On 6/13/2016 7:47 PM, Thomas Buzzi wrote: Hi Tom, Let me throw in another comment: Your dinghy needs a decent pair of oars for comfortable and efficient rowing. When you buy a dinghy it usually comes with some far too short; much too heavy; 2 X 4" clubs used for beaning grizzly bears if they get too close. The length is usually all wrong - they are mostly much too short for rowing the boat properly. They also don't have the proper balance. Oars, with all their weight outboard of the oar locks mean that with each stroke you have to lift up all that weight and move it forward; again and again. Proper oars will have a heavy inboard end, almost balancing the weight of the loom and the blade in the oarlock - in the worst case, drill a hole in the handle end and fill with lead to achieve some semblance of good balance. (see Culler's description of how to make good oars and how they should balance. He makes the inboard ends of his oars square to counter balance the weight of the loom and the blade) Oars must have leathers to protect the loom of the oar from wear, (lubricate them with some linseed oil or tallow). They also need a collar to keep them from slipping through the oarlock, if you should let go for a moment, because a fish is suddenly on your line. Without a collar as a stop, you may then see your oar floating away. How do you retrieve it? Do you have a sculling notch in the transom? Do you know how to scull? Trying to paddle home with just one oar is difficult and very frustrating. (I've been there, and gave my wife a hatch board to use as a paddle so that we could get home again) Having a spare oar on board adds to the dinghy's safety. If the oars you got with the dinghy are long enough, made of good spruce, but too heavy, then several hours work with a plane to add thinness to the loom and the blades, is one solution. If they are made of very heavy elcheapo wood, don't waste your effort. No matter how much wood you remove, they will still be unwieldy clubs. There are several specialty oar makers who put out excellent products. For my last boat, a SHELLBACK dinghy with sails, I had Shaw & Tenney build me a set of 7' - 6" spoon blade oars. Yes, they cost a few bucks, but that number was rapidly forgotten by the sheer pleasure the oars gave me every time I rowed with them. Maybe, with the proper hints, your wife could buy you a pair for Father's Day, or your birthday. Ciao, Connie
thanks, Connie, Once again a compendium of thoughtful ideas and necessary considerations. fair winds, Tom Buzzi
On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 4:28 PM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/13/2016 12:33 PM, swwheatley@comcast.net wrote:
Let's start with the basics of what is needed in a dinghy;
Where do you sail? Inland lakes? Coastal areas? Large rivers?
What is the weather like there? Do you have tides and tidal flows - as in the Hudson River, or in coastal areas?
Do you use it only when the sun shines or do you have to use it under any and all conditions of wind; waves; tides; and weather conditions?
How many people does it have to carry safely? One, two, or more? If there are newcomers on board, can they swim? Can they row? ....or are they total neophytes, and don't know the pointy end from the blunt end? This will give you an idea as to how stable the dinghy has to be. Standing up and climbing out of a tippy dinghy is fine for the experienced sailor, but it doesn't work of the beginner.
This will influence the size of the dinghy you need. The wave and weather conditions will dictate how much freeboard you need. When you are sailing an M15 or an M17 you are pretty much limited to a dinghy in the 8 to 9 foot range. Bigger is always better; but you can't really tow a 12 foot dinghy behind an M15
If you are at a dock in a marina you can load everything on the boat from your finger pier; but if you are on a mooring or at anchor, then your dinghy has to be able to carry passengers all your crew members; plus bags 0f food; containers of water; libations; under all possible load and weather conditions, from the dinghy dock out to your vessel.
How portable does the dinghy have to be? Light enough so that two of you can easily put it on a roof rack of a car? Light enough so that it tows easily.
Remember that a dinghy also has to be your life boat. If the big boat should capsize or sink for any reason, your dinghy becomes vital to get back to land - with all on board. Another reason why it has to be easy to row for longer distances.
A dinghy is also a work boat if your boat is afloat and you want to scrub down the hull; work on rudder gudgeons; or the outboard.
A dinghy half full of water makes a wonderful tool for careening your boat. You put a four piece bridal on the dinghy; hook the bridals to your main halyard and hoist away. That give you access to a major portion of your hull. No marina or outside help needed.
It allows you to row out your a second anchor with chain and rode, if the weather is deteriorating, increasing your security.
It is the sail training machine for young sailors / and it teaches them to row properly. It is also the harbor toy if you hang a 2 HP outboard on the stern.
If your dinghy has a dagger board for sailing, then it is imperative that the dagger board opening can be closed with a gasketed cover held in place by bolts and wing nuts. Good sailing dinghies come with such a closure; cheap ones probably don't. The problem is, if you tow a dinghy with an open dagger board slot, wave action will cause water to squirt into the dinghy. This goes on for hours, until you suddenly find that you have the world's best sea anchor stopping your progress - a dinghy filled with water to the gunnels. Bailing it out is not something I'd recommend to you. Even small dinghies hold many cubic feet of water, and it all has to be removed before your trip can continue.
Ciao, Connie
The idea of using my plastic sit-in kayak as a tender for my M17 is
appealing, but it seems like it would be awfully hard to transfer gracefully from boat to yak and, especially, from yak to boat. How did you handle that?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Yake" <larryyake@gmail.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" < montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2016 10:28:26 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: towing Dinghy ? arrives...
Tried towing my 8ft kayak behind my M-15, but the tow rope got tangled
in everything it could tangle. How does one tow anything behind an M-15? I've towed my 11ft Oldtown Cayuga kayak "Pickle" over 1000 miles on various trips throughout the northwest. Very few problems, but yes, there are certain conditions when it can be interesting. During following seas I would bring it up close and lash the bow right under a stern cleat to keep it from surfing around and trying to come up and bash me. Most of the time I hardly knew it was there, it towed so easily. You want to adjust your tow line so that the kayak is "climbing" your stern wave. That keeps it in line and behaving itself.
This year I've finally decided to try something different. I now have an Walker Bay Airis Sport inflatable kayak. This is a high performace inflatable that paddles like a hardshell. It's much higher pressure than your standard inflatable, making it very rigid. Plus, it only weighs 20# and packs down small to carry aboard. Her "maiden voyage" begins Monday, with a two week trip in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. I'll post later how it works out for me.
Larry Y M17 CornDog
On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 1:43 PM, Conbert Benneck <chbenneck@gmail.com> wrote:
On 6/11/2016 2:55 PM, Steve Trapp wrote:
Hi Steve,
Every dinghy painter needs one or two net floats knotted in the line. Net floats are have a hole through their center where the painter fits (or the fishing net). A figure eight knot at each float end keeps them in their proper place so that they can't slide down the painter and bunch at the bow.
These floats will now keep your painter on the water surface if you back up, and they will keep the painter out of your propeller.
I learned this the hard way when I backed away from a boat, heard a loud bump in back of me and turned around to see the bow of our 9 foot dinghy under the counter of our boat; the engine had stopped; and I was faced with a prop that couldn't move because the painter was neatly wrapped around it.
The answer to the problem was to put my biggest kitchen knife between my teeth; dive into the dirty harbor water and feel for the propeller. Then I cut and sliced until the prop was free to turn again. The bow of the dinghy was back on the surface; I could start the engine; and we were free to move again.
The floats on the dinghy painter became my No. 1 priority.
That solves the problem.
Ciao,
Connie
Tried towing my 8ft kayak behind my M-15, but the tow rope got tangled in
everything it could tangle. How does one tow anything behind an M-15? Steve M-15 # 335
-----Original Message----- From: Howard Audsley Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2016 12:13 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Dinghy arrives...
This is what I am using, which I built in my basement. A Spindrift 10 from B&B...........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n_n_z77Y-A
Tows, rows and sails well, although taking the sail rig along would be a problem if cruising. Not enough room for it in a 15 or 17 footer.
BTW, shortly after that video was shot, a nasty little squall line hit, and things were a bit hectic for a few minutes. But having the dinghy back there posed no problems. I worried that it might cause a lot of drag and slow me down, but that does not seem to be the case. A lot of the time the tow rope is half slack. It just skims right along.
I'd think one of Jerry's Montgomery 10's would do just as well.
Howard
On Jun 11, 2016, at 12:36 PM, John Schinnerer wrote:
Speaking of unusual dinghy choices (not that yours is unusual, Jazz :-) -
I know a guy who uses a SUP for his "dinghy." It's a custom SUP by Gary Young in Hawai'i, with a bit of a cargo recess with bungee cargo net in front and removable recess cover in rear, some bungee hold-downs, etc.. Also fun to be towed behind the boat on! Almost lost my shorts one time...
cheers, John S.
On 06/10/2016 04:57 PM, Jazzy wrote:
Hi all, for anyone that's interested here's a short 3 min video of the > inflatable I bought in case you're looking.. sorry I forgot to shoot > the > motor mount. It also comes with 2 seats and the paddles and pump. No > bag! Luckily I have a handy dandy laundry bag it goes right in... > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/o7xh9nlx9vp13yu/miniyacht.mp4?dl=0 > > Jazz > > > -- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com