Towing a dinghy or another boat

[John S]

Hello,
Hope some of you smarter than I can help out here. What are some of the basics I should know about towing behind my boat? I have the 24 Tomcat if that makes a difference.

We may do a little towing of our new 8' Walker Bay inflatable and I might find an occasion where I would tow my 18' Harbercraft. Then there is the tow in of the stranger with mechanical trouble or who has run out of fuel.

So.....what do I need to know? How do I keep the tow line out of my props? How do I keep the towed boat from ramming my Tomcat? How should I tie up the tow line to my Tomcat? What kind of line should I use?

Sorry if this sound like a dumb question, but I've never towed anything behind a boat.

Help!!!

John

 

[Sea Wolf]

John-

Here are some beginning thoughts:

Use a bridle from both sides of the boat (unless that Tomcat's motor placement makes a centerline tow rope more practical).

Use a polypropylene line, as it floats itself (they are usually yellow, and look like a 100 ft long Chinese finger trap (!).

Add a float where the two sides of the bridle come together to help keep the line organized and out of the props.

Make the line long enough to keep the towed boat back at a safe distance to prevent ramming you if you have to stop the towing boat.

I'd add another small float near the far end of the line to help keep it straight and organized in the water when detaching and retrieving. It would also help locate the bitter end when deploying.

The polypro line will work for dinghys and small stuff, but if you have to tow a real boat of any size, go to a much heavier, stronger line (probably nylon to add some elasticity for shock absorbtion), and be careful of a tensioned rope breaking and recoiling back into your boat! On the Coast Guard and commercial scale, crewmen can get killed by a recoiling line on a large tow if they're careless.

Joe.

 

[davehogue555]

Don't know how to add the URL here, but check out the thread under the "Seamanship" forum called "Towing another boat"

 

[JamesTXSD]

Good morning John,
Let me preface this with that fact that I have no experience towing a dinghy with our C-Dory - it rides on top of the boat. We have, however, towed behind sailboats - that are rarely doing more than 6 knots. I would have concerns that towing at speed (where your TC shines) wouldn't be good with a dinghy... visions of the dinghy flipping and flailing come to mind. Anyone here tried to tow a dinghy at double digit speeds?

When towing another boat, steady and slow is the key. If the water is rough, we have used a long line; if the water is smooth, we have hip-towed. Again, this is with a sailboat, not the C-Dory. A bridal between the aft cleats to balance the load and help keep the line out of the prop.

If someone is in trouble, we will help in any way possible (and have). I am certainly no expert in towing, though, and would rather leave this to the professionals.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

 

[Alok]

John:

I assume you cruise at around 25 knots an have quite a rooster-tail behind your motors. If you were to tow a dinghy, it would have to be far enough back to stay dry. This would make for a long bridle.

I am not sure that a Tomcat can travel at normal cruising speeds without flipping the dinghy. I also do not know what effect it would have on the handling characteristics of the Tomcat.

As James has pointed out, dinghy towing is done at displacement speeds- usually under 10 knots.

Of course, if you do figure out a way to do it, I would be very interested!

 

[ffheap]

Hi Folks,

Just some things to add.

1. They make polypropylene in larger diameters.

2. Do not stand directly behind the tow rope. Little cleats have been known to come loose on the boat you are towing, fly through the air, and hit you or your crewman on the head.

Fred

 

[starcrafttom]

when I lived in maryland we owned a 28 chris craft cabin cruiser with a 350 inboard. We towed are dingy everywhere. The key thing to remember is to get the dingy far back from the boot. It has to be back of the center of the wake. 20 ft back of the center is good. the water is smoother there and if you turn the dingy has a enough room to slide on way or another with out hitting the edge of the wake. Its very much like towing a tube with the kids in it. Its really very stable. As for stopping , stop slowly and in a circle. if you stop in a straight line the dingy will catch up to you. If you do it in a circle the dingy will go past you to the end of the rope and loose all its momentum when it gets to the end of the rope and gets jerked short. just don't forget its there, I have seen that happen.

 

[John S]

Thanks for the input guys. Below is a picture of my boat, if you look close you will see a cleat just ahead of the grey hold down strap. That cleat and its opposite on the other side are my furthest aft cleats. A Y bridle to each cleat would rub all over my pretty Honda BF90's. The only other cleat isn't even a cleat, it's one of those little round water ski rope attachments on the swim step, I wouldn't trust it under much of a load.

Some of you have appropriately wondered why or how I would tow our dinghy at cruise speeds, so here it is. In May we go bear hunting, we slow cruise at 2-3 kts along the shorelines glassing for bears, if one is spotted we need to be able to quickly jump in the dinghy and motor for the shore. I didn't mention the bear hunting originally in case I might offend a non-hunter and I wanted help from ANYONE who could tell me how to do this.

My previous boat was the 18' aluminum boat and we just pulled up to the nearest beach or rock, but those days are now gone. Now the boat needs a boat to get to shore.

 

[Doryman]

when I lived in maryland we owned a 28 chris craft cabin cruiser with a 350 inboard. We towed are dingy everywhere. The key thing to remember is to get the dingy far back from the boot. It has to be back of the center of the wake. 20 ft back of the center is good. the water is smoother there and if you turn the dingy has a enough room to slide on way or another with out hitting the edge of the wake. Its very much like towing a tube with the kids in it. Its really very stable. As for stopping , stop slowly and in a circle. if you stop in a straight line the dingy will catch up to you. If you do it in a circle the dingy will go past you to the end of the rope and loose all its momentum when it gets to the end of the rope and gets jerked short. just don't forget its there, I have seen that happen.

Did you have a motor on the dinghy? Is that a bad idea? I'll be getting my first dinghy in May (ordered Alaska Series at SBS) and I need to learn these things too.

Thanks,
Warren

 

[thataway]

First I emphasize Fred's admonition--do not let anyone stand in front of the tow rope--no matter how strong it is, or where it is attatched.

We have towed a number of large boats both behind other large boats and behind boats like the C Dory. We also towed a 20 foot Grady White behind a trawler. We do not like to tow dinghies--I feel it is safer to deflate the dinghy and inflate it if you are going to be going at fast speeds.

The TC 255 tow eye placement is not conducive to towing from them--the bridle will hit the motors. I know that some of the boats have put a single U bolt just off center line by the dive ladder bracket--and that is how we will tow if necessary. I have a bridle on my 18 foot boat which I am more likely to tow with.

The chance of flipping a dinghy exists--especially at planing speeds and with beam winds. If a motor is on the dinghy there is a very good chance of it being damaged by submersion. I realize that many people do tow dinghies--but I have seen too many damaged to do that.

If you have to tow a larger boat, you might consider putting a bridle around the boat --deck hardware is usually not strong enough to take the strain of towing. Pass a good sized line (at least 1/2" all of the way around the boat you are towing, then use light lines to keep that line from slipping down under the boat. A good solid tow eye in the bow, is also useful for towing--but with caution.

When we are towing in close quarters, we tow "on the hip" That is the boat doing the towing is secured by breast lines and springs so that it is about 1/3 of the towing boat's length aft of the boat being "towed"--and 2/3 of the towing boat is secured along side of the boat being towed. This gets the engine and prop wash well clear of the boat being moved. When one starts a tow, there will always be torque from the prop, which will walk the boat sideways--and make directional steering difficult until way is on.

I believe we have professional towers on the list. Be sure that you know what you are doing before attempting to tow a larger vessel--you can get in a real jam very rapidly.

We have found that when moving a lrager boat with a dinghy, pushing works much better than pulling. An inflatable with the bow against the transom or fenders etc can both push and act as a rudder, by directional thrust and moving the stern of the boat being pushed to guide it.

 

[John S]

The TC 255 tow eye placement is not conducive to towing from them--the bridle will hit the motors. I know that some of the boats have put a single U bolt just off center line by the dive ladder bracket--and that is how we will tow if necessary. I have a bridle on my 18 foot boat which I am more likely to tow with.

Bob, when you refer to the "tow eye placement" are you talking about that little round ring in the center rear of the swim platform? I'm also trying to figure out where you're talking about mounting a single U bolt too, but I'm not getting it. Are you talking at the center of the transom just above the swim platform, where it connects to the rear transom area? Is that particular area strong enough?

I understand the side by side tow pretty well, but I still don't know where to start pulling behind the Tomcat to keep the line out of the props or from rubbing the motors.

We don't plan on ANY high speed towing, this would just be an occasional 2-3 knot pull.

The unexpected good samaritan pull comes to mind also though. We only have a tow boat service in one of the three area ports we use in SouthCentral AK. The CG make lots of "request for assistance" calls on CH 16.

Thanks for all the input, please keep it coming.

 

[John S]

Don't know how to add the URL here, but check out the thread under the "Seamanship" forum called "Towing another boat"

I didn't look at this earlier, but it was a great thread on towing. http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=2305&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I still don't know how to tow with my TomCat without some modifications to the boat, but some good references in that thread. I will get the Chapman's book too.

Thanks