[C320-list] Dinghy Hard bottom Aluminum vs. Fiberglass open ended question

[Chris Nichols]

Towing the rib310 is easy - it has a reinforced SS towing eye on the bow with a good backing plate. I have about 80’ of 5/8” polyester with an oversize self locking snap hook spliced tightly to one end and a hard thimble spliced to the other.  For coastal hops I use the snap hook end and for longer offshore I shackle the thimble to the dink. Each end of the warp has a float about 6-8’ from the end so when the dunk on a short tow and we are reversing it does not foul the prop (guess how I learned that trick). 
We make off the warp on one stern cleat and let out enough so the dink is just shy of two waves astern then when on loner trips or bigger seas I prussic another line to the towing warp and make that off on the other cleat. Finally letting out another 4-8 feet of towing warp to centralise the overall drag on the boat. This minimises any yaw tendency.

We do not take the motor off the dink when towing for several reasons:

1. It tow well with the motor locked up (it has a good lock that I back up with a length of timber beneath the leg). (Only 2 stroke 6hp mercury motor so not heavy)

2. manhandling a big weight on the boat carries its own risks and as a family we a reliant on my capacity during our annual cruise

3. The dink is part of our safety plan and having it ready to go in the event of something nasty is reassuring. I could even jump in, switch the towing warp to one of the transom eyes and help pull the yacht out of difficulty in the event the yacht’s engine failed in an awkward manner. 

4. The dink and motor were not expensive and ultimately can be cut free if the tow becomes a problem. 

This has worked for us even in really awful conditions without issue e.g. 
55kts storm cell in nantucket sound (motoring slowly into wind)
Also sailing fast: 6hrs from nantucket to Hyannis outer harbour under full main and decreasing Genoa (yes I should have reefed earlier but surfing a 320 is good fun). 

I do not find it hampers us. Even coming into black dog wharf stern first we simply move the dink to the bow on a short painter before starting the manoeuvre. Much less of a problem that trying to tie up stern-to with a dink in davits. 

Happy towing!



Chris

> On 23 Apr 2018, at 16:47, Tom Grass <tgrass462 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> How does the RIB 310 do when being towed?
> 
> On Mon, Apr 23, 2018 at 8:41 AM, Chris Nichols <cinichols at btinternet.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> We got a mercury 310 rib with 6hp 2cl 2stroke. It is fibreglass but we
>> find it too heavy for our davits so tow it instead.
>> I would go highfield AL if choosing again but we only sail 3 weeks a year
>> so not worth changing.
>> 
>> Chris
>> 
>>> On 23 Apr 2018, at 12:21, John Morrison <sail-ability at sympatico.ca>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> AL clearly the way to go. I have a Walker Bay rib which has the ABS Hull
>> very rugged but for a similar sized AL rib it’s about 30lb heavier. Also I
>> went with the hypalon tubes instead of the PVC. Unless the dinghy is
>> continually in the Sun PVC is just fine. I’ve been looking at the Highfield
>> products and wud buy one of them.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Apr 23, 2018, at 5:03 AM, Scott Westwood <
>> scottwestwood at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> We are starting to do homework on replacing our dinghy once/if  we get
>> davits.
>>>> We are leaning towards hard bottom dinghy and hearing pros and cons of
>> Aluminum vs fiberglass.
>>>> Any thoughts out there?
>>>> So far, we are hearing that Aluminum is lighter.  Not much else yet.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Scott Westwood scottwestwood at bellsouth.net H (919)-362-8538    C
>> (919)-618-7185
>> 
>>