to get it back past the "whales tail". We pull it in close to anchor or fuel up. We found that we can tie it sideways to the swim platform and it really doesn't affect your ability to back into a slip, although we do have IPS drives and joystick. We cruise at 21-22 knots and have been out in all kinds of water. Every time we look back the dink is still there. We're in the market for a larger inflatable and I will install dual towing eyes to the front of the inflatable so I can attach a bridle directly to the dink. I believe that will enhance the stability with the motor out of the water. With the motor down there is a noticeable increase in drag.

 

[garjowan]

Do you tie of at the boat to one side cleat or do you have a towing ring center transom?

I tried running a line out to the bow eye on the dink from both back, side cleats ( a "V" from the boat to the dink )... It went well, but I think I needed a few more feet of line, I was riding pretty much on top of the second wave going maybe 10-12 knots... I was in the river, so I couldn't really get going faster...

I was heading out through the harbor today, but they're calling for some bad storms tonight... I will be leaving for my trip tomorrow mornung if the weather holds out...

 

[NorCal Boater]

Do you tie of at the boat to one side cleat or do you have a towing ring center transom?

I tried running a line out to the bow eye on the dink from both back, side cleats ( a "V" from the boat to the dink )... It went well, but I think I needed a few more feet of line, I was riding pretty much on top of the second wave going maybe 10-12 knots... I was in the river, so I couldn't really get going faster...

I was heading out through the harbor today, but they're calling for some bad storms tonight... I will be leaving for my trip tomorrow mornung if the weather holds out...

Our 340 is probably one of the few in the US that has a ski tow eye. It was there when we bought the boat. We tow from there if we tow. Look into the bigger platform. It will change the way you use your bost.

 

[bushway9172]

Hopefully people are still subscribed to this relatively old thread...

Would I be able to attach a Zodiac inflatable to my swim platform? What would it be like to tow one? Our average trips are in the open ocean (1-3 foot waves), and usually vary between 6 and 20 miles. Those are average trips, in average conditions. The Zodiac I would tow would be either 8 or 9 feet with a 6(?)hp outboard on it. I could probably remove the engine prior to towing. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Brandon

 

[Henry Boyd]

Brandon,

You can not tow a Zodiac at any speed above 'no wake speed' without destroying it. Sailboats do it because they only go 6 knots at the most. If you try and tow at planing speeds it will flip and well, it ain't pretty.

You can try getting one tube up on the swim step and then rolling it onto the transom. Secure it on both ends. If you have an OB it has to come off and be secured in the boat.

Have you considered deflating and re-inflating when you get to your destination?

Henry

 

[bushway9172]

Brandon,

You can not tow a Zodiac at any speed above 'no wake speed' without destroying it. Sailboats do it because they only go 6 knots at the most. If you try and tow at planing speeds it will flip and well, it ain't pretty.

You can try getting one tube up on the swim step and then rolling it onto the transom. Secure it on both ends. If you have an OB it has to come off and be secured in the boat.

Have you considered deflating and re-inflating when you get to your destination?

Henry

Thanks for the reply Henry. This was just an idea.. not even sure we'll end up purchasing a Zodiac. Just wanted to have an idea of what we could do with it. We wouldn't considering deflating and re-inflating at a destination... too much effort - would rather just take the launch in. :lol: So when you saying I could try getting "one tube up on the swim step and then rolling it onto the transom" what do you mean by that? Do you mean taking the OB off and just pulling the Zodiac partially in the boat?

 

[bushway9172]

I also just thought that our 270 Select EX has the very large sun pad on the back.. maybe I could secure it on top of that? Any thoughts about that?

 

[mawyatt]

We pull a dinghy up on the swim platform bow first, tie off to the boat's port/stbd stern cleats from each of the dinghy bow port/stbd rings. Pull the dinghy up so the bow sits on the swim platform and tie off very tight so the dinghy can't move. Got this idea from another post and it works well. Only issue is just don't come off plane quickly and let the wake drive the dinghy forward. This weekend I am going to add some rings to the transom to tie the dinghy off so I don't have to use the cleats. You might want to give it a try.

Good luck

 

[Hampton]

We pull a dinghy up on the swim platform bow first, tie off to the boat's port/stbd stern cleats from each of the dinghy bow port/stbd rings. Pull the dinghy up so the bow sits on the swim platform and tie off very tight so the dinghy can't move. Got this idea from another post and it works well. Only issue is just don't come off plane quickly and let the wake drive the dinghy forward. This weekend I am going to add some rings to the transom to tie the dinghy off so I don't have to use the cleats. You might want to give it a try.

Good luck

I learned this from the same source and it is now the way we do it. I think it would work perfectly for your application. The only difference is, I'm not sure how it would work with a single I/O, which I assume is what you have.

 

[wileecoyote]

I would like to hear what guys with the 80-90's 340's with the Sea Ray platform are doing. I'm looking at a 8.5 Achilles and it seems to me that the davit systems that are out there seem to be very highly priced. For the price of a Weaver system, I can almost pay for half the cost of the giant platform that NorCal has on his. I'm not sure how comfortable I would be towing, or having the stern hang off the back of the platform. Anyone with an idea, I'd love to hear it.