Dinghy question #2

[Greg H]

Say that you want to store your 8' pram lashed on deck ahead of the mast. How do you get it there, other than dragging it over the side? I can't quite picture a way to rig any tackle that can hoist it to the right place.

[Jack Heinlen]

Assuming you can't just manhandle it, the main boom rigged as a crane will get the dink aboard without much fuss. An eight footer should be light enough for two people to carry to its lash point.

If you haven't already, have a look at Roger Taylor's Knowing the Ropes . I think it's the best single reference for all kinds of things having to do with rope and lines. He, in his inimitable, clear style, cuts through all that is unecessary and leaves you 'knowing the ropes', and how they are typically used.

[Hwyl]

If it's going in front of the mast, you can use a jib halyard. Put fenders on the topsides for it to ride up. You'll need a second person to push it outboard as it goes over the lifelines.

Lower it in such a way that one rail is down and flip it as you lower.

[JimConlin]

Bore a hole through the dinghy's transom that's big enough for the dinghy painter. (the line that pulls the dinghy)
Tie the bitter end of the dinghy painter there.
Hitch a jib halyard to the middle of the painter and hoist.
It's a two-person job- one at the halyard winch and one fending the halyard and later the dinghy off the side.
When the dinghy is above the lifelines, invert it. This will be easier if the painter is long and the towing eye is low. This might take two people.
Swing it inboard and lower away.

[paladin]

what Jim said but rig it to use the reaching strut or spinnaker pole to bring the dink aboard and swing around to the fordeck...

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

What Jim and Chuck said, except if it is an eight footer and you are singlehanded you can usually just pull it right up from the water over the rail by pulling the painter. This makes a real mess of the rail so a bit of half round brass screwed to the rail to take the chafe, or, even better, a roller which fits over the rail and takes the keel of the dinghy, is indicated.

[Jack Heinlen]

A jib halyard with a winch. Sounds right to me for this. I've never had a keel boat with a dink, so listen to them. That Roger Taylor book is still worth getting.

[Greg H]

So many books......
I like the Jib Halyard idea. Maybe there is a way to rig a spar of some kind that would keep the dink away from the rail as it was lifted....... I got an idea, now I'll figure how to do it.

Wish it was my boat and dink, but I'm anticipating questions as I try to talk some one into letting me build them a "proper" dinghy, rather than the current deflatable.

[CAPNBIL]

Originally posted by Greg H:
Say that you want to store your 8' pram lashed on deck ahead of the mast. How do you get it there, other than dragging it over the side? I can't quite picture a way to rig any tackle that can hoist it to the right place.A Painter rigged as sling from bow eye to stern of dinghy worked fine for us using jib halyard & halyard winch for power swung dinghy over lifeline. Our Cal sailed fine with inverted dinghy on foredeck bowe forward. Good luck

[paladin]

if you rig the bridle to pick up the dink with the pole dipped...when you raise the strup or pole (using the halyard winch) you can swing it aboard with a minimum of fuss. I'm 64 years old...after a whole bunch of surgery and loss of a lotta spare parts...I don't lift so well...so anything I do can be done by a 125 pound 40 year old woman........

[htom]

<pre>
| \
| \
/ \
/t \
e/ t \
l/ t \
o/ dinghy pole \
p/ ----------------t
_____________ _____________ t
\ / \ / t
\ / \ / dinghy
</pre>

Hinge the pole on the far side of the deck, reaching over the deck to the dinghy, using whichever of the masthead lines to raise and lower the pole, tackle, and dinghy. When the dinghy is over the deck or water, use the tackle at the end of the pole to raise or lower the dinghy. It's kinda like a davit. More stable if you use two poles in a triangle with the far side.

[ 08-18-2004, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: htom ]

[John B]

Theres a recent Classic boat with exactly whats been described in it. might be july.
It's best as a 2 person job.
Personally, I just haul the sabot straight up the shrouds by the painter/ halyard . It sort of runs up the cap and aft lower like a couple of tracks.Then get someone to ease away while I handle the transom into place. I'd imagine it to be alot easier onto the foredeck rather than onto the cabin like I do it.

[Greg H]

Yes yes! That's the picture that came to mind!

[Ian McColgin]

My approach to foredeck v cabin trunk storage is quite similar.

Any hallyard will bring the boat up right along the shrouds, which is actually kind of nice for keeping the dink high and off the rail. Use the three part bow and stern lines bridle I described in the other dink thread. These are long enough that you can do the hook-up on deck.

If you're a self-tailing winch or wire reel winch it's easy enough to bring it up on the port side, thus allowing you to crank the winch with your right hand and use the boat hook to push the dink out.

If you've no self-tailing and want to go single handed, you will need to sway up a handibilly on a hallyard, again as I mentioned on the other thread.

If your bow and even back to the chainplates had a really violent flair, you may want to bring the dink up vertically on just the bow line, letting the dink's smooth bottom find its way past rubrails and life lines and such. You can even lower this way if you remember to tie the stern lines at the rail such that they are tight just when the transom is a noodge over the water. Then the boat will settle pretty as can be.

I deeply believe that all dink handling systems should be possible as one person operations. Maybe not by all crew members, but by at least the more active adults. It's not in the strength but in the planning.

G'luck

[Buddy]

My dinghy is an 8 foot El Toro ( sorts a cousin to the Sabot mentioned above) and I store it upside down on the deck of a Catalina 30, fairly high sided boat. Soootowd in this location, it's low enough for genoa to tack over, far enough aft to clear the anchor locker, and makes a nice rain cover for an open forward hatch.
I too figured out a lifting rig using the spinaker pole and topping lift to fashion the boom, and a jib halyard and winch for the lift cable, associated bitty blocks, and nifty made up lifting bridles with rings and and shackels to clip onto the dinghy oarlocks and rudder gudgeons etc. Had myself a big time figuring it all out, getting the stuff and making up the pieces.
The upshot is that at 77 pounds, it's much faster and plenty easy for this 55 year old to just snatch it by the painter and drag the dinghy up and over the Catalina's highest freeboard onto the foredeck, crossing the toerail where the life lines attach low on the bow pulpit. What little orange gelcoat rubs off the dinghy's keel onto the Catalina's gelcoat toerail will readily come off on the next scheduled deck washing and even toothpaste could "restore" the shine on that. So.... I'd recommend you try tugging and lugging first before you create a special rig.
I've got a bag of "lightly used" brass rings and hardware store shackels somewhere if you want to persist. Course if you have a 150 pound dinghy like my Cape Dory 10, then thats another matter all together.