On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:45:06 -0400, you wrote: I have always heard that a dinghy should neither be towed nor on davits for passagemaking. And by that, I mean a week passage, not just overnight. Like the US to Bermuda.
That's what I've heard anyway - that you should stow the dinghy somewhere on the deck for those kinds of voyages. >Regarding towing the dinghy: > >I was towing a 310 RIB behind my 46-ft sailboat >on the passage between St Vincent and St Lucia >heading north in December. Conditions were >boisterous, but not outrageous, winds 25-30 knots, >and seas 10-12ft. Probably the biggest seas we've >tried towing the dinghy through, and we very much >should not have been. We have davits, but I was >lazy. > >The tow line was connected to the U-bolt strong >point under the bow, where Avon recommends it. >It was about 15' back. > >We were motorsailing into the wind when I noticed >our speed drop to 3knots. Turns out the dinghy >had flipped. Of course just then we hit a squall >with winds 30-35knots. Try to right a dinghy in >those conditions! I hove-to and cut the engine, >but even the drift was enough to make it impossible >to pull the dinghy up to the boat as it was upside >down with the engine still on the transom. > The only problem we've had with the dinghy was when we put it on the davits with the motor on it. We lost the solar panel that was attached to the top of the davits. >Made the decision to cut it loose, and I still >think it was the right decision, despite the >rather huge hole it made in our bank account >to replace. > >Don't be towing dinghies if you don't have to! > >Ken >S/V Aurora, lying Long Bay, St Thomas, USVI >Hylas 46-41 >_______________________________________________ >Liveaboard mailing list >[email protected] >To adjust your membership settings over the web >http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard >To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > >To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > >The Mailman Users Guide can be found here >http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
