Towing a dinghy...

[LifeOfRiley]

I towed my dingy last weekend to Basset Island thru Buzzard's Bay. I used about 30-40 feet of tow line with a Y bridle, kept the two 454's twin V's at about 2,500-2,800 RPM. All was good, two good points in reading about towing floating line or with lines with floats and securing the gas tanks. Just brought a dingymate gas tank I love it!!!

 

[KC_Sundancer]

Towing our Tender

We have a 10 foot Quicksilver inflatable with a 15 H.P. Mercury we take along and use quite often.
Our boat is equipped with a custom swim platform but I'm sure these ideas may be used with any platform and a little thought.

I initially had a simple pair of "c" shaped devices made up of CPVC pipe and 1/2" stainless bolts for the pivot point.
That worked great for rolling the boat up on its side on the swim platform.

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Loading the inflatable could easily be done by one person running the lines from the "c" devises under and over the inflatable and pulling up from inside the boat.
It was then held securely by the same lines.
The two down sides were needing to remove the motor and not being able to cross tie the boat without removing the tender when mooring .

Trying to simplify things I thought why not tow it like a trailer. The location of the brackets happened to be spaced perfectly for the width of the inflatable and it's forward "D" rings.
Using a few snap clips I gave it a try.

This worked great. Even in rough seas it tows smoothly - no bouncing.
Just the back edges of the sponsons ride in the water when on plane.
I do have to use a small bungi-cord to keep the motor held down. When planing there was just enough wash to occasionally lift it out of the raised postion.
Docking was excellent, the inflatable stays right with the boat so backing in is a breeze.
The inflatable is also not in the way for cross tying the boat when in port.

I added cross ties off the transom of the inflatable to help when going on and off plane as that is the only time it moves around a bit - nothing rough though.
The small fenders shown have since been replaced by a rubber corner guard put on the edge of the swimplatform.

A few notes: Use a safety line off the forward "D" ring "just in case".
Also be sure to have "D" rings in good condition.
Ours were torn a bit prior to doing this so we replaced them.

Just an idea you may be able to expland on.