Dinghys

T

tparrent

New member
I've searched through a lot of posts about dinghies but one question keeps popping up that I haven't seen fully answered.

How do you get those dinghies onto the cabin top???

Near term, I don't think I'll have much use for a dink but on my longer planned cruises, I'm sure there will be times I want to paddle or row ashore.

I do not want to deal with the hassle of a small outboard. If I need to go far, I've got the C Dory! The dink would be used for either short trips ashore or for rowing/paddling for a bit of exercise.

A kayak might work fine but putting it up top might be an even bigger problem.

I've never been all that nimble in boarding dinks so something stable is highly preferable!

I'll either be singlehanding or assuming my crew cannot help so I'll need some way to hoist the boat on my own. I also have a full camper back and a radar arch (I'm not making it easy here)

What's your secret?
 
I have inflatable Kayaks. More or less a white water rafting one for my wife, and a Hobie Peddle craft for me. I love the Hobie. With both of them deflated, I can somewhat easily throw them up on the roof, then use a ratchet strap between the hold bars up there to secure them. When solo, which is often, I just carry my Hobie. Again, it's deflated until I decide to use it. Once I inflate it, I can either tow it, or I'll muscle it on top the roof. It's 30 lbs with the seat and paddle drive taken off of it. Since I have a radome on the front of the cabin roof, and then a mast light directly behind that, I still have part of the Kayak hanging over the back. No big deal. The front half is strapped down well. I do have to be more careful when I have the Bimini up, as I've got about a foot rise from the roof top to the top of the bimini. On the 22 I had earlier, Bimini was the same height as the roof, so it worked out ok. Haven't quite perfected the situation with my 25 now and it's higher bimini. I'll let the others talk about their regular dinghys, but from what I've seen, some muscle them up, others have cranes of sorts... Colby
 
Tom, we have the Alaska series 240TDS that weighs about 33lbs. I load it from the front. To do this I first lift the front of the dingy by the rope to the bow rail. I then lift it so the bow rail can be used as a fulcrum to lever it to a point that I can grab the rope handles on the side of the dingy. From there I use my hips to lever it onto the cabin roof much like a hay bale. Deploying it to the water is much the same. This system only works because the radar is mounted on the rear of the cabin.
 
Colby, do you find the Hobie stable to step into?

I just sold my big Hobie (would have been way too heavy to heave up there) but the inflatable looks like a nice option.

Can't beat Hobie quality IMHO
 
Hi Tom. We used an 8' inflatable that we carried on the roof of Wild Blue. Slat floor, reasonably light weight, I could put it up on top by pulling it over the bow rail as Ken describes. We had a radar arch at the back of the boat, and the tubes of the inflatable would fit under that arch. I could heft it up and down from there by myself, but it was even easier with the two of us. We used rapid attach rachet straps on the rails on top to keep it in place (definitely easier with two of us, but I had also that solo).

Both inflatables we had were the RU-260 types from West Marine. Neither rowed great, but they were doable. We generally used ours with a small outboard.

We did try an inflatable double kayak and found that it was not stable for getting on/off the boat. Not the Hobie, which seems better, but heavier. If we didn't use the dinghy, we took solid Kayaks (mine was a Hobie, Joan's was a Pelican) - it was definitely a two person job to get the kayaks on top; holding on to the rail with one hand, lifting the kayak with the other.

When doing the Erie Canal (great cruise, btw; we spent 6 weeks there), there was no need for a dinghy. Pretty much every place else we had the boat, a dinghy was handy, especially when anchoring out.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-mar ... ecordNum=2
 
Colby, do you find the Hobie stable to step into?
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With the Hobie Mirage (I call it the peddle drive), you don't really step into it, but rather on to it. It's more or less like an SUP with a seat. I'm not real coordinated when it comes to standing on anything narrower than a boat! lol. But I find it fairly easy to step off the boat, holding on to the handle bar on the back of the cabin, and then kind of plopping down onto the Hobie's seat. Getting off, I just get a good grip back on the boat and then kind of lift myself back off the Hobie and onto the boat. I've had several others try out my Hobie, getting on it either from my boat, their boat, or a dock. Once on it, it also feels fairly stable. More so than a narrow Kayak you would sit in. At least to me. I don't have any animals to take to shore, and to be honest with you, I got the Hobie as I wanted something to take to shore if I was anchored out, or just to get more exercise and explore smaller coves and back streams that the C-Dory wouldn't fit in to. And perhaps as just something to crawl onto if the boat sunk... But, the C-Dory is such an easy boat to beach, and small enuf to get into shallow water and such, that it's rare I need the Kayak for a way to get from the boat to land. Several times I've taken the Kayak with me, but never even inflated it. And there has really only been a few times I've used it while anchored, to get to another boat or to land. None the less, I'm glad I have it, as I haven't gotten some enjoyment and exercise out of it, exploring some back streams and channels. In fact, the only real trip it came in handy, was on the Inside Passage of Alaska. There were times I would not have been able to beach the boat due to rocky shores or tide, and I still wanted to go hiking and exploring. Colby
 
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Some time I should put this in one sub album. We use the Garhauer David. The larger of the tubing, and add 12" to 18" to the base tubing.

I show one way of pouting on the Tom Cat, without the ball mount on the side deck. I had the cardboard template made in SS by a local welder for about $100 (2007). The bracket is a fishing rod holder bracket and bolted to the side of the cabin house. The upper bracket can be left in place on the cabin lip (as I have on the current 25, or removed when necessary, but using a 7/16" ratchet box wrench which we carry specifically for this. On the 25 and the 22 we just leave the ball mount on the deck, and walk around it--no issue.



The davit can lift 150#, but I would trust my weight at 175#. The purchase is 6:1, so it is easy for Marie to lift the 70#, 9 1/2" air floor dinghy (rated for 10 hp if necessary--we use a Torrqeedo 1003 electric motor or a 3.5 HP 2 stroke Merc gas motor.

We have had lighter dinghies, such as a 6 1/2' and 8' slat floor where we wrestled the boat over the bow and then slid to the roof. However the better ride of an air floor is far batter for both motoring and rowing. We have taken the dinghy ashore on many different type of beaches, including those in BC and AK. It there is wear, then put another sacrificial piece of material on an area showing wear.

The next to last photo shows the davit mounted in its cockpit position, which we did on the 'Tom Cat, 22 and 25. This way if we lift heavy gear, such as a battery or freezer aboard, it is easy. Also could be used for rescue MOB in either position.

I don't have a close up of the davit on the 25 (would be the same for the Tom Cat), but the dinghy is off the boat here, and you can see the davit on the side deck:

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Very nice setup! Looks like it would make hoisting and launching a non-event.

I'll post some pictures of my radar arch tomorrow (it's forward) and see how that might alter the setup. I think I'd be looking at taking some of the weight on the bimini frame. I'll have to see how how sturdy it is.

I like the Torqueedo as an option too. What little rowing I have done, I've enjoyed but it could get old in a hurry on lightweight inflatable.
 
Years ago we used to row Avon inflatables, there was even a "race" at Two Harbors, where you started with the boat in a bag, inflated, launched from the beach, rowed 100 yards, back and put the boat back in the bag. This was in the early 1970's...The first prize was a new Avon inflatable. (the first year). We got so we could do that in slightly less than 10 minutes.....

We are now "elderly" and weight is an issue, so we put the lower unit of the Torqeedo on first, then the battery and finally the handle. It is only 30# so younger folks can easily do it in one pass...Also we had the Davit in the cockpit rigged to move a kicker from the stern of the C Dory bracket to the dinghy along side the boat.

You can mount the davit where you can swing the boat sideways over the top and then slide to the point with aft pontoons under the arch. That is what we do on the current 25. In our case it goes forward, but it can be done with the hoist mounted forward and the boat swung in aft between the Bimini and the forward radar arch. Often the bow of the inflatable is slightly curved upward, and that works well with the overhand over the Bimini.
 
kennharriet":2zyxyrac said:
To do this I first lift the front of the dingy by the rope to the bow rail. I then lift it so the bow rail can be used as a fulcrum to lever it to a point that I can grab the rope handles on the side of the dingy. From there I use my hips to lever it onto the cabin roof much like a hay bale. Deploying it to the water is much the same. This system only works because the radar is mounted on the rear of the cabin.
Click to expand...
I handle the chore in exactly this same way. My dinghy is a bit heavier, but the method Ken describes works well. Just do it slowly since once you and the dinghy are on the foredeck it gets a bit crowded and you don't want to get accidentally pushed over the rail with a shifting dinghy.

BTW, it is surprisingly easy to do this when both boats are in the water. I say that because I use the same method sometimes to load or unload the dinghy from the cabin top when the boat is on the trailer. The method still works but the extra distance makes it quite a bit harder. One reason is that while on the water the dinghy stands off from the CD hull at an angle (45° ?); whereas on land the dinghy hangs straight down.
 
When we first got our dinghy (an 85 lb , aluminum floored type), we inflated/assembled it on top of the cabin while the boat was on the trailer. This turned out to be not as easy as one would think, as standing on the gunwale, we couldn't see into the dinghy from the top to align the aluminum pieces and locking bars. We got through it and off we went with me having a nagging thought of perhaps it may be difficult to get the thing back on the roof of the cabin again.

We docked at a marina the next day and decided to take the dinghy off the roof and use it to do some exploring around the area. No problemo, sliding the thing off the roof and into the water was fairly easy, and so I thought that getting it back up shouldn't offer up to much of a problem....
Well, when it came time to put it onto the roof, it became obvious that it was way too heavy to pull up from the water while standing on the cabin roof. Solution? Get lower! So, I decided that pulling it over the outboard over the stern would make sense as that would fulfill the getting lower part.
So, we wrestled it over the outboard only to discover that when it is more or less in the cockpit, there isn't enough room on both sides for 2 people to get on either side and lift it to the roof. My stern steering station was also in the way. We did manage to get it so the bow of the dinghy was leaning against the aft top of the cabin and the stern of it was more or less supported by the outboard. At that point we were kind of stuck, although we did have a new slant-back cover for the cockpit.

We got it back out of the cockpit and used the dock we were at to get the dinghy up on the roof... a different solution was definitely needed.

After the over-the-outboard method failed miserably, and we were at anchor this time, I tried the over-the-bow-rail method and I have to say, this worked fairly well. I could easily pull the dinghy up nose first and leaned it on the bow rail looking like a miniature space-shuttle launch. Over the bow rail it came and we now had an 85 lb rubber hood ornament. Turning the newly acquired hood ornament around to point it's bow towards the stern of the boat was ok, and Cathy and I on either side could then lift it onto the roof. The problem with this is there isn't a lot of deck space to place one's feet and must be done with good communication between the lifters because if you get it wrong, one or both are going into the drink.

The final solution is the Garhauer davit. I mounted it using a custom bracket similar to what Bob has a template picture in a post above. This thing works great, is made from high-quality materials, and can be folded down and stashed away when not it use. I can now single-handedly get the dinghy from the water to the roof with little danger of going swimming.

Here's a pic that shows the davit post on our 23.

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Chris
 
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I really need to get to know my boat better. I DON'T have a radar arch but I DO have an AC/heat unit on the cabintop!

That complicates dinghy stowage a bit.

A problem to solve on another day.

Tomorrow I will finally get the boat properly winterized - and then head out for a shakedown cruise. Sounds backwards? Yeah, well...
 
That AC unit does complicate the issue. You may be able to put the dinghy upside down over the AC unit--but then you may not be able to use the AC unit.....

another option is to build a SS rack which will keep the dinghy off the AC unit--it can attach to the cabin side rails. Or a rack over the Bimini aft...
 
My version of dingy on a rack.
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It loads over the cockpit gunnels, rolls like doughnut, then stern end up, onto the rack and slide forward onto the cabin roof. Then, I don't need a bimini, and I have a rain cover for the cockpit -- sort of.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

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I have added an album consolidating the photos of the davit. Mike Mosier (Little Joe) was kind enough to send me 8 photos he had taken over several years. One set of 5 is my solo hoisting of the dinghy aboard the 25. The other 3 were with Marie in the dinghy, and my pericarous balance on the side deck of the 25, as we prepared the dinghy for hoisting. The other phots show how I put the base on the deck, the details of the hoist, spreader bar, and use in the cockpit.

Click the photo below to go to the album:

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Huh, different strokes for different folks you might say... I stand on the opposite side of the boat with a bow and stern line attached to the dinghy. Pulling from the opposite side seemed easier to pull, and not as much list on the boat. As the dinghy comes up, I take the slack out of the bow and stern lines, then use them to rotate the dinghy to the top. I also start out with the dinghy's pointy end towards the stern of the CC23. Downside is you wind up with quite a bit of lines to deal with - including the davit's pull line.

Chris
 
Chris, do you launch from the opposite side also? We have not found the heel to be excessive. It can be seen in the photos. I would guess no more than 10* heel or list. We feel we have better control over the dinghy if here is wind.
 
Should have been more nautical and said heel instead of list.... anyway, launching the dinghy I don't use the davit at all, I pull it towards the bow of the boat so it's more or less half off the roof. Then, rotate it and slide it down between the aft part of the bow rail and the cabin roof, letting the aft part of the bow rail take some of the load. The dinghy lands with it's rear pontoons on the water (space-shuttle launch style), then lower the bow of the dinghy onto the water. Always of course keeping a bow line on it.

Seems to work ... :)

Chris
 
I suspect that your dinghy is a little shorter than ours. Not sure if that makes any difference, but age does. We used to wrestle all sorts of craft aboard.

I see your dinghy on the boat behind the truck (nice fiberglass camper shell!). One of my friends left his dinghy on the top and after one tow, the bottom was blown out of the dingy. I am not certain how it was secured. Scrapped the boat.
 
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