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Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

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Dustin07
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Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby Dustin07 » September 24th, 2021, 12:33 pm

We have a 1988 Voyager 2827. LOA measures out to about 34FT
Currently has a 9ft or so Avon inflatable on a Sea Wise davit system.

I don't really like the davit because of the wear and tear it puts on the dinghy, but it does work very very well otherwise, very easy to load and unload.

However I'd like a center console dinghy, and ideally the most HP I can get.

I just can't quite wrap my head around how to pull that off or what is even achievable.
is towing my only option?

My buddy with a much larger yacht tows his dinghy. He uses 100ft of line, then adjusts how far back the dinghy is to basically ride the surf. how much dinghy can you safely tow from the aft cleats, and how fast can you safely tow it?

We did all of our cruising at 8 knots this year due to some motor issues, but my ideal cruising speed is around 15 knots. New carbs going in next week should get us back there.


I could keep this boat another 5 years probably but I'd really like to set up a more enjoyable dinghy solution, I'm just not sure what to do or what can be done with a carver our size.

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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby bud37 » September 24th, 2021, 7:57 pm

You can get a dinghy caddy to fit on a short platform and will hold a fair sized dink and motor.....But if it were me and I was changing boats soon I would just tow it.

If you make a bridle from one cleat to the other at the stern then have a sliding loop between to tow the dink it will spread the load and keep it in the middle.......minimum on the back of the second stern wave back.

I towed for years and really it is no big deal, with the same boat as yours and others, just don't have the dink too far back especially in poor light conditions.....you can pull it into the platform when in the marina docking.

But the caddy was nice when we got one cause the dink was out of the water and no worry about bad sea states. Good luck on your boat search... :-D
The above is strictly my opinion always based on years of doing...remember to support local business , it pays back.
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Topic author United States of America
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby Dustin07 » September 27th, 2021, 11:14 am

bud37 wrote:Source of the post You can get a dinghy caddy to fit on a short platform and will hold a fair sized dink and motor.....But if it were me and I was changing boats soon I would just tow it.

If you make a bridle from one cleat to the other at the stern then have a sliding loop between to tow the dink it will spread the load and keep it in the middle.......minimum on the back of the second stern wave back.

I towed for years and really it is no big deal, with the same boat as yours and others, just don't have the dink too far back especially in poor light conditions.....you can pull it into the platform when in the marina docking.

But the caddy was nice when we got one cause the dink was out of the water and no worry about bad sea states. Good luck on your boat search... :-D



I keep going round and round on this one cause I have a hard time wrapping my head around how much weight I can safely put on that swim step with an improved dinghy or davit... that's my biggest concern there....

I think we will try towing. I'm curious to see how that works out as well when it comes to navigating marinas lol. I haven't ever towed before. I'm almost tempted to tow my existing dinghy just for the experience on our next trip even though it mounts to our davit fine.

this is our current setup (not my boat though, just example)

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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby tjh408 » September 27th, 2021, 12:05 pm

I am a big fan of the Dinghy Caddy, we installed one this year on our 360 SS and carry an Achilles 315 DX with a 20 hp Tohatsu electric start with tilt. I pull the 3 gallon gas can and drain plug, and in 15 minutes we are out of the water and good to go. I can launch it alone.
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby chpsk8 » September 27th, 2021, 2:01 pm

Take a look at the https://www.towdster.com/ for towing. Not sure if it would apply to your location, but it's worked great for us. You can add extensions to get it further out onto your wake. Best part for us is how it tucks up to the boat without us doing anything. No chance of a rope getting sucked into the prop.

Here's a couple videos of us using it for our 11' RIB. I've also used it for our 13' Whaler
https://youtu.be/C8y9K_FhYBM
https://youtu.be/mmayJkEtMeQ
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby Dustin07 » September 27th, 2021, 2:33 pm

chpsk8 wrote:Source of the post Take a look at the https://www.towdster.com/ for towing. Not sure if it would apply to your location, but it's worked great for us. You can add extensions to get it further out onto your wake. Best part for us is how it tucks up to the boat without us doing anything. No chance of a rope getting sucked into the prop.

Here's a couple videos of us using it for our 11' RIB. I've also used it for our 13' Whaler
https://youtu.be/C8y9K_FhYBM
https://youtu.be/mmayJkEtMeQ



that looks great! if anchoring out, this would be a slam dunk solution for us.
The other concern I have is that we are 34' LOA now with dinghy on the davit, in a 35ft slip. I might be able to tuck it up under the bow at times. I'm curious when towing, how it works getting in and out of tight slips as well. I guess I just need to practice that and learn the hard way a bit.

in a perfect world, I'd find a small center console version of my 9ft Avon that I have now since I only need my wife and I on the dinghy, but that's proving to be more challenging than I expected!
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby chpsk8 » September 27th, 2021, 4:40 pm

With the towdster you can back up without having to deal with the tow rig, it just folds itself in and out.
We back into our slip and store the dinghy on a drive on dock. When we leave we pull out, then have one of the kids or my wife pull the dinghy into the slip, then I back into the slip partially and we hook it up and pull out.

We also just drive both boats out of the marina and then do the hookup outside of the marina. Just float and get it all hooked up. Pulling up to a gas dock, or lock is easy. Just pull in and the rig keeps everything from getting in the way.

At least it's another option to look at. A little more money than a couple ropes, but way less hassles in the end.

Dinghy's are scarce these days. Keep looking I'm sure one will show up. I had a 13' Whaler fall in my lap unexpectedly this summer. Loving that compared to my RIB.
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby Dustin07 » September 27th, 2021, 5:54 pm

chpsk8 wrote:Source of the post With the towdster you can back up without having to deal with the tow rig, it just folds itself in and out.
We back into our slip and store the dinghy on a drive on dock. When we leave we pull out, then have one of the kids or my wife pull the dinghy into the slip, then I back into the slip partially and we hook it up and pull out.

We also just drive both boats out of the marina and then do the hookup outside of the marina. Just float and get it all hooked up. Pulling up to a gas dock, or lock is easy. Just pull in and the rig keeps everything from getting in the way.

At least it's another option to look at. A little more money than a couple ropes, but way less hassles in the end.

Dinghy's are scarce these days. Keep looking I'm sure one will show up. I had a 13' Whaler fall in my lap unexpectedly this summer. Loving that compared to my RIB.


Being that my vessel is a 1988 Voyager 2827, I have a roughly 11.5ft beam and I *think* the waterline may only be 28ft even though my true LOA is about 34. What size dinghy do you think would be appropriate for us to tow with this boat? we live only 5 minutes from the marina and public dock so I wouldn't be opposed to trailing the dinghy home most of the time then taking it out to tow for longer trips and weekends on the hook. I'm just not sure what an appropriate size is to hunt for our boat. All our neighbors at the marina have davits up on the bridge with large center console dinghys and their boats run 46-55ft so it's not really an apples with apples comparison as I'm trying to max out my 'little' guy lol
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Re: Dinghy Options On a Shorter Carver

Postby chpsk8 » September 27th, 2021, 9:51 pm

The one you see in the video I attached is an 11’. It’s got a side console and bench seat. Great for two people, good for three, tight for four. We’ve stuck four adults in it and went through a no wake zone to the restaurant pretty often.
Can’t imagine anything smaller.

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