Can I make this tender more stable?

[Mark Turner]

This is my tender Chloe, I got her 80% built (for free), finished her up, epoxied and painted her to match our cruiser. She's just about 7' long. While I think Chloe is real good lookin, she's not too stable. We want to use her as a tender on the Sacramento River. Is there any way to retrofit her to give her more stability so that a motor boat racing by too fast won't swamp her? If not, I fear she'll be relegated to taking us around the marina. Thanks for your help.

Mark

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid169/p8f1d22911eda0c847942e5bfa170511c/f411bdf9.jpg

[ 06-08-2005, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: Mark Turner ]

[Jay Greer]

Looks like you have lavished a lot of time and effort to make your little boat ship shape and clean. However, there is little stability of hull form to your little tender which as you mentioned is a little tender! Straight sides with no flam, in conjunction with a flat bottom and a short LOA to beam ratio, all contribute to this problem. The addition of a weighted dagger board is about the only thing I would consider to increase stability. Also adding of a flotation type rail guard such as canvas covered foam till help to prevent light chop from comming aboard and provide some floatation in case of a swamping. You might also consider adding flotation under the thwarts.
JG

[Donn]

It might not be very attractive, but how about pontoon outriggers, like marine training wheels? I've seen them on kayaks (Alden makes a pair http://www.sail-s.com/Alden/2_AP_pontoons.jpg,

but they're $300 :eek: ) , and made my own for a fishing canoe years back. Mine was pretty simple, and pinned into two oarlocks I added for the purpose. When it was in place, I couldn't tip the canoe. At rest, the pontoons were about 2" off the surface.

[ 06-08-2005, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: Donn ]

[Victor]

Imteresting. That little thing looks like it would be stable as can be.

[Mark Turner]

Oooh, making a couple cool looking removable outrigger pontoons sounds like a good idea. Thanks Donn. How big do you think they would have to be?

[ 06-08-2005, 06:27 PM: Message edited by: Mark Turner ]

[Donn]

Mine were about 16" long x 8" in diameter. They were foam filled aluminum ducting, and were bolted to a single wooden yoke, so it was a 1-piece install. Drop the pins into the oarlocks, and cotter them.

[Ian McColgin]

Not as bad as the fabled "Ano" - a canoe with both ends hacked off - but still not good. The slab flattie is the most surprisingly (to landsmen) unstabile structure around. Keeping your weight centered and verticle helps a little.

If you add a sculling notch to the transom and learn to scull very well, then you standing with no passengers would be quite marvelous.

If you can stand the beam, maybe fold up about 4"x4" of soft foam like ensolite under a tough fabric to act as a combination gunnel guard and float ring. It had made bad dinks almost good.

[ 06-08-2005, 06:45 PM: Message edited by: Ian McColgin ]

[Gary E]

Such a small boat, perty one too.
How about fastening on those floatation thingies that you see kids using in pools? They are about 3 or 4 in diameter and come in bright colors, several full length on each side at the water line when your sitting in it might help.. emphasis on "might" hey, maybe sorta like a second layer of planking up each side, uhh call'em rolls, sorta like the Michilin Man... They would also protect the boat that you bump into and the boat you drag it up on.

Good luck

[ 06-08-2005, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: Gary E ]

[Mark Turner]

Well, when we bought our boat last August (a 1965 37' Owens) the previous owner gave me this little thing almost complete. Before then, I'd never been around boats having grown up in the Sierra Nevadas (Yosemite Natl Park). So, not knowing better, I spent a month or two finishing it as you see it. I had no idea just how small and tippy it was until I got it into the water. You should see the thing with me (185lbs and my buddy 230 lbs) in it. Picture a loony toons cartoon.

Unfortunately, I'm am a little attached to it (I even named it after my beautiful baby daughter!). I think I'll end up using it as a one man boat for bird watching and fishing along our very quiet little lake near the house. The good news is that this is the perfect excuse to try my hand at building a proper tender, which I'm inspired to do after reading about all your adventures on the forum.

Mark

[Gary E]

Mark,
That is probably the best outcome. I remember when I was a youngster and my buddy had a 8 or 9 ft pram, we were both big kids, 200+ and then the 2 1/2 HP Johnson on the back made this rig, well... you know very well what is looked like. We jug fished at night on the Ohio River with that rig, would todays kids be allowed to do that?

[ssor]

How large does a dink need to be to reasonably carry 400 lbs of people plus their gear?
I weigh in at about 160 and a "Payson Nymph" is just lovely for Nancy and me.

[Chris Stewart]

Looks like you have the front half of a folding dinghy. Build a back half to match and bolt them together. The added length will add stability.

[htom]

Mark, you could add a set of "Dinghy Dogs" http://www.dinghydogs.com/ for a fast solution, but a bigger dinghy is probably a better solution.

[Gary E]

Chris,
I was thinking the same thing, but would it be a flat transom or pointy as the bow?.. dont know...

[Bob Cleek]

Or, you could either set it upright on its transom and put shelves in it for a nice bookcase, or turn it into a cool kid's bed for your daughter when she gets a bit older. Seriously, though, while I understand your pride in a great finishing job, you can't really polish a turd. Knowing the nature of your cruising grounds (Water and Jet skiers! Arrrgggh!), I'd invest in a decent dinghy you can carry aboard, or a good inflatible.

[Steve Lansdowne]

How about putting it in your backyard for your daughter to play on and then building a stable tender of proven design to use? Safety is a concern, especially with a family.

[Alan D. Hyde]

If you're thinking of building something more stable yourself, here's a site that's worth looking thru---

www.instantboats.com (http://www.instantboats.com)

If you decide on building one of their designs, there's no one more helpful or informative to talk with than Dynamite Payson.

http://www.instantboats.com/images/rnymph.gif

http://www.ace.net.au/schooner/tjfnymp3.jpg

***

Alan

[ 06-10-2005, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[Bob Cleek]

I'd say that's a seriously overloaded boat. It's pictures like that which cause regulations that require filling commercially built boats with foam so they don't sink. Life jackets or not, I'd figure the coasties would pull that one over in a hot minute!

[Mark Turner]

What about Paul Gartside's 120 for a tender? I'm looking for something w/ a little more sex appeal than the Nymph! (translation: I'd like to have a transome and a bow). Does anyone have a photo of the 120 or any experience with it. Any better options? Thanks.

Mark

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid173/p1840b75f603c88a97e8f461c4c1f761c/f3b72f5d.jpg

[Stephen Hutchins]

Maybee you could add three cleats to the transom, (screw and epoxy) build sides and bottom out another two feet aft, add new transom, cut old one down to the thwart in hight. A little hack I know, but it would add stabilty.