Oooh! A screw down cap for my centerboard hole would allow nice access! It's on the list! Jazz On Jun 24, 2016 8:37 AM, "Conbert Benneck" <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/21/2016 11:33 AM, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Hi Tom,
In the Off Center Harbor website I was just watching a folding dinghy, The PT-11 being taken out of the back of a station wagon; assembled and then rowed
Have a look. A very interesting design concept; comes apart in two pieces; can also be assembled in the water; has a sail and dagger board for good sailing performance (note the screwed down C/B slot closure to prevent water squirting into the boat).
The PT Company only sells kits to build the boat; but there are lots of good ideas for any dinghy.
Ciao,
Connie
I guess that is where sayings like "Necessity is the mother of invention"
come from. Now all I have to do is write that sentence without ending it in a preposition or making it awkward or wordy to read. That is the fun of messing about in boats (small). There is usually a better way whatever it is. Your memoirs would probably make interesting reading for a lot of armchair adventurers and shore bound snow bunnies. Will have to remember the collapsible "baby carriage, cuddy cabin if ever I have a 12 foot sloop rigged day sailer. Nice idea. Thanks for sharing, Tom B
On Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 10:48 AM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/17/2016 11:06 AM, Thomas Buzzi wrote:
Tom,
A small dinghy (the Dyer 7'-9" model) fully loaded with the four of us aboard presented a new problem in rough waters.
The Admirable, all dressed up to walk the streets of elegant Newport, RI, or Nantucket, sat in the bow of the dinghy facing aft. I rowed from the middle thwart, and the children (?), adults by this time, sat in the stern.
The occasional motorboat wake that we crossed caused spray from the bow which then often hit the Admirable in the back of her good clothes.
This made the Admirable quite unhappy, to put it mildly. "Think up a solution so that I can arrive in town with dry clothes on my back", was the COMMAND.
My solution was to build a baby-carriage type hood for the bow of the Dyer dinghy.
I bent a piece of plastic pipe to conform to the contour of the Dyer bow; used Bimini fittings for the ends so that the hood could be raised or stowed. The lower portion of the hood had seam where I installed a bungee cord to hold the lower edge in place when in use.
I made the hood out of some Dacron sailcloth. The spray hood was held in the UP position with another bungee cord.
Voila; a strange looking apparition rowing around in the harbor; but a very happy and now contented Admirable who no longer got her clothes wet when we headed into town.
-----------------------------
Problem No. 2:
When I, as Captain, decided to head up the Mystic River to visit Mystic Seaport using the outboard motor in the Dyer, I faced a new problem.
To operate the motor I had to sit in the stern of the Dyer dink, which put the bow up in the air. To steer, I had to scrunch up in a awkward position to be able to hold the handle of the outboard.
There had to be a better way to look like a Captain in command of his vessel.
A Captain should sit on the middle thwart facing forward, in a relaxed manner, and not act as a contortionist sitting in the stern. But how?
Again, several Martinis later (with pickled onions, they have more vitamin's than olives) inspiration kicked me in the butt.
Boats normally have their rudder at the stern. But why can't the boat be steered with a rudder at the bow?
A spare oarlock was mounted at the bow. My oars were long so I could put the oar in the oarlock at the bow, and using about 2 square inches of the lower corer of the blade immersed in the water and I could steer very nicely (but don't catch your oar or it will dig in and then you need a fast release by jerking it out of the oarlock) as I sat erect and Captain-like on the middle thwart
Now I could start the outboard; adjust the cruising speed of the motor; slide to the middle thwart; sit upright and in command of the vessel as I steered to the Seaport Museum with my oar doing the work of over the bow.
Try it for solo dinghy operation. No more contortions; no more crick in the neck; just proper transportation of the Captain to his next visit.
Ciao,
Connie
Ah yes, the irreplaceable "voice of experience". Thanks, Connie.
Happy memories,
Tom B
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On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 10:32 AM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/8/2016 1:21 PM, David Grah via montgomery_boats wrote:
Hi David,
Any dinghy for a small boat is a compromise until you get up to about a 38 footer where you can have the luxury of maybe a 12 foot dinghy that will carry four people and not be so low in the water that every passing wave makes you bail the boat.
Our first dinghy was 9 feet long; had good carrying capacity; but had to be towed everywhere we sailed.
In deteriorating weather conditions you don't want a big dinghy slowly filling with water splashing over the sides becoming a sea anchor; or it charges down a wave front and rams the stern.
A neighbor in Glastonbury, CT had a 9 foot AVON dinghy that he no longer needed. I bought it. Now I could stow it down below when we were making a passage; pull it out;unroll it and all the bits and pieces and Voila, a dinghy. But, the center tube was as high as the side tubes. The take-apart oars were too short; and your seating position was all wrong for rowing. Again, after a few times where I had to row the four of us back to our boat at anchor way out there, .... I came to the conclusion that the only way the AVON would function was with an outboard motor; or, sell it and buy a Dyer fiberglass dinghy that rowed well and was seaworthy.
When the crew was still at home, I needed a dinghy that would hold four adults. Later when they were at college and just the two of us were on board the Dyer 7'-9" was nearly ideal.
The area where you use a dinghy also determines what is acceptable and what isn't.
In our New England waters you often rowed against a 10-15 knot wind for half a mile or maybe more. (There was no flat calm at night) Then good rowing characteristics were a paramount requirement.
At one time I tried to solve the rowing against the wind problem by buying a 2 HP Evinrude outboard. It worked sometimes..... but most often it didn't. Why?
Well with four of us in the dinghy and goodly waves in places like Newport Harbor, with water taxis and lots of power boats creating wakes and waves, a water burble at the back of the dinghy flung salt water spray upwards. The Evinrude had no cowling around the engine, eg, the cylinder, spark plug, and the high tension wire hung out in the breeze and very promptly got soaked with the salt water spray off the stern. The engine quit running immediately, so there you were, with a fully loaded dinghy with the wind on the nose, rowing back to our boat that was anchored far up in Brenton Cove. (See Google Map of Newport harbor)
OK, if the spark plug wire gets wet and stops the engine by grounding out the spark, now what? (Using a Kleenex doesn't get rid of the salt spray so the engine won't start again; gin didn't work either)
My next solution was to buy a SEAGULL with a long shaft, which got the plug wire much higher up in the air. That solved the problem; except for occasionally hitting someone in the face with the starter cord.
If you have a flat lake with no wind, and no current, almost anything that floats will function as a dinghy. If you are in rough water with wind and tide against you, then you want a more optimum rowing machine.
The plastic kayak sounds like a good solution if you are a solo sailor, but even then where do you put the groceries; the ice; the 6 pack of beer; and the antique you just bought at a Flea Market?
David, it all boils down to where you sail, and what the local conditions are where you want to use the dinghy.
Ciao,
Connie
I can't believe I find myself disagreeing with Connie. I don't recall that
ever happening before!
We've used a cheap inflatable as the dinghy for our Montgomery 15. Although I am sure it doesn't row well at all compared to a hard shell boat, it has perfectly met our needs. The best thing is we don't have to tow it around all the time. We just pull it out, blow it up in about 2 minutes with an electric inflator, put in some good after-market oars, use it, pull the oars out, deflate it with the inflator, and stow it under the port cockpit seat. We typically don't row miles at a time but we have taken fair distances, albeit in fairly calm waters. Has always worked great, unless we get lazy and try to tow it.
David GrahBishop CaliforniaMontgomery 15 - Sky
Message: 5 Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2016 17:44:32 -0500 From: Conbert Benneck<chbenneck@gmail.com> To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: Re: M_Boats: Anchor rollers... Message-ID:<308644e4-e035-eb3e-320a-e26dd06f91e5@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
On 6/7/2016 4:22 PM, Jazzy wrote:
Hi Jazz,
Inflatable dinghies sound great in principle, but, as you will soon discover, are absolutely miserable to row. The seating position is wrong; the oars are a joke. Been there with a AVON inflatable dinghy for all the same reasons, but after one season gave up on that miserable piece of ..... and bought a fiberglass Dyer 7'-9" dinghy that rowed well and sailed well. It also was easy to tow behind our 29 footer.
The NYMPH dinghy is easy to build; is light enough so that it is easy to car-top on a roof rack (we had a VW-Jetta wagon); and tows very nicely behind the M15. It's a dinghy that works; doesn't wet you from power boat wakes; and is a pleasure to row.
Caio, Connie
Hiya Connie, right on all counts. And believe me I've been searching
> for a > little corner in all the marinas! But what I've learned from the > locals > is > that you can anchor for 90 days a year without much hassle from > anyone, > so > long as you show up occasionally and your boat looks nice. ( some > have > said > 75 days). Right next door are the million dollar houses with > influential > people. > > There is only one guy on "Gypsy Rose" that has secured permanent > anchorage > from the town and that's the guy I've been talking to. Took him 10 > years!! He has an actual ball with his name on it. Everyone else is > chain > and rode. > > But being out there so much, I know most of the boats, and some have > been > anchored forever. Only one has the pink sticker of death on it > (notice > to > pursue ownership) and it's just a messy eyesore of a boat. > > So in summary, it appears possible to anchor all summer so long as > you're > neat about it and respectful. I ordered a little inflatable dinghy > that > I'll just drag or roll up and take with if I end up going this route. > I'm > slowly gathering all I need, but the courage! It's scary to me to > leave > my > boat and hop on an airplane for a week at a time. I continue to > scour > for > moorage. Tacoma has some, but I'd love to be in the harbor 7 min > from > home. I was offered a 30ft slip for 240.00 but just couldn't pull > the > trigger on that. > > I'll keep you guys posted. > > Jazz > > >