Dinghy Wars: Hard, Soft, Nesting, Folding...

[Celestialsailor]

I agree about the Livingstons. I have a 7.5 with a 6hp. Tohatsu 4-stroke. It will plane with just myself and stowed well onboard.

[totemthepole]

If you are into the gunkholing and long range dinghy exploring, you need a fast inflatable. These are the best style of inflatables, performance wise. For the same weight and HP you can expect double the speed and four times the wave handling. It will outperform a jetski.

They also tow beautifully. Rowing it, now, I don't know...

A RIB inflatable is basically just a hard dinghy with a big inflatable fender around it. At small sizes, the weight difference is not much.

THese can be rolled up and put in the trunk of your car, or under a cockpit seat. With a 15 horse they will do 20 kts with three people. With a 25 it will do 30.

The 13 footer will go 40-50 kts with a 40 HP.

The only drawback is an open transom for self bailing but also a rather wet ride. But if you are down here in the tropics that is not really an issue.

Personally I like the nesting sailing dinghy. But for long distance exploring like in the Bahamas, the inflatable is the choice. And this one has hard plastic strakes on the bottom (which are replaceable) for beaching at full speed. I take both.

These originated in South Africa where the waves are always huge. They are used for racing where they get beached at full speed, the crewman runs up and punches a clock and then they launch again for the next leg, through giant surf.

SuperDuxx boats ... the best-of-the-best when it comes to inflatable tunnel hull boats

There are several different builders of these. This is the only inflatable that gets an APBA racing class. That ought to tell you something. All the advances in boats trickle down from racing.

You can easily stow one of these and still tow a nice sailing dinghy. And if you have a catamaran you should have a catamaran dinghy!

On a sinkable leadmine monohull, if she goes to Davy Jones' I'd much rather go for it in a sailing dinghy like Capt Bligh rather than a circular life raft. But that's just me.

[Québec 1]

Originally Posted by S/V Elusive

While I believe that each has it's advantages, my preference has been toward a hard dinghy (although I do have two inflatables as emergency backup). My hard dinghy is a sailing Boston Whaler. Since I'm kinda into sailing, this seemed a natural for me. I have yet to see a sailing inflatable. When rowing, this boat tracks really well. I seldom use my outboard. I'll leave the 'pros' for an inflatable to others.

P.S. And I too am a single-handed sailor.

Me in my sailing dinghy

HPIM2597.JPG - Windows Live

[Roaring Girl]

We have a nesting 10' sailing dinghy called a swifgig, of which very few were made commercially. It sails with a modified crabclaw sail, which is very easy and fast, plus rows like a dream. It won't take much of an engine, and we use a 2.3hp honda, but as we are not fighting big waves etc this is not generally an issue. Mind you, we did have to use it against 37kts of wind while storm bound in a Spanish Ria and although slow, it got us home ok. It is very dry and capacious, so you can easily get washing/shopping/water/luggage etc in it. There were nesting versions and monocoque versions, depending on your deck space. We keep a sharp eye on the joining oblts when in use but have not experienced major problems. It does NOT tow well, but we use the davits for short trips and just put it on deck (takes about 8 minutes) when preparing for a longer trip. It's great fun and easy and works well for us. It wasn't cheap, and there's a very long story attached to the whole marque.

We have just last year acquired an inflatable kayak, which is also great. it's for fun, not serious tender work (not got the space) but it means that during longer periods at anchor we can be independent if we want even if it means one of us is having a sail for fun while the other wants to nip ashore to top up the wine stocks. Mostly though, it's quiet, a bit of exercise and a good way to look at birds.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by BC Mike

You can suck the rubber ducky up against the stern and let it run on the two stern knobbies. It may get exhaust soot on it if motoring, and it may get air under it on a breezy day and go round and round like a propellor.
For me it does not answer the ultimate question. " What do you do with the dinghy when it is too rough to tow it? " Many may chose to ignore that question, and later blame someone or something else when trouble strikes. There are many hard dinghys that tow fine, but I would caution again about ultimately nasty weather. John Welsfords " Tender Behind " is a well designed dinky for towing.
The rubber duckies with the protruding stern knobbies, row and motor better than the other types.
Michael

Old thread, but just t add our 2p worth, we attach the dink to the stern with 4 little ropes and caribiner clips. It really does at quite a bit of protection to the cockpit in nasty weather.

Pete

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by totemthepole

SuperDuxx boats ... the best-of-the-best when it comes to inflatable tunnel hull boats

.

I tired sending an email to the address listed on this website, but apparently that email address is no longer valid. I thought the website had very little technical information on their boats and when the email got bounced back to me...it made me wonder how viable a company this is??

[Highlander40]

We have a Duxling, not the racing version in the picture but a 10' dinghy.
The hulls are big in diameter and the aft end has a wedge or flat pad on the bottom. The racing boats have deeper hulls with a separate chamber underneath.

One real nice feature is the double wall construction. If you puncture the hull it just goes soft and the bladder inside carrys you home.

Don't know if Dux is surviving the downturn but the boat is soft riding and very good in waves that I would never take the old Zodiac into.
The floor is solid plastic, like starboard.

On windy days, you will get a fine spray coming up between the hulls though.

[Pete7]

Looks remarkably like a Ceasar cat.

Ceasar X-Class

Pete

[lancelot9898]

Originally Posted by Highlander40

We have a Duxling, not the racing version in the picture but a 10' dinghy.
The hulls are big in diameter and the aft end has a wedge or flat pad on the bottom. The racing boats have deeper hulls with a separate chamber underneath.

One real nice feature is the double wall construction. If you puncture the hull it just goes soft and the bladder inside carrys you home.

Don't know if Dux is surviving the downturn but the boat is soft riding and very good in waves that I would never take the old Zodiac into.
The floor is solid plastic, like starboard.

On windy days, you will get a fine spray coming up between the hulls though.

Are you able to easily deflate/inflate and store your dingy aboard? I have a 37 foot sailboat with limited deck space and wanted to see their stored dimensions.

[Highlander40]

The duxling has a fibreglass cross piece in the bow, so, no it does not roll well. Weight is about 110 lbs. We keep it on weaver davits on the swim platform.

To do it again- I would look at other cats. The performance, sea keeping and ride quality of cats are superior compared to ribs or HP floor boats.

I saw one at a show Tunnel Hull Catamaran Inflatable Boats
Still heavy at 150 lbs but may roll better. The inflated curved up bow looks better at reducing spray and the hulls are deeper for better performance.

The cats with the pointy sponsons poking out forward with a cross piece a foot or two aft just serve to funnel fine spray back into your face.

[OffSeason]

Yes, you can sail an inflatable as you can see from my photo! The Spinnaker blows out pretty easily though!

I like the romance, sailing and rowing capability of a hard dinghy, but keep a Coleman inflatable in a locker, and depending on where I am going I decide which to use. I have a Contessa 26' and so storing a dinghy on deck is a bit hazardous (understatement). I am planning on building a nesting dinghy at some point and have even contemplated designing it to fit over the contours of the forward part of the cabin top.


Mike

[redskycsy37]

Originally Posted by Jacques Dusseault

Rebecca,

I have had a folding dinghy (Port-a-boat) for the last 10 years. My original objective was to have a dinghy that I could store along my lifelines on my Alberg 30. I expected that it could be deployed from the deck in an emergency. This has proved to be impossible. It would require the Olympic water polo team! I must therefore tow the dinghy. My experience is that it tows adequately if tied tight to the stern. We have found that towing a dinghy can be dangerous in a storm. Try, as we did, to empty a dinghy in a Gulf Stream Storm. Although I have been satisfied with the construction of hull itself the rest is of very poor quality and has required frequent replacements and rebuilds. The black piping on the joints and along the rub rails leaves black marks on our hull requiring complete fender protection. It rows OK but is very sluggish underpower. We use a 4hp which is too much for this dinghy. One big advantage for the hull material is that is impervious to rough landings on rocks or coral. Handy for us since we have a dog that we must bring to shore periodically. We have cruised the Caribbean and our boat's home is the Thousand Islands region of the St-Laurence and Lake Ontario. A lot of rocks there!

I have been searching for the "perfect dinghy" for some years now. I have finally decided to build my own. I enjoy building things??? I have designed a 10' nesting dinghy which is nearing completion. The finished version should weight less than 120lbs. I am presently completing the mold and will have a completed version early this winter. It is built to be powered by up to a 15hp. and to easily plane. We tested the plug in Lake Ontario this fall and were extremely satisfied by its performance. It is non-sinkable with a double wall fiberglass foam sandwich construction and foam filled seats. This type of construction provides a high strength to weight ratio. It fits nested on the fore deck of our Alberg 30 with ample room to work our windlass and anchors. The nested dinghy could also be fitted, in its nested form, on a power boat's swimming platform or on small davits. The locking mechanisms are very strong and are designed to be able to lock the bow and stern sections together in wavy water in less than a minute. Each of the sections has enough boyancy to support an adult for the locking process. It should meet our need to have an easily deployable emergency dinghy. Both the bow and stern section have sealed water-tight compartments. The stern has adjustable boyant trim tabs. They fold into the stern when not required or when the dinghy is stored. In addition to providing an additional 14" of water-length boyancy they bring the engines center of thrust more forward and allows for the bigger engine possibiliity. They also have knee and foot pad indentations that facilitate climbing into the dinghy from the water. The rub rails are non-marking rubber and give full protection to our boat's hull. The hull will be protected from damage from rocky landings by stainless strips on the plane and tracking fins. Our plan calls for a small dodger over the bow section. A receptical for two piece oars is built into the design of the stern section. The stern will have two small wheels on the tracking fins to help move the nested dinghy over the ground.

When our dinghy is completed I will have a complete mold available to produce additional dinghies. I don't know how much interest there would be in the boating community for such a design. If there is I might consider putting it into production. All the advice from you or the readers would be appreciated. If additional info. would be of interest let me know and I can provide some rough design specifications and pictures of the work in progress.


Jacques Dusseault
Kilwinning - Alberg 30 #446

Sounds like a good design, I am looking to build something simular for my 37' sloop I want a nesting dinghy that I can put my 9.8hp engine on that will plane and be un sinklable and have as much stability as possible for me, my wife and 7 year old daughter to cruse the caribbean with. A foam core fiberglass design should be the strongest and light enough. Is it possible to get a photo and some desing specs?
Best regards, Stuart Meyers S/Y Red Sky

[denverd0n]

Uh... Considering that he only posted 6 times, and his last post was 4 years ago, I doubt that you're going to hear back from him. You might notice that the last posting on this particular thread (before yours) was 3 years ago.

[woodymr]

Hi all, I finally found what I hope will be my last dinghy purchase! A light weight fiberglass 7' dinghy that will fit on my deck and I plan to use " Dinghy Dogs" to make more flotation. Any one used these? Seems to be the best of both worlds hard and soft!......./)...... '76 Columbia 9.6 #42

[sarafina]

Old thread but a good topic ; -)

We belong to the folding boat school of thinking. Isn't it difficult to maneuver the decks with such an obstacle up there? I just look at that on the deck stowage and wonder how you manage? Do you not use your dingy much when sailing?

If I was doing a hard dinghy it seems like davits would be the only way to go. How do you manage maneuvering such a big object?