Your choice of which dinghy to carry aboard is pivotal to successful cruising. This is especially true if your cruising kitty is small. A good dinghy is a requirement for frugal cruising. 

Notice that I wrote carry aboard. I never tow a dinghy that I don’t want to lose. Why? Basic seamanship. Squalls approach fast. A swamped or flipped dinghy is a major problem offshore—for you and the environment. Painters can end up in the prop. Personal watercraft run over the tow lines. Towed dinghies get caught on navigational buoys, lobster pots and bridge fenders. 

Towing a tender is fraught with complications. Even a skillful boathandler can get into trouble approaching a slip while towing a dinghy. And being forced into your gyrating dinghy while at sea exposes you to extreme risk. Many a sailor has met Davy Jones just after pulling in their dinghy, casually hopping aboard, ambling aft, and leaning toward their outboard—just as the painter sharply takes up and catapults them over the outboard and into the water.

I’ve known three sailors who have ended up overboard this way. One was in the Lesser Antilles, without anyone in the crew even noticing. There’s one thing that every offshore sailor dreads: watching the transom recede as their vessel sails away. 

Yes, innocent choices can have severe consequences. And we haven’t even talked about the evil dinghies themselves. 

Offshore, dinghies can seem demoniacally possessed, ­especially while running downwind in heavy weather. They can hole your boat or wipe off its rudder or twist up the self-steering gear. I’ve even had dinghies pass me—then stop immediately ahead. Having a rigid-tender ­submarine zigzagging 50 feet beneath the surface like a berserk shark is no fun.  

One more tip: Never tow kids you love astern in the dinghy without an assigned watcher. Do this only with someone else’s bilge brats.

But seriously, the first ­question to think about when choosing a dinghy is: rigid or inflatable? 

I love to row, so we carried a Lawton-designed, fiberglass Graves tender for 15 years aboard Carlotta, our 36-foot Endurance ketch. Rowing is great exercise and a wonderful way to meet your fellow cruisers. It’s quiet and nonpolluting—two nice qualities if you reside on a warming planet like I do. 

If well-constructed, these dinghies are almost ­indestructible. At worst, you might injure one cosmetically, but it is almost impossible to destroy a Tortola-style dinghy, even in boisterous trade winds amid sharp reefs. 

Unfortunately, everything is a compromise. Well-constructed also means heavy. Of course, these heavy, rigid dinghies do more damage than the lighter, softer ones. So, I always tell my passengers to “keep your hands inside the dinghy.” They always comply until, suddenly, they don’t, and jam their hands between the surging dinghy and the immovable dock.

If you row a rigid tender, always remove the oar horns before coming alongside a ­vessel—especially if the ­graceful vessel has long ­overhangs. Dinghies yanked under a counter (or multihull wing) can do major ­damage in an instant during an ­unexpected wake. 

Ash oars are best. Oar leathers aren’t just about style; copper blade tips will greatly extend the oar’s life. Yes, the sailor and the length of the oar are related for best results. Of course, you should learn to feather your oars, and stow them in such a manner that they can’t be yanked into the water by the painter or float away if the dinghy is swamped. (Consider an oar lock through the thwart as well.)

Here’s a sad fact: If a dinghy rows well, it powers poorly. And vice versa. 

Stowage is another factor. Davits are cool on monohulls if you sail in, say, a swimming pool. It is best to stow a dinghy upside down on the foredeck while offshore in monohulls smaller than 70 feet long. We think of our foredeck dinghy as our backup life raft. And we put extra water and bulkier survival gear under it—in suitably tied-in watertight containers. 

Part of seamanship is to, again and again, prepare for the worst while expecting (and, hopefully, experiencing) the best. We’ve never used our dinghy as a life raft (or our life raft as a life raft, for that matter), which is exactly why we prepare it so diligently before each offshore passage. Just in case. 

In blue water, I carry a knife with me at all times (even sleeping), and I have dive knives made of 316 stainless steel in my cockpit and on my foredeck. Think about having to launch your dinghy while sinking, at night, naked and disoriented, after being hit by freighter. Those knives just might come in handy.

Currently, we have a 10.5-foot Caribe RIB for a tender, as we have for the past couple of circumnavigations. With a Tohatsu 9.8-­horsepower outboard (lighter than most and super dependable), the Caribe planes with both of us aboard, along with a case of beer and a full gas tank. This dinghy is small enough to hoist easily into our davits while coastal cruising in light-air venues such as Southeast Asia, or to bring on deck if we venture offshore. 

While initially expensive, the Caribes generally give us 12 years or two circumnavigations. This makes them quite affordable. How do we get twice the longevity that the average cruiser experiences? We always keep our tender protected by a Sunbrella cover, and we are careful where and for how long we leave it. 

The Achilles’ heel of modern inflatables isn’t abrasion; it’s puncture. Keep the tender away from sharp objects. I’ve poked a small hole from a nail sticking out of a dock, and my wife, Carolyn, barely touched a piling with a sole oyster that made a 6-foot slit in a ­dinghy’s starboard pontoon (that took three laborious attempts to fix). 

Sadly, some popular ­anchorages are regularly visited by organized dinghy thieves. An older guy, in his 20s, piles a bunch of local kids into his boat, gives them each a knife, and drops them all into the water. The kids cut the dinghy painters as they swim through the anchorage at 3 a.m. The older guy eventually collects all the drifting ­dinghies and swimming kids. 

We had our dinghy out of the water in South America when this happened in one anchorage, and were the only anchored cruisers with a dinghy left come morning. 

Now, about folding ­dinghies: They fold well. At least that’s what the guy with all the dripping cameras around his neck told me after I fished him out of the water off St. Barts. 

And while I love T-tops, ­center-consoles and fast boats, I keep my own dinghy as simple and light as possible. Sadly, too heavy and too light are both problems. When I had a lightweight 2-horsepower outboard on my inflatable, it would flip so often that I painted the outboard with antifouling inside the case. (To avoid this problem, pull the transom plug at anchor during a sudden squall. The inflatable dinghy won’t sink and will never flip, even in a gale.)

Another bonus of inflatables is that other yachties don’t cringe like they do if you approach their boat in a rigid tender, especially one lacking a soft rub rail. 

I was amazed in Western Samoa to have a fellow Virgin Islander come up and rail-cling while his heavy wooden tender banged repeatedly into my delicate gelcoat. When I said something like, “Careful, don’t allow your dinghy to hit my boat,” he just grinned, took another swig of his bottle of rum, and replied: “Don’t worry, Fatty. My rail is air-dried oak and through-bolted. Not a problem.”

Sure, for him.

One of the reasons we love our inflatable so much is because it saves us money while providing us with so much peace and tranquility. Marinas can be expensive, noisy and hot, so we almost never tie up. However, the anchorage closest to a marina is often also crowded. Our lightweight dinghy and its powerful engine allow us to anchor amid nature a couple of miles away, and yet have all the benefits of civilization when we want and need them. (We also have good ground tackle, a stout companionway locking system, and a loud burglar-alarm system on the main boat.)

It’s great to be able to sail a couple of miles to the inlet, catch a hundred pounds of grouper and snapper, and sail back again without raising a sweat.

Sailing tenders are another option, especially if you spend four months in deserted Chagos, as we did. It’s great to be able to sail a couple of miles to the inlet, catch a hundred pounds of grouper and snapper to share with the entire anchorage, and sail back again without raising a sweat. Or making noise. Or polluting in a pristine paradise. 

Alas, everything is a compromise. Rigs, a rudder, sails, and centerboards all take up room and cost money. I love sailing tenders dearly, but the confusion and weight of the gear doesn’t help you while passagemaking. Having clean, clear decks is a safety advantage offshore, especially in a breeze. 

On the plus side, there’s no denying how romantic sailing tenders are. If we have long-term guests aboard, we often disappear for an hour or two because (we tell them) the wind dropped on the other side of the island.

One more thing: If you haul out your dinghy each evening, as we do, it probably will never be stolen or acquire too much growth. However, it you leave it in the water, the clingy barnacles will certainly discover it. Sure, you can paint it with antifouling, but then, on passage, you, your sails and your sheets will gradually turn blue (as happened to us). 

If you don’t paint it, you’ll have to take it to the beach regularly, empty it, remove the outboard, and flip the dinghy over to scrape it. That’s not the bad part; the bad part is that it is easy to damage the RIB’s fabric while cleaning it. We’ve learned this the expensive way. Thus, we hoist at sundown, a nightly ritual in my life for 63 years now. 

The bottom line is that a proper tender, properly tended to, will save you money and time as it brings you joy. Seamanship is important. The wrong tender in the wrong sea at the wrong time at the wrong end of a tow rope can cost a life.

The choice is yours.

The post On Watch: Tender Feelings appeared first on Cruising World.

Aboard our 31-foot Hunter, Ragtime, our dinghy was the unsung hero of our cruising escapades. It was always the first thing we deployed upon arrival to a destination, and it was the last thing we packed away before we departed. It was our family Ford, our Honda for the harbor, our Miata of the marina (I’ll see myself out…). 

To the untrained eye, a dinghy might appear to be no more than a floating dock cart to tote provisions, pets and people. But as cruisers well know, it’s so much more. 

A dinghy is an all-access pass to exploring new coves and reaching short-water fishing spots. It’s a recon vessel for scouting surrounding depth, seafloor terrain and on-shore amenities. And, of course, it’s an escape pod should all hell break loose. A dinghy also provides endless amounts of fun, and even some boathandling education, for the kiddos. 

Ragtime’s dinghy was a 9-foot-6-inch Achilles with a 4 hp Mercury outboard. For 13-year-old me, it allowed a real taste of freedom. We named it Cascade (after Scott Joplin’s jubilant rag “The Cascades”). I can still feel the elation of hopping in the dink after dropping the hook in a new port of call and then roaming around the harbor, checking out neighboring boats, scouring the shallows for marine life. When there were no other boats around and the no-wake zones approved of it, I’d tear off on plane in a puff of sea spray to an imagined finish line across the bay. 

Our Cascade was state-of-the-art back in the ’90s, but it’s a dinosaur compared with offerings from the modern-day dinghy domain. Today, hybrid designs rule, combining the benefits of inflatable and rigid-­hull boats. Lighter-weight materials have enhanced ­portability and improved fuel efficiency. Some manufacturers offer sail-­conversion kits for multipurpose use. (Really, who doesn’t miss dinghy sailing?) Inflation systems have been enhanced; ­modular ­options for seating and stowage are often available; and electric propulsion has staked a serious claim in the power ­department.

 When the time comes to ­replace your dinghy or buy your first one, these four standouts in the market are fit to serve any mothership between 25 and 45 feet.   

Lammina AL 9.5

If strength and durability are atop your checklist, then the AB Lammina AL 9.5 is worth a look. AB’s line of marine-­grade aluminum-­hull ­inflatables comes with AWS certification, Orca 820 Hypalon fabric, and marine-grade aluminum and Axalta powder coating. The Superlight models, available at lengths of 9.5 feet and smaller, have a 0.09-inch-thick aluminum hull and are intended for boats with lighter-capacity davits. The hulls can resist abrasions from rocky shores, coral and sandy beaches, and the design cuts through wakes and chop with minimal pounding, resulting in a dry, stable ride. Check out the well-conceived bow locker and its capacity for a 6-gallon portable fuel tank.

Cadet Series

Compact and easy to stow in a cockpit locker, Zodiac’s Cadet series tenders hold their own against larger models. The progressive-diameter buoyancy tube design provides marked stability. Cadets have a longer life span and a high safety level because of a welded float closure and a glued overlap. Owners can choose among several versions. The Aero line, with an inflatable-air sole, is the lightest. The high-performance Aluminum line, with an aluminum sole, has an inflatable keel for quick planing and improved maneuverability. Fitting the slatted sole in the Roll Up line involves inflating buoyancy tubes. Stowage is a cinch; this tender folds up into a carrying bag, with no need to remove the slats.

Classic (CL) 310

In 10 years of manufacturing tenders, the 310 has carved out its niche as Highfield’s bestselling tender size—ideal for as many as five people and up to a 20 hp engine. The standard bow on the CL 310 can stow a 6.5-gallon fuel tank or other equipment. Construction includes 2.5 mm thick, powder-coated marine-­grade aluminum, coupled with tubes made of 1100-dtex coated fabric and a full-length keel guard. The optional FCT helm console forward gives the line a pickup-truck quality for long-range cruisers looking to haul gear and groceries. Total weight with the console and a 20 hp motor is about 400 pounds wet, which makes the 310 a solid, stable ride and puts it on a lot of davits. Highfield also makes an Ultralite line for cruisers who need a lighter platform that’s simpler to manage on deck.

Portland Pudgy

If lifesaving situations are high on your mind, then consider the Portland Pudgy. With or without the inflatable lifeboat canopy, the Pudgy is a dynamic lifeboat. It can’t deflate, and it can be sailed, rowed, or motored to safety. The Pudgy is constructed with rotation-molded, high-density compounded polyethylene (the same material used for top-quality whitewater kayaks). It’s stable, difficult to capsize, and easy to right. Closed-cell foam under the sole makes it “unsinkable,” according to the manufacturer. As for recreational use, the Pudgy is a fun family tender, a safe and sea-friendly sailing dinghy, and a great all-around rowboat/motorboat. Under sail, it can take surprisingly rough seas and heavy winds. Choose between a gaff or square-top Marconi sail. Every piece of equipment designed for the Pudgy can be stowed in the interior stowage chambers via five hatches. The Pudgy is US Coast Guard-approved as a dinghy for four people with a 2 hp or 3 hp motor.

The post Standout Dinghies to Bring Along on the Adventure appeared first on Cruising World.

There is an old saying in the Abacos: “Some people, most mules and all dinghies are nothin’ but trouble.” I learned to believe in this saying during one of my early charters in the British Virgin Islands. We were towing a hard-bottom dinghy from Tortola to Norman Island. Everything was fine until someone asked, “Hey, where’s the dinghy?”

The tender had been at the end of a long painter made of yellow braided polypropylene, which the charter company used because it supposedly floats, making it harder for bareboaters to wrap it around their props. The fact is that this material is also one of nature’s slipperiest substances. As we slapped and splashed along, it was slipping off the cleat until it was gone.

Luckily, we were able to sail back and find the tender before it became an embarrassingly expensive addition to our charter bill. But here’s the thing I particularly remember: Once we had the retrieved tender in tow, it tried to get away again. We put that yellow poly line on the stern cleat, but, as I watched it, it would slip out an inch at a time. I ended up throwing a bowline in the extra line around a stanchion, just to make sure it didn’t get away.  

The most dangerous moments on your bareboat charter are not going to be tiptoeing through a shallow harbor entrance or dealing with a passing squall. They’re going to be with your tender: getting in or out, beaching it, hoisting it out of the water. 

Here’s a look at some ­hard-won wisdom about dealing with tenders.

At Your Charter Checkout

If you have a choice, always ask for a RIB. This type of boat combines the best of ­inflatables and hard-bottom tenders: a solid bottom for beaching and a soft side to protect your hull. 

Always—always—start the outboard before leaving the charter base, and make sure the motor is spitting out water. Ask the checkout person if there are any idiosyncrasies with the engine: Employees know this stuff and can save you grief later. Ask about the proper fuel mix too. Some outboards need an oil/fuel mixture. And make sure the fuel tank is full.

Other gear you should have in your tender includes a painter long enough for towing, an anchor (probably a folding grapnel style), oars or paddles, a bailer, a safety kill switch for the outboard that you hook to your wrist or jacket, and a dive flag to alert other boats that you are snorkeling.

Launching the Tender

Modern charter boats often have sophisticated systems that let you launch and retrieve a tender with the touch of a button. Still, always hang on to the painter when launching, or have it secured to the boat. Once you remove the hoisting clips, the tender can skitter away very quickly. And, once you’ve removed the lines from the hoisting system, clip them someplace secure. Otherwise (and I guarantee this), they’ll bang you hard on the forehead when you aren’t watching.

Boarding the ­Tender

The first order of business is to secure the tender solidly, which means using bow and stern lines to keep it at the mothership’s stern. Trying to step into a tender, even from a water-level platform, is asking for trouble. Leave your ego for somewhere else: squat, scoot, kneel, crawl or find a way to slither aboard safely. Graceful? No. Dry and safe? Yes.

Using the Tender

Too many people get aboard, cast off, and start the outboard—in that order. They are the ones often paddling upwind to get back to the boat when the outboard doesn’t start. Start the outboard first, then cast off.

One absolute rule for using your tender: Don’t drink and dink. Tenders are squirrelly enough without you adding to the silliness. 

Before you leave your bareboat, always make sure the engine clamps are tight, because an afternoon of being towed can cause them to loosen. Make sure you have the oars or paddles aboard, check the fuel level, and, if you’re going to a beach, have the outboard ready to tilt up. Some outboards have complicated (and finger-pinching) tilt locks that you don’t want to leave until the last moment.

Tender Sense

Before you leave your bareboat, even if you think it’s only for a quick trip, turn on some lights. This will make finding your mothership easier on a dark night. I know one crew who ended up sleeping on the beach because they couldn’t find their boat. I always take a handheld VHF radio on my bareboat charters, just for use in the tender. If the outboard dies, you can call for help. And, if you’re letting the kids take the tender, they can check in with you on a regular basis.

Nonswimmers, or anyone nervous, should always wear a life jacket. Even if you’re not wearing them, they still have to be aboard. You don’t want to receive an expensive citation for failing to have PFDs. 

Never start the outboard unless you have the safety kill switch firmly around your wrist or snapped to your jacket. Don’t even think about what a turning prop can do to someone in the water. Wear the lanyard.

Beaching

Getting your tender onto a beach safely is a test of your seamanship. If there are ­breakers, find another way. You may be Surfer Joe, but a tender is a lot more unwieldy than any surfboard. Find a quiet cove, or anchor offshore and swim ashore.  

Forget about staying dry. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve arrived on shore bone-dry. There are two popular ways to get the tender ashore. One is to make a run at the shore and, as you get close, tilt the outboard up to protect the prop. With the bow high (passengers leaning aft), you’ll slide onto the beach, and someone at the bow can jump out to hold the boat. The other way is to get close, shut off the engine, step into knee-deep water, and slide the tender onto the beach.  

Either way, don’t let ­anyone get between tender and beach. A sudden swell can send the tender into their legs, knocking them down and even breaking bones. Until you get the tender solidly on dry sand, treat it like a wild animal that might turn on you.

And once you’re at the beach? Tie your tender to something solid. If there isn’t a big rock or a tree nearby, use your anchor and set it solidly. There is this thing called “tide.” When it comes in, it loves to take tenders away.  

Towing

Aside from the warning about slippery yellow lines, towing should be straightforward. First, remove all the gear (snorkels, masks, etc.) from the tender. Then, let out the tender to a point where it is riding comfortably behind the mothership.  

When you are starting to maneuver, such as dropping anchor or picking up a mooring buoy, assign one person to do nothing but be the Tender Tender. Take in the painter so that you won’t suck it into the props. The Tender Tender can move it from side to side if you’re docking.  

Putting the Tender to Bed

Tenders can be like friendly pets in the middle of the night: They like to nuzzle their master, usually on the hull right next to where you’re sleeping. 

One solution is to tie a ­bucket off the stern of the tender, to encourage it to keep its distance. Another option, if there is room, is to tie the ­tender to your mooring buoy and then drop back for separation.

Tenders: We can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em. Common sense and some precautions make them a lot easier to have around. 

Award-winning journalist Chris Caswell is editor and publisher of chartersavvy.com. He has been bareboat chartering for more than five decades. 

The post Managing the Dinghy While on Charter appeared first on Cruising World.

When I tell friends that I’m going off sailing, really, I should add, “and motoring,” because that’s what I’ll be doing with our dinghy to reach our sailboat out on its mooring. And often, the first thing we do after sailing to a new anchorage is launch the inflatable with its 4 hp gas-powered engine to putt around and explore. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all in on sailing, but I live for those little joyrides to nowhere too. 

But even on a good day, our Suzuki outboard requires multiple pulls to start, especially when it’s cold, or if I put it away after running the carburetor’s bowl dry (I always do) to avoid it turning into a bowl of E10 jelly. And then there’s the racket our “quiet four-stroke” makes, and the smell of exhaust fumes when the beast roars to life.

Weight’s a factor too. At 60 or so pounds all gassed up, it feels a lot like work to lift the outboard in and out of the back of a pickup, schlep it up and down a slippery, algae-covered boat ramp, or swing it on and off the dinghy’s transom and onto a dock. Don’t ask how much fun it is to stand in a bouncing inflatable while lifting an outboard or lowering it from the aft pushpit or deck of an also-bouncing sailboat.

So, I was intrigued this past fall when I got an opportunity to see what’s up with the current line of small electric outboards that are readily available through online outlets and marine stores. I reached out to distributors for Torqeedo, ­ePropulsion and relative newcomer Temo, all of which had models on display during the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland. My idea: Borrow dinghy-size models from all three manufacturers and take them for a spin to get a feel for how each model works.

Before diving into the details, consider these benefits of going electric. The first is obvious: These motors eliminate the need to carry gas or oil on board. Sure, they need to be recharged, but at home, you can plug them into a 110-volt charger overnight and they’ll be ready to go. And all three have optional 12-volt DC power cords if access to shore power is a problem.

And they are quiet. That’s the benefit I marveled at most: how relaxing it was to cruise along in the inflatable, hearing only the gurgle of water and the wind. At one point while riding with the Torqeedo in open water, I was fiddling with the throttle and watching the motor’s control screen instead of paying attention to my whereabouts. All of a sudden, I was surrounded by a gaggle of geese that must not have heard me coming. With a whoosh, the water all around us churned as dozens of them took flight at once. What a sight to see!

Two of the motors, the Torqeedo Travel 1103 S and the ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo, are at first glance fairly similar, and loosely resemble traditional outboards. Each has three components: a lithium battery, a control tiller, and a shaft containing a motor and propeller at the lower end. The battery and shaft each weigh about 20 pounds, which makes them easy to handle separately; assembled, which takes a matter of minutes, each weighs about 40 pounds. 

The third motor, the Temo 450, is radically different. It resembles, oh, I don’t know, a sculling oar with a propeller rather than a blade on its in-water end, or maybe it’s reminiscent of a long-tail engine on a workboat in Southeast Asia. The lighter-weight Temo didn’t match the power or range of the other two—and to be fair, it wasn’t supposed to—but it did its intended job to perfection, was simple to use and, stored in its carrying case, was light enough to sling over my shoulder for a walk or bike to the dock or beach.

With the three motors unpacked, charged and ready, one day in early November I set off for the Boston Sailing Center with a photographer and sailing buddy in tow to borrow a late-model West Marine 8-foot inflatable and a workboat to document my informal sea trials. Here’s what I found.

ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 Evo

The Evo, manufactured in China, is intended for use on dinghies, small runabouts and sailboats. For sailboats, it’s available with a long shaft, and it is unique in that it has hydrogeneration capability. I didn’t get to see the Evo’s regeneration while sailing, but according to the company, if the engine is left tilted down under sail, the spinning propeller will generate power once the boat is sailing at just over 3 knots. As long as the boat holds that speed or goes faster, the Evo’s battery will continue to recharge until it reaches 90 percent. 

When used as a sailboat’s auxiliary engine, the motor can be locked and prevented from turning by using a simple plastic pin. In close quarters, or when mounted on a tender, the pin can be removed easily to steer using the motor. The Evo is also available with a remote-control throttle, another nice touch when the motor’s mounted on a sailboat (or on an inflatable with a console) because it saves reaching back to adjust the throttle and shift between forward and reverse.

The Evo I used had a tiller. Twist its handle to the right, you go forward; center it for neutral; twist left, you go backward. Immediately. With all the electric motors, there is not the hesitation that you experience when you shift a gas engine into gear. The torque of all three motors was instantly apparent, a reality that took some getting used to in close quarters around the dock.

Evo says that its engine has a peak speed of 5.4 knots at wide open throttle, which means drawing 1,000 watts of power. At that speed and power setting, the lithium battery’s range would be right around 6.8 nautical miles with a run time of one hour and 15 minutes.

In practice, in about 5 knots of wind and small waves, the top speed I saw was 4.2 knots. At that speed and power setting, the motor’s digital screen told me that I had a run time of just over an hour.

At half throttle, or about 500 watts, my SOG was 3.3 knots, with the engine showing a run time of about two hours and 20 minutes. In putt-along mode, making 2.3 knots and using about 100 watts, estimated battery life jumped to nine hours. 

Battery life, run time or time ­remaining, and power consumption are all viewed on the tiller’s digital display screen. 

Of the three, the Evo was the most difficult to set up right out of the box. That was primarily because a threaded pin used to lock the tiller in place, called the handle shaft, has reverse threads, which wasn’t intuitive, nor was it mentioned in the user manuals. Once we figured that out, though, I was able to assemble and disassemble the engine without a hitch. A note on the user manuals: The one that came with the engine was English only; online, I found a digital version in English and German.

To get going, I used the screw clamps to attach the Evo’s shaft to the transom, then installed the tiller and locked it into place with the handle shaft. Trial and error quickly taught me that it was better to connect the tiller’s control cable to the shaft before locking in the tiller or else it was difficult to see the connection point. Installing the battery was as simple as lining up two tabs and slots, and then dropping it into place, where it’s held by a push-button lock. All that was left was to attach the power cable to the battery and place the magnetic kill switch on the tiller, and we were ready to go. (All three engines had magnetic kill switches on lanyards that could be worn around the wrist to prevent crew-overboard injuries.)

If assembled off the dinghy, the Evo’s tiller will fold down to make the motor easier to carry. Or, underway, it can be tilted up if the driver desires.

Mounted on the Sailing Center’s 8-foot inflatable, it had a good deal of prop walk at full throttle, and I had to compensate by turning the motor, so it was quite a bit off-center. At lower speeds, this effect went away, and it wasn’t nearly as noticeable when I used the motor later on my own larger inflatable that has an inflatable V built into the bow to make it track better. Slowing to about two-thirds power solved this problem.

I ran the motor hard for an hour; with 10 minutes of battery life left, a beep alerted me to the low charge. Even after the display screen showed zero battery life, the motor continued to run for several more minutes before shutting down. In normal use, I’d have heeded the warning, of course, and headed to shore or back to the big boat with plenty of time left on the clock. Instead, I ended up rowing ashore.

Price (online): starting at $3,100
Spare battery: $1,150

Temo 450

The French-made Temo was the simplest of the motors to set up and run. It came with two oarlock-style mounting brackets—one that could be permanently bolted onto a transom and the other with a single screw clamp that allows it to be moved from boat to boat. 

The Temo weighs just under 11 pounds, so it’s easy to lift off the dock and install on the hinged pin on the mounting bracket. It gets secured there with a plastic nut. And just for insurance, a flotation collar can be put on the motor so that it won’t sink if it should slide overboard. The company also offers a locking mechanism that resembles a pair of handcuffs, should you frequent busy dinghy docks.

The motor’s shaft length is adjustable, from 4 feet, 3 inches to 5 feet, 6 inches, so you have options on where to sit. To get going, simply pop the magnetic kill switch into its receptacle by the handle, lower the prop into the water, and squeeze the trigger to go forward. For reverse, push the button on the end of the handle grip at the same time you pull the trigger, and back you go. It’s all pretty simple.

Underway, it took a little playing around to find the optimal depth for the propeller, which is housed in a cage at the end of the shaft. The ideal inclination, according to the company, is 30 degrees. To turn, you sweep the shaft from side to side. But for sharp turns, I found that it worked better to push the prop deeper so that the shaft could twist below the end of the inflatable’s tube.

With this engine mounted on the Sailing Center’s inflatable, I noted a top speed of 3 knots. Later, on my own inflatable, SOG topped out at right around 2.7 knots. At that speed, the battery life is about an hour. That might not be enough if you have long distances to cover, but it should be fine for getting from shore to the boat and back, or for a cocktail cruise in a snug harbor. Recharging with shore power takes about five hours, and there is a 12-volt charging option as well.

Unlike the two other engines with digital display screens showing battery charge, time/distance and other information, the Temo displays only approximate battery life, using four lighted boxes. When the last one goes dark, a red border around them lights up to warn you that you have 10 minutes left. Again, pretty simple. As the juice ran out with only a couple of minutes left, speed was reduced to about 2 knots, something to remember when gauging when to head for home.

Temo makes manuals available online in English and most European languages.  

Price (online): starting at $1,700
Spare battery: N/A

Torqeedo Travel 1103 S

German manufacturer Torqeedo has been in the electric-marine-engine business since 2005. The company offers electric inboard and outboard motors that can power vessels ranging from fishing kayaks to larger powerboats. The Travel 1103 is the larger of its two portable small-boat models, and weighs 38 pounds when assembled. It’s intended for use on boats up to 1.5 tons.

Out of the box, the Travel was the­ easiest to assemble, and underway, its digital display provided the most information. I found it the most intuitive to operate.

The three-piece motor is roughly the same size and offers the same top power
—1,000 watts—as the ePropulsion Evo. Assembly is also similar. Once the shaft has been clamped to the transom, the tiller is inserted into one bracket atop the shaft, and then the lithium battery is attached and locked in place with a plastic pin. A power cord and control cable are then attached and secured by threaded plastic covers. 

A word about the cables: Both the Torqeedo and ePropulsion motors use multiwire cables that have fittings with pins that need to be inserted correctly into receptacles. An owner will want to take care connecting and disconnecting them to make sure the pins are not damaged because this would take the engine out of service until repairs could be made or a replacement delivered. Care also needs to be taken to make sure the caps go on straight so that threads aren’t damaged.

Underway, I found it easy to toggle through the options offered on the Torqeedo’s display screen, and I appreciated that the tiller houses an internal GPS that enables it to provide readouts of range of mileage at present current draw and ­battery life remaining, as well as speed. Range can also be read in terms of time remaining at current speed. Knowing both time and distance has obvious benefits. One can estimate the length of a dinghy trip, say, to another cove or harbor, and know ahead of time if there will be enough power to make it that far at a given speed (the faster you go, the shorter the range).

As battery life wanes, the Torqeedo emits warning beeps and the display flashes a message of “drive slowly” when the battery charge falls to 30 percent; beeps also sound at 20 percent and 10 percent.

With the engine mounted on the Sailing Center’s inflatable, I got a top speed of 4.3 knots, with a range of 3.1 nautical miles. Later, with the Travel mounted on my own inflatable, I saw similar speed and range figures running wide open. By contrast, at a miserly 20 watts, boat speed was 1.1 knots, but battery life jumped to 37 hours. Running with the throttle wide open, I noticed a good deal of vibration in the tiller and also felt it in the inflatable tubes. Cutting to half throttle, 500 watts, eliminated this, and improved battery life immensely to an hour and a half (battery was no longer at full charge), though we still cruised along at 3.6 knots.

For use with a sailboat, like the Evo, the Travel includes a plastic plug to prevent the motor from turning, and there is a remote throttle that’s available too. Engine trim on both motors can be adjusted by moving a pin on their mounting brackets, similar to a traditional gas outboard.

Last, I found Torqeedo’s print manual and online documentation to be quite thorough, with text available in a number of languages.

Price (online): starting at about $2,950
Spare battery: $1,000

Parting Thoughts

One afternoon, at my local boat ramp, I got to talking with a lobsterman as I assembled the Torqeedo Travel on our inflatable. Most of the lobstermen in town use heavy wooden skiffs and modest-size outboards to go from shore to boat and back daily. The relatively lightweight Evo and the ability to come and go without bringing along a gas tank intrigued him.

Indeed, many of the sailors I know have similar habits. They motor out to their sailboat, leave the dinghy tied to the mooring, and then motor back in to go home when the day’s over. The distance traveled by outboard is short, a few hundred yards, and the time spent running the motor is brief, well less than a half-hour.

If that’s the type of sailing you plan to do, then even the Temo would meet your needs. Heck, keep the speed down, and you could even do a little harbor tour on your way back in. An hour, after all, is a long time to sit in a small inflatable. 

The two larger motors—the Travel and Evo­—would more than cover your needs, even if you were to tow the dinghy to an overnight destination and use it to putt to the beach and back or into town for dinner.

As part of my informal sea trials, after I ran all the electric motors on the Sailing Center’s inflatable, I mounted one of the Center’s 2.5 hp Mercury gas outboards on the boat and took it for a spin. As I choked the engine and pulled the cord a few times to get the engine started, I was ­immediately reminded that with the electric motors, I could step aboard, put the kill switch in place, turn the tiller (or pull the trigger on the Temo), and I was off. For the record, you can find a Mercury 2.5 hp engine online for about $900; a 3.5 hp Tohatsu runs about $1,120. 

With the Mercury wide open (and ­whining), I read 4.6 knots on my nav app—not a whole lot better than I saw with the Evo or Travel, and the ride sure was a whole lot noisier.

Even for long-distance cruisers, the time may be here to ditch the gas motor. Many boats have battery banks (and gensets or solar arrays) designed for power-hungry devices. All of the electrical motors have 12-volt cords available for recharging with DC power, along with their own solar chargers as well. 

CW Gear and Electronics Editor Mark Pillsbury is a die-hard sailor who has owned a number of sailboats, including a Sabre 34, on which he lived for 15 years. He also served as a judge for CW’s 2023 Boat of the Year contest.  

The post Gear Test: Electric Motors for Dinghy Engines appeared first on Cruising World.

When you think about all the skills a cruiser needs to know, your mind likely goes to sailing, maintaining and outfitting the cruising boat. But the dinghy? Probably an afterthought.

As it turns out, there’s a lot to know about the little boat that many cruisers equate to their car. American Sailing is releasing a new book, Going Ashore Made Easy, to educate new cruisers and charterers about all things dinghy, including selection, operation, and maintenance. 

The book, which is scheduled for release in September 2022, is written by cruising veterans and ASA sailing instructors Andy and Lisa Batchelor. The Batchelors have contributed to four other textbooks for ASA, but this is the first time that dinghies and outboards have taken center stage. “Once we started researching the topic,” Andy says, “we discovered that there is a distinct lack of information out there.” And from their years as sailing and cruising instructors, the Batchelors know that there is definitely a need to cover this topic in depth. 

With that in mind, Going Ashore Made Easy was developed to serve as a basis and textbook for the Dinghy and Outboard endorsement for the ASA and the Recreational Powerboating Association. It will also be appreciated by anyone who is in the market for a new dinghy, whether its intended use is as a tender to a cruising boat or as a stand-alone vessel. This essential part of good seamanship is a perfect addition to the ASA’s lineup of certifications and online courses that take sailors from their first time at the tiller to skippering a vessel on an offshore passage.

Going Ashore Made Easy is divided into five topic areas: Evolution of Modern Dinghies, Dinghy Operations, Uses and Activities for Dinghies, Secure Transit and Storage, and Care and Maintenance. Let’s take a quick look at each section.

Evolution of Modern Dinghies

Although some sailors might prefer the simplicity of a small rowing dinghy, cruisers now have an abundance of options for their tenders—including a relative newcomer to the market: carbon-fiber dinghies—and how to propel them. The Batchelors take a comprehensive look at what’s available, weighing costs, benefits and, most important, intended use and storage. “Whether you’re storing the dinghy on deck, on davits or folded up in a locker, these things all need to be thought about beforehand because it will impact your choices,” Lisa notes.

In years past, dinghy propulsion was basically a choice between rowing or a small, two-stroke gasoline outboard. Not so anymore. These days options also include four-stroke engines, electric outboards (“which are great, but consider how you’re going to charge the batteries,” Andy advises) and even propane-powered outboards.

Dinghy Operations

The majority of accidents that occur on charters happen aboard dinghies, so it is crucial that charter guests—and all boaters—know how to safely operate the tender. This section covers the gamut from boarding the boat, mounting and running the outboard, steering, docking, anchoring and running at night, as well as U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements. Also covered are beach landings and launchings, which, Andy notes, even experienced cruisers can struggle with.

Uses and Activities for Dinghies

Your boat’s tender can be used for so much more than just trips ashore. The dinghy can be everything from a reconnaissance boat to check out a harbor entrance before bringing the big boat through to a dive or fishing boat. If something, say a propulsion or steering failure, were to happen to your cruising boat, this section even describes ways to safely and effectively use the dinghy as a towboat.

Secure Transit and Storage

Picture this: You’re ready to head back to the boat after a fun evening in town. You get to the dinghy dock…but your tender isn’t there. Or you’re enjoying a cup of coffee in the cockpit in the morning, and notice that the dinghy is no longer tied up astern. Now what? Where to put the dinghy while you are underway, how to keep it secure on a beach or when tied to the boat or dinghy dock, and how to prevent theft are skills that are frequently overlooked—or worse, learned the hard way. Going Ashore Made Easy covers all of this and more, offering valuable tips and insight for all boaters.

Care and Maintenance

While many of the skills covered in this book can be mastered in time if you use a dinghy frequently, this section, which covers both the boat and the outboard, turns Going Ashore Made Easy into a true reference book. Care and maintenance covers everything cruisers need to know about keeping their dinghy in good working order—and how to troubleshoot when things go wrong. “Years ago, many people had small-engine experience,” Andy says. “Nowadays, that’s not necessarily the case, so we really cover in detail all the parts of outboard engines and how to care for them.”

Based in Los Angeles, the ASA is the world’s largest sailing education organization with more than 400 schools located in 27 countries. Whether you’re ready for your first sailing lesson or want to add to your skillset with, say, a course on marine weather or celestial navigation, the ASA has something for just about every sailor. Visit the company’s website at asa.com to order Going Ashore Made Easy or any of their acclaimed sailing textbooks, take an online course, or find an ASA sailing school near you.

The post Going Ashore Made Easy appeared first on Cruising World.

Starting April 1, the US Coast Guard will begin to enforce the use of engine cut-off switches for anyone operating a motor vessel less than 26 feet. The move comes after well-publicized accidents in which injuries occurred when operators of small powerboats fell overboard and their boats continued out of control and struck other boats or people in the water, including the driver.

Typically, cut-off stitches are located close to the helm or mounted on the arm of an outboard, and they have a tether that needs to be attached to the driver. Should the operator go overboard or fall, the engine is turned off immediately. Wireless electronic cut off-switches are also available. Information about the law and how it applies to a vessel you will be operating can be found at uscgboating.org.

The post Engine Cut-Off Switch Use Soon Mandatory appeared first on Cruising World.

This story originally appeared on Sailing Totem.

Park your car at the supermarket, lock it and head in to shop. It’s reflexive for most of us. How does that translate to boat life?

There are common precautions for dinghy security, too. But just like locking your car on land, whether those are taken depends on your location and habits. I’ve lived in places where I could be in picking up ingredients for dinner with our car windows down and keys in the ignition. In others, secure parking wasn’t enough to mollify concerns of returning to the car and finding a smashed window.

It’s not dissimilar as a cruiser. In some anchorages it’s fine to leave the dinghy trailing behind Totem secured only by its painter. In others, we’d lift it up high with davits and click multiple locks into place. Regions vary: in the Caribbean, we were vigilant about lifting and locking. In Mexico, we rarely lift and lock – only in “known problem” locales.

It’s helpful to understand why dinghies can be a target for theft. In some places, it’s opportunistic joyriding. More commonly, the objective is the outboard, to be turned into cash. A dinghy is hard to hide. From a stolen dinghy, the outboard is taken and the dinghy ditched—often recovered from a beach or mangroves.

The mantra for dinghy security in areas where dinghies are a target for theft is “lift it, lock it, or lose it.” This breaks down into a few key steps to take to maintain dinghy security. None of them are insurmountable by a truly determined thief. The goal is to be the more challenging target, and have your dinghy left alone in favor of easier picking.

Lifting the Dinghy

Hoisting a dinghy out of the water is probably the biggest deterrent to theft. Davits make this easy. If you don’t have davits, lift it with a spinnaker halyard and secure amidships against the hull flush with deck level.

We used this method for our first year or so of cruising, because the davit arms are short for the transom angle. This requires the dinghy to get pushed aft while hoisted. The halyard technique worked, but check for line chafe. Our polyester double-braid cover chafed where it reentered the mast below the spinnaker halyard block. So we traded chafe for slight hassle, and went back to using the davits.

Locking a Dinghy at the Boat

Whether the tender is in the water or on davits, securing it to the boat with wire cable and lock provides further deterrent. Note that even stainless-steel wire will rust and rot out over time, when the plastic cover allows water to intrude. Instead of wire cable, some cruisers use anchor chain, because it’s tough and rattles when moved. A length of 5/16″ galvanized chain such as G4 would serve well, though it’s rough on hands and dinghy tubes.

Locking at the Dock

A dinghy dock can be the easiest place for a dinghy to go on walkabout. If you’re in a place where dinghies are stolen from docks, don’t be the easy target! Cable and a padlock are your friends again. It’s a good idea to lock your fuel tank in as well by running the cable through the handle. This can be a little tricky as some dock cleats are big, some small; and sometimes the cable needs enough length to reach the cleat across the dock.

At the dinghy dock La Marin, Martinique, we secured our dinghy with one lock between bow eye and cable and another lock with cable through a cleat. When we arrived back at the dinghy somebody added their own lock to the cable/cleat so that we couldn’t remove it. Fortunately, we could unlock the other end. Jamie went back to Totem to fetch a hacksaw. He cut the other lock and left it in pieces next to the cleat.

Locking the Outboard

Since this is the common goal, maybe it’s a place to start for security. Honestly? We’ve usually just had a padlock between the paddles that screw mount on the transom. This is about the lowest-barrier-prevention. Those paddles can be bashed or cut off relatively easily. We’ve also tried to avoid areas prone to theft, and hoisted at night when necessary. But maybe we’ve gotten lucky to have not “lost” an outboard.

An improvement on this are barrel or bar-type locks: a tube or boxes that slide over both handles and lock them in place. These make the transom nuts impossible to turn, and the lock is difficult to drill out.

Another, better mousetrap is a Dutch-made Stazo lock that fits over just one of the handles. It’s exceptionally robust: 3 or 4mm of solid stainless. And while it’s not as imposing in some ways as the bigger bar-type lock, it’s very robust and needs to fit over just one of the clamp handles. Friends of ours have used this for over a decade, and give it high marks for standing up to the marine environment.

All locks can corrode so the keyway or combination dials don’t turn. An occasional rinse in white vinegar to break down corrosion, then fresh water rinse, and a few shots of anticorrosion compound should keep it working well.

Security on the Beach

This falls into the more variable category, and involves some creativity. In some places, an enterprising person on the beach can be hired to keep an eye on the dinghy for you. We’ve hired helpful humans who ranged in age from maybe 8 to 108 and all had perfect accountability. At times one wonders if the small fee isn’t a trumped up “protection” from the guard. In a few places we dragged the dinghy far enough up the beach to lock it to a coconut tree. All islanders know the value of a living coconut tree far exceeds the outboard and wouldn’t consider cutting it down! Mostly, we ask around to learn if there’s much risk. If there is, you stay with the dinghy, or run a shuttle. And you can always go with the Open Door policy, like the car left open with keys in the ignition. I’m sure we should add a legal disclaimer here about using your own judgement! Just remember: the outboard is the target, and contents of the dinghy shouldn’t be easy to remove. Make it hard to remove the outboard, don’t leave temptations wallowing in the bottom of your dink, and your chances of finding it as you left it go up immensely.

I Heard That…

There’s a reputation that if you make your outboard look “undesirable” by defacing the cowling so it looks older, it reduces your risk of theft. I assure you, thieves do not give a ____ what your outboard looks like. Overwhelmingly it doesn’t matter if you’ve aged it, plastered it with stickers, or given it a colorful paint job. I can think of two anecdotal cases where a vibrantly painted outboard helped. In neither situation did it prevent the theft, but it aided in the recovery. On the other hand, an outboard cowling is fun canvas for creative expression.

Now if you can make that 15hp look like a 9.9, maybe. Lower horsepower outboards don’t seem to sprout legs like the 15+ horsepower engines.

What about costly electric Torqeedo motors? Good news, the only person who cares about that is another cruiser. That’s not usually the thief, although it’s not a reason to go electric either.

Another (rumor? myth?) repeated phrase is not to name your dinghy as “tender to” with your boat’s name since— in theory—thieves on shore will see your dinghy at the dock as an all-clear on the mother ship. I can’t think of a single time we’ve heard that occurring and it smacks of the kind of fundamental distrust in local communities that leads us dismiss out of hand. Then again, we’re not the folks who label our dinghy as “T/T” anyway.

Don’t Be Dumb

While we are heavily biased towards faith in the goodness our fellow humans, there’s a basic rule we call “don’t be dumb” that applies. When a locality has a reputation for petty theft, practice good security. Don’t be the easy target.

A boat we shared some Indian Ocean anchorages with managed to have their dinghy stolen TWICE in a period of a few weeks because they violated the “don’t be dumb” law. The area had a reputation for theft; they had a proclivity for leaving the dinghy trailing behind the boat overnight. Failing to lift/lock (or at least lift) cost them two outboards (one, a loaner from another cruiser to replace what they’d lost!) in quick order… the dinghy, of course, always located the following day.

Suggested Gear

Padlocks: ABUS locks have an excellent reputation for durability in the marine environment. The weather resistant 55/50 is about half the price on McMaster-Carr compared to Amazon.

Cables: 10mm steel cable like this is good for all-purpose use. Think about distance from the dinghy’s attachment point to boat or davits or dock and back again to estimate length.

Chain: a length of G4 like this sold on Defender is preferred by many to cables for added security (and the built-in noisemaking alarm of a chain rattling).

Outboard lock: after researching this, we want one of those Stazo looks for Totem! Sailors Solutions has the best price; they sell the optional integrated cable as well, all for about a third of what you’ll pay in the Caribbean.

Outboard barrel-style locks: Panther marine’s stainless bar lock—the heavy-duty model—gets high marks online and informally from cruisers for durability.

GPS tracker: If you’re especially concerned, look into asset tracking GPS devices. They use an integrated SIM card and a monthly service fee – but it may be most comforting. A small TRAK-4 device relies on US cellular networks is the best value for domestic boating. The Sailing Family cruising internationally on Archer uses Spot Trace’s satellite connection to ping location on theirs anytime/anywhere.

The post Sailing Totem: Keeping your Dinghy safe—Myths and Facts appeared first on Cruising World.

During this past October’s Boat of the Year competition at the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, the judges became quite familiar with the concept of “garages.” That is, a large stowage area under the cockpit for dinghies as long as 10-plus feet, as well as hard-bottomed RIBs with sizable outboard motors, and even consoles. They are accessed by fold-down doors or transoms that double as swim or launch platforms. During our evening deliberations, we three BOTY judges—Ralph Naranjo, Ed Sherman and me, along with CW editors Mark Pillsbury and Herb McCormick—began to speculate what other developments in carrying dinghies might have emerged alongside this particular innovation.

At the risk of being ­anticlimactic, the best answer is: none.

The other options, beyond the garage, are familiar, but there is not one unanimous choice that suits all sailboats. The decision tree begins with the mothership, and the best choice is dictated mostly by its size and design. So if you haven’t bought your cruising sailboat yet, eye each candidate with its suitability for carrying the dinghy. But if you’re committed to your current boat, you’ll have to make do.

Tow It

This maneuver is OK for ­sheltered waters but not advisable in rough ­conditions, even on coastal forays. There must be a provision for securing the dinghy out of the water. If it fills with water, you might have to cut it loose before it endangers your boat. Losing a dinghy is painful.

Select the painter wisely. While it would be ideal if it floated, common polypropylene quickly degrades in the sun. Three-strand or braided nylon is strong and durable. Beyond capsize or filling with spray or rainwater, a third risk is having the painter foul the propeller. Years ago, while entering Chesapeake City harbor, we ran aground. Instinctively I threw the transmission into reverse and turned to wave off the boats following us. Minutes later, while looking for alternative places to anchor, I noticed that the dinghy was gone. We expected to find it adrift, but no such luck. Then we saw it, totally submerged half under the boat. Yep, the painter fouled the prop, which yanked it underwater. What an idiot! Worse, the dinghy’s bow eye smacked a prop blade, bending it badly. The lesson? Shorten the painter for tight maneuvers.

Stow It

If your tender is inflatable, it might be possible to deflate it to stow in a locker (this rules out RIBs, whose fiberglass or aluminum hulls won’t fit in the lockers of most boats). The one-time commodore of the Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island, to which I once belonged, did this on his Wanderer III replica/sistership.

During one club cruise, upon arrival at an anchorage, I watched from our boat as he retrieved his deflated dinghy from a seat locker, laid it out in the cockpit, and began to inflate it with the familiar foot pump. It took perhaps 10 minutes or so. A 12-volt electric pump would’ve sped up the process. When finished, he tossed it over the side, secured the painter, helped his wife board, and then rowed ashore.

Granted, range in such a dinky dink is severely limited; this skipper eschewed even a small outboard, and inflatables do not row well. But in the right location, it is a means of getting ashore.

Lash It

Lashing down a dinghy on deck has long been a go-to option on many cruising boats. It’s dependent on having adequate space available between the mast and cockpit enclosure (dodger or windshield) or between the mast and foredeck. The latter is less preferred, and both require that sail- and boat-handling functions, such as reefing and anchoring, are not compromised.

In this instance, you need to figure out a means of deploying and retrieving the dinghy beyond picking it up with brute strength and flinging it over the side. A four-point bridle with a lift point at the center of gravity enables lifting more or less horizontally. For mechanical advantage, a halyard led to the lift point on one end and to a mast winch at the other will generally get the job done; the main difficulty is pushing the dinghy outboard over the water. A helper on the side deck, perhaps aided by a boat hook, will make the job easier and hopefully avoid a messy situation.

Minutes later, we noticed the ­dinghy was gone. Yep, the painter fouled the prop, which dragged it underwater.

The dinghy can be secured by multiple wraps of line to handrails port and starboard. Tighten well or use ratchet straps. Oars can be tied in as part of this package, along with an outboard motor set on the familiar rail mount. If it’s too heavy to hand down to a waiting dinghy in the water, consider an outboard-motor lift installed at the stern that employs a block and tackle to safely lower and raise the ­outboard off and onto its adjacent mount.

Lift It

Ah, davits. While davit hardware is somewhat expensive, this is a good option for coastal cruising. It is much safer than towing, and compared with lashing on deck, greatly simplifies launching and retrieval. If the boat has a swim platform, as more modern boats now do, it also simplifies getting in and out of the dinghy. Climbing down a transom ladder works too. And it’s usually OK to keep the outboard mounted on the tender’s transom, avoiding the often-tense business of lowering the motor from the deck to the dinghy.

However, large breaking seas could rip off the dinghy and mangle the apparatus, possibly jeopardizing the big boat. And when docking, remember you’ve got baggage back there and don’t want to snag it on something, or bash a piling or other boat.

There is variety in the design of sailboat davits; for heavy loads, they mount on the afterdeck or transom, well reinforced below. With loads up to around 350 pounds, there are systems that can be mounted on a sturdy stern rail, and even kits to reinforce the stern rail.

Some large traditional ­sailboats, such as schooners and windjammers, carry a shore launch in davits above the midship deck, but this won’t be a viable solution for most cruising sailboats.

Park It

We’re back where we started, with the dinghy garage that was so popular in the 2020 BOTY competition. With so many larger boats carrying max beam aft to the transom, some designers and builders are incorporating the so-called garage for even fairly large RIBs with steering consoles under the cockpit floor, as mentioned. This is probably the safest, most secure way to carry a dinghy. Big boats such as the Hanse 675 and others employed garages with a variety of enclosure systems, most hydraulically activated. Sliding cradles that facilitate launching and retrieval with handheld controllers mean you don’t have to risk slipping a disc trying to grunt the beast aboard. Pretty slick! This isn’t something you could retrofit to an older design, but if you’re in the market for a new boat, it’s a feature well worth investigating.

Yachting journalist Dan Spurr has stowed dinghies on a long line of cruising boats he’s owned, ranging from a 28-foot Pearson Triton to a powerful Tartan 44.

The post Dinghy Storage on a Sailboat appeared first on Cruising World.

Gasoline-powered ­outboard engines have been in production for more than 100 years, and these days, they can be found aboard nearly every cruising sailboat afloat. Most often, they are used to zip around in a dinghy, although on smaller vessels, they can also be used as the main propulsion for the mothership. Relegated to the rail when not in use, the average outboard is usually a little neglected, if not slightly abused.

Whether you have a ­two-stroke or a four-stroke, a 2.5 hp or a 25 hp, all outboards consists of two main parts: the power head and the lower leg, sometimes called the lower unit. The power head, which is protected by a removable cowl, is the engine itself. The lower leg extends from the power head down into the water, and it contains a lower gearbox unit and propeller, as well as the water intake used to cool the motor. 

The best way to service an outboard is to hang it on an outboard stand, giving full and easy access to all aspects of the engine. Trying to service an outboard while it hangs on the rail or on the back of a dinghy can be messy, if not downright difficult. In the boatyard, we made a rudimentary outboard stand by lashing a 2-by-4 to a piece of scaffolding.

Power-Head Service and Inspection

Removing the outboard cowl and confronting the power head can be daunting, but getting to know how your outboard functions is important. Doing regular inspections and being able to diagnose minor problems will extend the life of your outboard. Forget about this task being on the “blue list” of chores, every crewmember who uses the dinghy should have knowledge of how the motor runs and how to fix it. And your outboard will benefit from routine maintenance, either at regular intervals if cruising year-round, or at the end of each season when the sailboat is laid up.

Begin by draining the fuel. First, fill a large bucket with clean, fresh water, and place the lower leg in the bucket so that the water intake is submerged. By using fresh ­water, you are also cleaning salt residue from the water-cooling system while draining the fuel.

Next, remove the cowl and locate the fuel hose. Detach the fuel hose and drain any gas into a container. 

If the outboard has a small inline fuel filter, either clean the screen or, for disposable filters, replace it completely.

Start the engine with the fuel hose detached, and run it until it stops. This will burn all the remaining fuel in the engine. Then loosen the fuel-bowl drain screws, and empty any remaining fuel from the carburetor bowl. Reattach the fuel hose and fuel bowl. With the power head emptied of fuel, it is time to inspect the engine for wear, rust and corrosion.

Clean and wipe any ­residual salt from the cowling. Carefully wipe the engine free of dirt, dust and salt. Make note of any corrosion on screw heads or wires, and replace as necessary.

Slowly pull the start cord all the way out, and check for chafe. If there are weak points close to the pull handle, shorten the cord by pulling the chafed cord through the handle and retying. Chafe farther up the pull cord might require replacing the cord completely. Remove the spark plugs, and inspect for carbon or oil buildup. Replace plugs that are fouled.

Lower-Leg Service

The first thing to do on the lower leg, once the engine is on a stand, is to inspect and remove the propeller. Check the prop for dings and bent blades. A minor bend can be straightened and dings can be filed out, but major damage will necessitate replacing your propeller.

To remove the propeller, first remove the cotter pin. If the outboard does not have a cotter pin, check to see if it is missing or if it is simply one of the few models that doesn’t include one.

Unscrew the prop nut. It is usually a castellated nut, named so because it has several cutouts in the outside edge, making it look like the turret of a castle. The slots capture the cotter pin, which further prevents the prop nut and propeller from spinning off. If a bit more traction is needed to free the nut, block the prop with a piece of wood so there is something to push against.

Clean the old grease off the propeller hub, and inspect the splines for wear. Badly worn splines will cause slippage; replace if there is excessive wear. Inspect the rubber hub bushing in the center of the prop. Check for any deformities or signs that the rubber is beginning to deteriorate. This rubber bushing is what absorbs the shock when switching gears or when the prop hits something. Once the bushing is damaged, the propeller blades will no longer spin at the correct speed, if at all. It is no longer economical to install a new bushing in modern outboard propellers; any wear or damage found here requires fitting a new propeller.

Remove and inspect the shaft seal guard, if there is one. Things such as fishing line often get wrapped around the shaft seal and remain undetected during normal use. Any damage to the shaft guard will allow seawater into your gearbox and, if not found, could cause major damage. Replace the shaft seal if wear or damage is found.

Check the anodes and intake grates. Outboards are water-cooled, and grates need to be free of growth to allow maximum water flow. Try using an old toothbrush to free the fine grates of growth. Badly corroded anodes should be replaced. Clean and inspect bonding wires and the shift linkage for corrosion. Outboards under 3 hp might not have either of these components because they are often direct drive.

Changing Leg Oil

The next step is to drain and replace the leg oil. Have a container ready to catch the used oil, and make sure you dispose of it properly. Some manufacturers use different terms to mark the “Oil” and “Oil Level,” so check the owner’s manual for particulars.

Loosen the lower screw marked Oil, and empty the fluid into a container. To increase the flow, loosen the upper screw marked Oil Level. Depending on the brand, leg oil might be dyed or, after use, black. However, used oil should not be milky or cloudy. Milky oil indicates there is water leaking in through the shaft seal. Over time this can cause rust to form inside the lower leg. Replacing the shaft seal immediately will prevent possible irreparable damage.

Filling the leg oil is usually done from the bottom, and leg-oil containers are specially designed to make this seemingly awkward task easy. Have a container and rag handy for overflow, and be ready to work quickly. Carefully insert the oil container nozzle into the Oil opening and squeeze gently, making sure the upper Oil Level screw is slightly loose. When the oil begins to flow out of the Oil Level ­opening, tighten the upper screw. Remove the leg-oil container and replace the lower Oil screw.

Assemble the Propeller

Reassembling the propeller is simply the opposite of the disassembly process. Grease the clean splines and seal guard with waterproof grease. We’ve found that Lanocote, an environmentally friendly grease made from sheep lanolin, is a popular choice.

Slide on the propeller and prop washer, and screw on the castellated nut, lining up a slot in the nut with the hole for the cotter pin. Insert a new cotter pin and bend the ends.

The final step in servicing the lower leg is to fill all grease points, also referred to as zerk fittings. Most outboards have one or two zerk fittings on the lower leg. Using a grease gun, fill grease points with outboard leg grease until the fittings start to overflow. Wipe up any excess grease.

Tank Care

If your engine doesn’t have a built-in fuel tank, take time to look at the external one and fuel line, including the bulb and connections. Inexpensive fuel hoses tend to harden with extended UV exposure, and the pressure bulb can split. Check hose clamps and connection for rust, tighten any loose fittings, and replace any clamps that are ­damaged. High-quality fuel-hose replacements can be very ­difficult to find outside the US, so carry a spare. 

Inspect the fuel tank for sun damage, splits and brittle plastic. Also inspect the ­fill-cap gasket. Gasoline is corrosive, and a damaged gasket can let gasoline leak out while carrying the tank and allow water to enter when the tank is in the dinghy.

Long-Term Storage

Prepping an engine for long-term storage is ­something most sailors will have to do eventually. After preforming the basic service outlined above, there are a few more steps to take to properly prepare your outboard if it will be in storage for more than a few weeks.

The most important thing to do, especially when storing an outboard, is to remove all the fuel from the engine. Modern fuel is a complex mixture of refined petroleum and additives designed to lubricate and protect your engine while it runs. Unfortunately, those additives have a short shelf life—modern fuel starts to break down in approximately eight weeks.

Unused fuel left in an outboard is the No. 1 cause of engines acting up. As the fuel degrades, the additives separate, forming a lacquerlike substance that will quickly block small fittings and jets, causing an outboard to misfire, idle poorly or fail to start at all. There are fuel stabilizers on the market; however, they are just more additives and chemicals. The easiest way to ensure that an outboard will start when taken out of storage is simply to properly drain the fuel, as outlined above.

Next, it’s time to fog the engine. Fogging uses a water-­repelling oil-based product to coat the internal working parts of the outboard. Sprayed as a heavy mist or fog into the air intake while the outboard is running, it prevents corrosion from forming inside the engine while it is out of service. There are purpose-designed products marketed for engine fogging, but for those of us down-island, an alternative appropriate for both two- and four-stroke engines is a spray bottle filled with two-stroke oil.

While running the engine to drain the fuel, spray the fogging mist or two-stroke oil into the air intake at the carburetor for five to seven seconds. As the engine runs, the oil is circulated through the interior parts of the power head, lubricating and protecting the outboard. Fogging sprays have a high oil content, so expect to see some smoke.

After the outboard has run out of fuel and cooled off, remove the spark plugs. Spray the fogging mist or oil directly into the spark-plug hole, slowly pulling the start cord a couple of times to make sure the oil is well-distributed on the pistons, rings and cylinder walls. Replace the spark plugs, making sure to put a dab of anti-seize grease on the threads. Spray the exterior of the engine lightly and wipe off any excess.

Outboards are best stored in an upright position, but when space is tight, they can be laid down for long-term storage. Usually outboards are stored with the tiller arm facing down so that no damage is done to the more-delicate gear-shift lever. Check the owner’s manual, or there might be a sticker on the side of the outboard indicating the manufacturer’s recommended position. Wrapping your outboard in an old piece of sail cloth or sail bag will prevent any cosmetic damage while moving it in and out of tight storage areas.

Like any piece of equipment, a little attention and regular care will extend the life of your engine. Performing a basic service to an outboard is not difficult, and properly preparing your engine for extended storage will ensure that you’ll be ready for your next adventure on the first pull.

Heather Francis is from Nova Scotia, Canada, and has lived and worked on boats around the world. Since 2008, she has been sailing on board Kate, a Newport 41, with her Aussie partner, Steve. They are currently in the Philippines. Follow them at ­yachtkate.com.

A Filter and a Meter

Bad gas is probably the No. 1 cause of outboard problems. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get clean fuel in many countries outside the US. Filtering fuel through a Baja filter when filling the dinghy tank is the first line of defense, but installing an inline fuel filter/water trap will further guarantee that your outboard will run smoothly, no matter where you buy your gas.

An hour meter is simple to install and is the most reliable way to record how long the engine has been run. Knowing engine hours makes service intervals easier to track, and when it comes time to sell up, there will be firm information about your engine’s use.

Tools for the Outboard

A new outboard comes equipped with a small toolkit, but if you don’t have the luxury of buying new, it’s a smart idea to put together a kit of your own for those unexpected breakdowns far from shore. Placed in a small waterproof bag, these tools may find a home in the dinghy or even fit under the cowl without disrupting the regular operation of the outboard, and will always be on hand when you need them.

Essentials and a few handy extras include:

• Spark-plug wrench
• Extra spark plugs to suit your engine (check manufacturers’ recommendations for proper model number and gap measurements)
• Spare pull cord
• Ratchet and sockets to fit all nuts
• Combo screwdriver
• Spare cotter pin
• Pliers
• Electrical tape
• WD40, small can

The post How to Service an Outboard Engine appeared first on Cruising World.

Dinghies are analogous to cars for cruisers, which is perhaps why I stand in the cockpit with the faintest touch of trepidation and watch as our teenagers disappear around the curve of a palm-fringed island. They return later grinning with adventures found… stories from their snorkeling jaunt of caverns, coral, and glowering barracuda.

If a cruising boat is the magic carpet to faraway travels, dinghies are the critical last step to engaging in those places and realizing their promise. It’s all well enough to get there, but then you must get ashore (or out to the motu, or to that faraway reef, or to the village around the point) and get around. There are tradeoffs in different types and approaches. People generally like what they have (fortunately!).

We’re on our third dinghy and third outboard as cruisers. All three are rigid-hulled inflatable boats, or RIBs. Bundled with Totem, the 10-foot Avon gave nearly 19 good years before the threadbare Hypalon wore too thin. The Highfield we were able to buy when it gave up in Thailand was a little small for us (2.9m or 9.5 feet) and had a weirdly wet ride due to draggy tubes. We replaced that with a 3.1m AB about three years ago; it’s has been awesome, used mostly with our 18hp Tohatsu (newly with a 15hp Yamaha).

Here’s what I like about our current setup:

• Easily gets on a plane with the 15 and 18hp outboards we’ve paired with it
• The bow locker, the bow locker, and the bow locker. It provides a step, secure storage, and keeps the heavy fuel tank forward. This is also a nice safety feature, because the fuel hose runs between the double floors, which means it’s less likely to get squashed, and both hose and tank are protected from UV damage.
• The double floor provides a comfortable flat interior and helps keep things dry (bonus: strong. But…adds weight)
• Aluminum hull (lighter! but harder to patch)
• Hypalon tubes (preferred to PVC for durability)
• Robust lifting points and secure, comfortable handles

I spotted my dream dinghy combination on the bow of a boat we met in Puteri Harbor, Malaysia: Nested together were a RIB and a sailing dinghy. But given the choice between hard/rowing friendly and planing RIB, we come down solidly in the camp best described by my friend Pam Wall during our Cruising Women seminars: “bigger is better and faster is more fun!” Our current anchorage is just one example of why; it would be physically impossible to get back to where Totem is located during the typically blustery afternoons. It’s a good 15 minutes from ship to shore on a plane (going about 20 mph).

What’s out there in the cruising community? In general, RIBs dominate. It’s true to a lesser extent with coastal cruisers. At our anchorage here in Mexico, there are a handful of kayaks, inflatables and some hard dinghies. But in distant anchorages and on wider-ranging boats, the tenders are overwhelmingly RIBs. Of course, state a rule and the exceptions commence!

My friend Jan is anchored in an atoll in the Tuamotus right now. She’s been cruising for more than 20 years, from the U.S., to the Med, the Caribbean and currently in the South Pacific. She and her husband, Doug, love their rowing dinghy.

Aside from having a ship-to-shore vehicle, she rows for exercise, and Doug regularly employs a sailing kit for tooling around an anchorage, or beyond (he’s talking about tacking upwind 6 nm to the “nearby” village). Made from plans they found online that set them back less than $20, the dink sits nicely on the bow of their Corbin 39, Hanna.

RELATED: How to Choose an Inflatable Dinghy

Ben & Teresa Carey carry a Portland Pudgy as tender to their Norseman 447, Rocinante, but she came with what Ben refers to as a “deflatable.” It got them around in the Caribbean, but was UV damaged and leaky. They were happy to replace it with the robust Pudgy. “Tender” seems like the wrong word for these tough little boats. I like their reference to Pudgys as the F150 of dinghies! “Maybe she’s not the best rowing dinghy, or the best sailing dinghy, but she is multi-purpose and functional.” Exceptionally multi-purpose, considering a kit can be added to provide for use as a life raft.

With most boats tending away from the choices made by Hanna and Rocinante‘s crews—is there a voice missing? Jan shared more of her story, and it’s instructive.

“I’ve chosen to use a rowing dinghy almost exclusively for as long as I’ve owned a boat, over 25 years. For a couple of years, as a singlehander, I even owned two rowing dinghies! Once, a kind couple insisted on giving me their outboard when they upsized. I quietly regifted it as soon as I’d moved on to a different cruising area. My husband made the same choice to row, long before we met. We have an inflatable, and carry two outboards, but we only use them when we have guests, so they have their own transportation if they wish. I like rowing for many of the same reasons we have a sailboat rather than a motorboat. I feel closer to nature. It’s a gentler way of being in the world. It means less maintenance and less pollution: sound, smell, and schmutz. While we are not absolute purists in our cruising lifestyle, we do love the self-sufficiency of our dinghy in so many ways. No searching/waiting for parts or planning stops based on fuel availability.

“We’re still using the same pair of oars Doug made for me as a wedding present almost 23 years ago. I can hoist her on deck and lash her down on my own, in about 10 minutes. Rowing keeps us a bit more active, and our Dancing Dolphin is a great conversation starter at any dinghy dock. She is my friend and my freedom. When we were building her, some neighbors kept asking, ‘Well what are you going to do with it when you’re finished?’ They were incredulous that one could actively cruise with a plywood dinghy, but here we are 5+ years and 7,000 miles later, and we wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Is one kind of dinghy a better choice than another in terms of risk for theft? Where theft is tied to financial desperation (hotspots around the coconut-milk run) as opposed to joy riders (we experienced this in Australia), dinghy type matters only as far as the kind of outboard that’s attached to it. Stolen dinghies are often found later, adrift or in mangroves, outboard missing… the real objective.

In higher risk ports, it helps to live by the mantra of “lift it – lock it – or lose it.” Davits on our stern make it easy to hoist overnight and splash in the morning. Without davits, a halyard clipped to a harness on the dinghy can lift and hang it on the boat’s hip. Be cautious, though, as the angle can chafe the halyard at the sheave (we found out the hard way). In either case, depending on where you are, it may still be prudent to have a stout cable that locks it to the boat, and a bar lock that fits over outboard clamp handles. RIBs tend to have bigger outboards; that makes them bigger targets for theft (nobody wants Torqueedos or the snail-to-bunny speed two-horses), but it’s not about the boat.

The right tender is not about what’s best at all. That doesn’t unilaterally exist. Instead, what’s important is to match the mode of transportation to your cruising grounds and style. There are a range of other dinghy types, from the home-built to the Porta-Bote, the classic aluminum skiff or Walker Bays. For our family, prioritizing the ability to travel distances with speed while carrying our full load guided our choice. We want to get from a quieter anchorage around the point into town, keep the laundry or groceries dry in a chop, or reach that distant reef.

It might be a utilitarian tool, but I am kind of fond of our tender! It’s vital cruising gear that features in great memories: from watching our teens set off on adventures, sunset dinghy rafts, or drifting with friends across a Maldivian atoll, telling stories while the sun sinks into the horizon.

The post Sailing Totem: The best dinghy for cruising appeared first on Cruising World.