Do a lot of motorsailing in the Puget Sound, and after trying every tow option I now bring the dinghy in very close to the stern. The dink rides in the comparative smooth water directly behind the boat, and is protected from beam seas. Never had cause to regret this technique.
I see the dingy high up to the transom rail so that only the back part of the dingy is in the water. Then very little resistance and most of the weight born by the boat and little wave strain on either the D D rings. Does anyone see any problem with this?
I thought the rope or bridle should pass through the D rings and continue back to the transom where they are secured. This takes most of the shock loading away from the D rings.
I prefer to tie the dinghy very close behind - 1m or so. This lifts its bows on the go and it planes on its rear reducing jerking, doesn’t swing much even if not V tied.
There should be on the bitter end of the half-hitch considerable length of 6 inches or more. When there is a lond on the line, it will tighten up taking some of slack on the bitter end. Comprising the knot.
John, Absolutely, good point. even with floating dingy line, if you stop and then back on the line, it can get sucked the prop. You can guess show I know that...
I would attach tow line with a bowline finished with round turn and hitchs....a longer tow line will reduced shock loads ...if using a heavy dinghy and/ or in bad you can even place a weight half way down the tow line even a oil bottle full of water... Any thing to increse water friction this will work as a shock absorber
If your first concern is "1. Don't lose the dingy" then you should not tow it. Sailors should know that this practice is based on convenience and not actual safety. Inflatable dingy can flip more easily than people think (even in coastal cruising conditions) and it will likely happen at the worst moment. A performant monohull or cat today can easily reach speeds where the dingy is plaining and it only takes the right wave or combination of waves to flip a towed tender. Conditions like standing or square waves, wind against tide waves, or other steep waves with short amplitude are perfect for flipping dingy over. A flipped not-rigid dingy will easily rip out all three D-rings and if you ware really unlucky and have stretchy poly lines you have lines or even metal being flung back at the transom or worse at dangerous speeds. I too was in the camp of thinking towing a dingy was harmless until I witnessed it first hand while under sail in the PNW.
spelunkerd I heard that there is thousands of dinghys floating the ocean's. I have a 30 foot sea ray. My tender is an old sea doo jet boat with twin engines It pulls like a dream Lol.
Happened to me three times, all due to my sloppy tying of the line to my boat. No excuse. Happened once during the night at anchor and discovered it only next morning. Followed the wind and found it on high water level on opposite shore. No damage, but another lesson learnt!
Probably fine if you put a good tail on it, I've just had a personal experience of losing a dingy secured with a bowline, cant say why other than the little boat just disappeared somewhere astern.
@@SailFanatics Look up a Yosemite finish (or tie off) for bowlines. It's from climbing, but it changed the way I tie my knots. A standard bowline will loosen under dynamic loads (the repetitive jerk load from wave action).
In support of your dingy bridle method, the video below is of a couple that had both side attachment points pull off their dingy necessitating a dingy rescue. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5QH7Y6A73qM.html
You know your knots well, I have used the wrong name for that knot, you have the correct name. After checking Grog's I will instead use the directional figure 8 for this application www.animatedknots.com/fig8directional/index.php
Sorry, I don't think there is a good, safe way to tow your dingy. It isn't seaman like to tow, and only tow for short distances if you must. When I sailed in the straight of Georgia there were calls almost daily where someone had sunk their dingy and couldn't get it back, or dingy loose and endangering everyone. This is just one of those distasteful jobs you have to do each time you go for a cruise, get your dingy on deck or in davits at the stern.
