Ron, Gary Hyde had one of those West Marine Mini Dinghy's on one of the San Juan cruises. He found that when towed, it would fill up with water between the nylon cover and the inflation tubes. Said it was like towing a sea anchor. He ended up deflating it rather than towing. Your plan of towing it with the bow lashed to the backstay might keep it dry, though. Larry On Sun, 8 Mar 2009 20:55:43 +0000 Ronnie Keeler <ronkeeler@hotmail.com> writes:
Tom,
For years, when my brother owned Griselda, he carried a cheap plastic inflatable boat. He would tie off the bow to the split backstay where it was resting over the raised motor. That left only the stern dragging in the water. Later he had a 9 foot fatty knees dinghy that he towed but found it a bit big for the boat.
Since Griselda is one of the origonal 20 fin keel montys, a dinghy is a necessity so, I ordered a 6' 7" "Mini Dinghy" inflatable from West Marine. It has double chambers, is nylon fabric covered and has inflatabel floor. I have rowed it around a bit from my dock but since Griselda is still on the hard for bottom refinishing and new keel bolts, I haven't tried to tow it yet. I plan to tow it with the bow lashed to the backstays like the former plastic toy. It came with a very efficient manual inflate/deflate pump and looks like it would fit on the foredeck partially inflated.
Once I have Griselda back in the water, I will do a test tow around the cove I live on and let you guys know how it works. It should get a really good test at the Florida 120 and Texas 200.
Ron (Whitebeard)
M17 #14, Griselda
Lake Livingston, Texas
From: tjenk@gte.net To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 13:17:41 -0700 Subject: M_Boats: tenders
Hi all, I imagine that you who do overnighters drag along some sort of dinghy to access shore, so I would appreciate your conveying your experiences as to what type of two-person craft a Montgomery 17 can pull comfortably under various sailing conditions. Thanks, Tom Jenkins M17 Scintilla _______________________________________________
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